An Art Project

Isaac and I decided to do an art project a couple of weekends ago. Here's what we started...


We cut a hole in paper plates, and painted the ring brown.




We removed fabric leaves from their plastic branches.

Applied glue to the ring.

And we tried to glue the leaves to the rings to make wreaths.

Well, the fabric leaves wouldn't stick with the non-toxic, safe glue that we were using. I think hot glue was needed, definitely not safe for Isaac to use. So, we punched out multi-colored construction paper leaves and glued that on. We tied on some yarn, and hung to dry! The final outcome will be posted soon...

Fall Photoshoot

Fall's photoshoot in Buckeye Gear by Brian Phillips Photography! Seriously, does anyone have any ideas for a name? I'm thinking Brian needs to make this a 2nd job!

Update to Realizations

For anyone that may be confused...



I published the previous blog on Nov. 12. Some of you got to see it before I decided that I seemed to be complaining too much, and I pulled it back. Apparently it was inspiring, so I have decided to re-publish, but post this follow-up with it.



I don't mean to complain. I feel very fortunate to have a job in an economy in which many are finding themselves without. I feel very fortunate to be married to a wonderful man that I hug and kiss every day. I feel very fortunate to live close enough to family that I can easily visit when I can.



Perhaps a better explaination of my feelings...



I feel like I am wasting time. We are all given a certain amount of time on this earth. Time that I believe we are meant to use to make a contribution. I'm not really sure what my contribution is meant to be, but I don't feel like right now, I am contributing in that way.



I know I should be spending more time with my children, raising them so that they become respectful, loving, giving, understanding, and contributing adults.



I think I should be helping other children, providing them with resources so that they become respectful, loving, giving, understanding, and contributing adults.



Perhaps I should be helping adults, providing them with resources so that they become and can raise their own children to become respectful, loving, giving, understanding, and contributing adults.



Maybe I should be devoting my time to those that need help, just getting to the doctor, getting groceries, cleaning, cooking, helping and giving and contributing in whatever way I can.



I know I should be spending more time with my parents, my grandparents, my siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends... learning how to best contribute. And returning the favor in any way I can.



What needs to change is me. The way I make decisions on a daily basis. How to best contribute. How to contribute at all. To Contribute. To stop wasting time.

Happy Birthdays and Realizations

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOHN, MICHAEL AND JILL! I love you guys, and can't wait to see you this weekend- it's been way too long! I hope you all have a great day.

Now for my recent realizations...

Work isn't everything. Family and friends are everything. Of course I've known this. I've always known this, but somehow I haven't. At least I haven't been living as though I've known this. Let me explain...

I just worked from 4 am until 3:45 pm. I'm tired. I'm grumpy. I came straight home from work, letting the kids stay at day care hoping that I might be able to catch a small nap before the 6:00 pm mandatory pick-up time. Instead, I find myself frustrated with things, my mind still back at work thinking about what I didn't get done today, what I need to do first when I get there at 4 am (or should I go in a little bit earlier so I can get a couple more things on my to-do list checked off?), or should I go do a load of laundry, or vacuum again because Ruthie is shedding like crazy, and oh- the kitchen is a mess again...the dishwasher needs emptied and re-filled...Urg! I'm tired.

And Brian. He gets up, tries to catch a shower before Isaac and Amelia wake up, then if they aren't up already, gets Isaac up, to the potty, dressed, breakfast. Gets the bottles ready. Brushes Isaac's and his own teeth. Wakes up Amelia and dresses her. Takes them to daycare and lets them feed her. Goes to work, tries to be first in (he'll get the first opportunity to try to sell to walk-ins), they open at 9 am. They close at 7 pm. It is rare for him to get home before 8 pm. By this time, I have fed the kids, possibly bathed them, and have done whatever I can to get them ready for bed including picking out clothes for the next day. When possible, I do whatever cleaning/ laundry, etc. that I can get done or feel like getting done. We start trying to get the kids in bed. I don't end up in bed until 9 pm having spent no time with Brian, and very little with the kids.

Start over the next day with my alarm going off at 2:15 am.

And weekends. Brian works every Saturday but 1 each month. Because daycare doesn't exitst on Saturdays, I spend time with the kids and go in on Sundays. Occasionally on a weekend evening we get to visit with some of our friends or family- probably once per month.

Does it sound like I know family is everything? Not at all. I'm tired of feeling sorry for myself. I don't want to continue to be put in a situation where I am regularly choosing work and sleep over my husband and children. Enough belly-aching. Change is in the air. It is time. People work too much and don't do enough with the people they love and that love them. That is what is wrong with this country. I am ready to down-grade. Down-grade the life style, make some sacrifices. Smaller house with smaller mortgage and taxes, less cable, less stuff, less bills, less work.

More husband, more kids, more brothers and sisters and moms and dads and grandma and grandpa and friends and friends and friends! It's time for us to change!

Some Pictures

Just some more pictures of our camping trip with Kari, Andy and Reid in Indiana...


Isaac with his walking stick.




Kari and Andy hanging out at the picnic tables by the lake.

Mommy and Amelia at the beach watching Isaac in the lake.



Isaac wearing Daddy's t-shirt after soaking his clothes in the lake.

Trying to be better

Okay. So I'm not sure how some of my friends post every day. I don't really think I have many interesting things to talk about. I'll give it a try...



I love my kids (of course I do!)...When Amelia gets excited, which is often, Isaac will exclaim to us, "We have a happy baby!" And this morning, Isaac called Amelia his favorite baby, which is actually surprising, since he's very much taken with a baby at daycare named Annabelle. When we would go into Amelia's room to pick her up at the end of the day, he would walk right past Amelia and ask where Annabelle was. Annabelle would get hugs and kisses! She ate it up, too. She doesn't have any brothers or sisters, but I think that after her mom saw how loving Isaac was, and how much she enjoyed it, she'll have one in another year or two!



I'm sick again. Or still, however you want to look at it. It's like I have to start all over again with the daycare germs. Amelia came home with a cold, I caught it. She got better, I got worse. This has been going on for three weeks now. When my sinuses started making painful crackling noises when I moved this morning, I decided that I had better go to the doctor and fork over $20 so she could tell me I have a sinus infection so I can get some antibiotics. I can't wait until the kids don't have to go to daycare...



Oh, I think everyone should know how important it is to always get all of your prescriptions from the same pharmacy. I always go to CVS. I went in to pick up my Amoxicillin, and the phamacist was wonderful! Maybe they have in my file that I breastfeed, or perhaps she was just very observant and thoughtful, but she asked if I still breastfeed. I told her I do, and she asked if my doctor was aware. I responded that I did make it a point to remind my doctor (I'm in the market for a new doctor-she doesn't bother to peek at the chart before she comes in, and I have to tell her everything everytime I go in...anyway). She told me that Amoxicillin does transfer to breastmilk, and though amoxicillin is sometimes prescribed for babies Amelia's age, if I feel uncomfortable with it, I can call to talk to my Doctor. She also reminded me that Amoxicillin can reduce the effectiveness of my birth control. It felt so nice to know that someone that I didn't even know was looking out for me. Thanks to the nice CVS pharmacist!



Brian will receive the best birthday present that I can think of tomorrow! AN END TO ALL OF THE HORRIBLE POLITICAL ADS!!!! I want to vote just so I don't have to hear any more commercials, I don't get any more phone calls, and no more junk emails- I just want it over! I didn't want to talk about politics, so this is it, I promise!



I will have Brian post some cute pictures of the kids when he gets home. Let's face it, that's really what everyone wants! He likes to use Picasa so we don't have to convert the pictures or some mumbo-jumbo, and I never have used it. I guess he'll have to teach me. I think I am the most computer illiterate person (my approximate age) I know.



Apparently I'm pretty good at rambling...

Amelia never stops amazing us

So we put Amelia down for a nap, well we thought we did. We kept hearing Amelia fuss which she will normally do for a couple of minutes. It kept going, sooo Alison sent me back to check on her. And yeap, this is what I found. Figured I would snap a couple pictures. This was the best one.





Later this evening, it was time for kids to go to sleep. As you can see Amelia was not ready. Isaac thought it would be fun to climb into her crib so I thought this was a cute picture, he was not totally dressed for bed yet.

So, Amelia's a mover now, too. Yeap. She's crawling. Everywhere. She went from being able to sit up on her own, to crawling, to pulling herself up to stand, all in about 2 weeks. Maybe three. Anyway, we figure the way she's going, she'll be running by Thanksgiving. We hope not, but...

And we're so proud of Isaac! He continues to be such an amazing big brother and wonderful little boy! Mommy's been sick (caught Amelia's cold) and went to bed early one night. The next morning, mommy was headed to work, Isaac just woke up, but he thought to ask, "Mommy, you're feeling better now?" What a sweet, sweet boy!

The kids are both doing well in school. Amelia has moved up to the Brownie room, which is for the mobile infants. They typically don't move babies into that room until they are 9 months. Yeah, she just turned 8 months! Isaac is in the Clurican room, which is the first class of pre-school! His teacher is wonderful- she really loves the kids and does a great job with him. He's very into sharing, and even says "sorry" regularly now. I really think he likes it better, on weekends he says he misses his friends.

As for Mommy and Daddy...we are still working. A lot. Mommy isn't working as many weekends anymore, but still has to go in crazy early from time to time. Daddy is the opposite. He works almost every Saturday (only gets one off per month), and during the week rarely gets home before 8 pm. I guess with the way the economy is, we should just be thankful that we both have secure, decent-paying jobs. There are a lot of people that have it worse. We'll keep dreaming, and hoping for a day that Mommy stays home with the babies, and Daddy gets home at a decent time to have a yummy dinner with the family, then some play time with the kiddos.

Halloween

Here are some pictures of the kids Halloween Costumes. Isaac went as a happy dinosaur, and Amelia was a Halloween princess.

Some of these pictures were taken on our camping trip. The little pea pod is Reid (Kari and Andy's son). Isaac had so much fun holding the both of them.





Isaac posing for his catalog picture.

Amelia putting a happy spell on you.

Grammy and Gramps (Samples) and Grandma and Grandpa (Phillips) went trick or treating also. Here is picture of Gramps trying to make Amelia laugh.

Camping Trip

This is Brian. We have been bad about updateing our blog recently. Lets catch everything up that we have done recently. Also if anybody knows how to post more then 4 pictures on blogger, let me know!!

We went camping with Kari, Andy, Reid, and Obie at Pokagon State Park in northern Indiana. We had a blast. One more opporutnity to use our new camper. We did some hiking and played in the lake. Well Isaac did. The only issue was that as Daddy and Isaac were throwing rocks in to the lake. Isaac Progressivly got deeper in the lake until his pants and shirt were soaked. So Aunt Kari and Mommy proceeded to take his pants and shirt off to dry them out on the near fence. Isaac wanted to take his underwear off as they were wet also. We had to fight with him to keep his underwear on!! Took some persuasion, but he kept them on!




Reid and Amelia had fun with each other. Here they were playing footsie and big brother Isaac was playing along also.




Kari, Alison, Amelia, and Isaac relaxing in front of the camper after breakfast.

on the way for our hike. (Brian the photographer not pictured)

I have a bunch more pictures that I took, again, if anybody knows how to post more then 4 pictures at a time. let me know.