Sunday, January 30, 2011

Monday Mugs - Minimalist Shot


Are you in need of a mindless Monday Blog post? Are you struggling to deal with the weekend being over and can't muster the strength to type a single word? Well, Monday Mugs is for YOU! I may or may not "borrow" ideas from IheartFaces and post my interpretation of their weekly theme. Without submitting my photo for judgement and without being forced to follow the rules.
Mondays are hard! Blogging on Mondays shouldn't be!

Today's theme for Monday Mugs is: Minimalist Shot
(photos with a little something and a whole lot of nothing. i.e. lots of white space)
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This theme proved difficult for me! I thought Daisy's Fip Fwop shot turned out pretty good, but when I tried to get some head shots, it just didn't seem to work out. Here was my attempt:

If you are in need of a simple Monday post, JOIN ME! Grab my
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Next week's theme will be: Look Down


Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Fip Fwops

Practicing my "Minimalist Shot" for next week's Monday Mugs.



Sunday, January 23, 2011

Monday Mugs - Set Your Camera Down


Are you in need of a mindless Monday Blog post? Are you struggling to deal with the weekend being over and can't muster the strength to type a single word? Well, Monday Mugs is for YOU! I may or may not "borrow" ideas from IheartFaces and post my interpretation of their weekly theme. Without submitting my photo for judgement and without being forced to follow the rules.

Mondays are hard! Blogging on Mondays shouldn't be!

Today's theme for Monday Mugs is: Set Your Camera Down
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Well, I did not have a photo in the archives for this week's theme. I meant to take some pictures during the week but couldn't find the time. So I had to take some quick shots this afternoon.
Nothing spectacular.
The boys playing checkers. To prove I was not holding the
 camera, I sat on the couch and got my foot in the shot.
I snuck in to the shot of Lily making a cake.
If you are in need of a simple Monday post, JOIN ME! Grab my
button from the sidebar and link up your own post!

Next week's theme will be: Minimalist Shot
(photos with a little something and a whole lot of
nothing. i.e. lots of white space)
Idea came from and Examples here.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

You Guys Are Going to be SO Jealous!

**WARNING** If you have any problems hearing about throw-up, PLEASE do not read this post.

*disclaimer* Most days, Lily, Ashton, Bailey and Daisy are known as the Oswald Cuties, however, for this post they will be referred to as The Sickos.

I barely peeked at my computer from Jan 8-15. Which means I was neglecting all of you and I just wanted to let you know what I was up to! This post is LONG and it may be really annoying to read because of the way I wrote it and the need to come up with many different ways to say "throw-up"!

The Best Week Ever began on Saturday Jan 8 : DaddyO leaves for a Las Vegas business trip. Hahahaha! Business!

Sunday night: Daisy wakes up and has thrown-up in her bed. I have to remove all her bedding and wash it and since I am half asleep I let her sleep in my bed with me and Lily. (When DaddyO is out of town, Lily and I have sleepovers)

Monday morning: Daisy tries to have a little bit of cereal but almost immediately throws it all up. She also throws up all over her carseat when we are taking the kids to school. DaddyO is sleeping in, in his hotel room.

Monday night: I am sitting at the computer trying to catch-up on blog reading. I hear some very disturbing noises coming from Ashton's room. I rush in to find him throwing up, an entire day's worth of meals, over the side of his bed. His bedding also didn't escape the mess. One Bright Spot: Ashton's vomit landed on the very small rug that is by his bed and NOT on the carpet! Not long after cleaning up Ashton's mess, Daisy throws up in her bed, all over her freshly cleaned bedding. Another night of sleeping in my bed. DaddyO is enjoying the new Cosmopolitan Hotel Bar in Las Vegas.

Tuesday: Ashton is home from school and throwing up ALL day. Bailey is feeling fine and goes to soccer practice after school. After dinner, Bailey is complaining of not feeling well. I think he is trying to line-up a day off of school and a day home with Mom. Just before I am about to tuck them in to bed Bailey loses his dinner! Ashton doesn't hang on to his dinner either. A Very Brite Spot: I won a giveaway on a popular scrabooker's blog! There were 894 comments. Can you believe it? This REALLY helped my day!! DaddyO is still out of town.

Usually when the kids are vomiting, we give them a bowl to carry around in case they can't make it to the bathroom. But we just use bowls from the kitchen and it is gross to reuse them after The Sickos have upchucked in them. I found some good sized plastic cups in the very back corner of the pantry and decided to give these a try. After someone blew chunks in to them, I would just throw them away.

Normally it is against the rules to sleep in our room (This rule is CONSTANTLY broken). There are two exceptions: 1)A thunder storm 2) Sickness.

Here is what my bedroom looked like on this night. You can even see one of the kid's throw-up cups.


Wednesday: The boys are definitely not going to school today and Lily is desperately trying to talk me in to letting her stay home too. She says she doesn't feel well but I tell her that unless she throws up she should probably go to school. She refuses to get ready for school. Not long after that she throws up! I am SOOO glad I didn't force her to go to school! She is sick all day with the most dramatics of any of the kids. She cries and screams before, during and after each vomit session. She wants me by her side at all times, all day. The boys seem to be doing better and have eaten a little bit and not thrown up. Daisy hasn't thrown up since Monday morning.

Wednesday night: DaddyO gets home around 10pm. Daisy wakes up around 2am and has thrown up in her bed. I remove her from her bed, remove her clothes, remove her bedding, put everything in the washer, re-dress Daisy and get back in to our bed with her. DaddyO is snoring.

Thursday: The boys say they are feeling fine and they get ready for school. When I pick them up after school they both look a little green. DaddyO and I are the only ones interested in eating dinner. I warm up some leftover spaghetti and make me a few pieces of toast. When I am almost done eating, and I only have a few bites left of my toast, I look down and there is a little green patch on my toast. I am done eating. DaddyO brings me a throw-up cup. After dinner, at the exact same time, both of the boys throw-up. WTH
Lily has been sick all day and begging for a break and some water.

Friday: The boys and I are supposed to be going on a field trip to the museum. They are both still throwing up so we have to miss it. They are devastated. Ashton has been complaining of a sore throat throughout the week. I thought it was just from throwing up but I decide to take him to the Dr to check it out. The Dr tells me my Mother's Intuition was correct, which is a great thing to hear because I thought I only had Mother's Irrational Worries Disorder! Ashton has strep!

After his diagnosis, I realize that I am going to need to bring EVERYONE in for a strep test. I get appointments later in the day for the other 3 sickos. I almost didn't make an appointment for Daisy. When we got back to the Drs office she was singing and dancing and in a terrific mood. Lily threw-up right as we got to the office. She, Bailey and Daisy get their throats swabbed. The Dr comes in and says "Well, one of them is positive, do you want to guess which one?!!" I say "it's GOT to be Lily!!!"  NOPE!!! It was Daisy!!! And she has an ear infection!!!
So, to recap, Lily has stomach flu, Ashton has strep and stomach flu, Bailey has stomach flu, Daisy has strep, stomach flu and an ear infection!! NONE of them have a fever and all of The Sickos are given prescriptions for antibiotics.

Saturday morning: Soccer games. DaddyO talks Lily in to playing just a little bit. Ashton talks me in to letting him play one quarter on offense, one quarter on defense and one quarter at goalie. At first, Bailey said he would play goalie but then decides he is not feeling well and sits in Daisy's stroller for the entire game. It is normally quite a challenge to get him to hold still. Bailey wanted, so much, to be feeling better that he ate a lot of breakfast and snacks from the soccer game. Almost the minute we walk in the door, he throws up. A LOT! I start to get a sore throat.

Saturday night: 3 of The Sickos are in bed. Noone has thrown-up for a good 4 hours. Lily and I go downstairs to watch the Miss America Pageant. I am going to try to make inexpensive Valentine decorations and watch at the same time. I am using a hot glue gun. About half way through, I shoot myself right on the thumb with hot glue and manage to spread it across 2 other fingers!  I hope I can find an acceptable COLD glue because I am now afraid of the glue gun!

Here is the biggest of  3 blisters with a layer of  hot glue on top!

I can't remember what happened on Sunday but I don't think anyone threw-up. By Monday, The Sickos were feeling almost completely normal. I visit the Dr and receive a negative strep test. Tuesday, everyone went back to school and they have been there every day since.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Monday Mugs - Winter Wonderland


Are you in need of a mindless Monday Blog post? Are you struggling to deal with the weekend being over and can't muster the strength to type a single word? Well, Monday Mugs is for YOU! I may or may not "borrow" ideas from IheartFaces and post my interpretation of their weekly theme. Without submitting my photo for judgement and without being forced to follow the rules.

Mondays are hard! Blogging on Mondays shouldn't be!

Today's theme for Monday Mugs is: Winter Wonderland
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I had to do some digging and scanning to find photos for today. We don't get Winter Wonderlands around here! Lily is the only cutie who really ever got to experience snow.
 
November 2001. Lily with my brother and Frosty.
 
January 2002. One month before the Olympics came to our city.
If you are in need of a simple Monday post, JOIN ME! Grab my
button from the sidebar and link up your own post!

Next week's theme will be: Set Your Camera Down
I got this idea here.


And be sure to stop by when I share "The Best Week Ever" and explain why I haven't visited any of you for over a week!!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Monday Mugs - Smiles


Are you in need of a mindless Monday Blog post? Are you struggling to deal with the weekend being over and can't muster the strength to type a single word? Well, Monday Mugs is for YOU! I may or may not "borrow" ideas from IheartFaces and post my interpretation of their weekly theme. Without submitting my photo for judgement and without being forced to follow the rules.


Mondays are hard! Blogging on Mondays shouldn't be!

Today's theme for Monday Mugs is: Smiles
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I was going to include these shots in my Christmas wrap-up post but decided it might be a good idea to reduce the length of that post and use them for today's Monday Mugs. Which also made this post A LOT easier because I had already edited these photos! Luckily, everyone was smiling in their pictures!





If you are in need of a simple Monday post, JOIN ME! Grab my
button from the sidebar and link up your own post!

Next week's theme will be: Winter Wonderland

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Wrappin' It Up!

Well, the pictures I showed you last week about our Holiday Activities pretty much covered about the first week of December! It took me this long to edit/resave all the photos from the rest of the month. Get comfy! Here is how we finished up the rest of our December Days.

A few decorations around the house.

 Gingerbread cookies and decorating thanks to DaddyO!

A special night out. First dinner....... 
 then tons of Christmas lights...

 And a carriage ride!
 We didn't have to wait in line AT ALL, so there was no time to explain to Daisy what was about to happen. We all piled in to the carriage and headed on our way, only to have The Little Miss start screaming at the top of her very frightened lungs! I was terrified that she was going to spook the horse! We eventually calmed her down and we all enjoyed the rest of our ride!!

A Christmas Eve bike ride to the park. Yep, a few
of those cuties are wearing short sleeves!

Christmas Eve tradition: open 1 present.
 Lily knew the drill, Daisy was oblivious, but the boys were PISSED that I got to pick the present. Only the package with sleepy eyes on the gift tag! New Jammies!




The older kids woke us up at 7:30am Christmas morning. Not too bad! We had to wake-up Miss Daisy.

Lily got a new bike!
 Even though he said he didn't like "Justin Biever," Ashton
hasn't stopped listening to him on his new mp3 player!
 Bailey, pretty much, hasn't removed the headphones from his ears or the robe from his body since Christmas Day!
 Daisy got her new kitchen that she practiced asking Santa for but when it came time to actually ask him, she covered her eyes with her hands and wouldn't say a word! LOL

And that is the end!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Monday Mugs - Your Fave Photo(s) from 2010


Are you in need of a mindless Monday Blog post? Are you struggling to deal with the weekend being over and can't muster the strength to type a single word? Well, Monday Mugs is for YOU! I may or may not "borrow" ideas from IheartFaces and post my interpretation of their weekly theme. Without submitting my photo for judgement and without being forced to follow the rules.

Mondays are hard! Blogging on Mondays shouldn't be!

Today's theme for Monday Mugs is:
Show Us Your Favorite Monday Mugs Photo(s) from 2010
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In 2010, I published 39 Monday Mugs posts.
It was too hard to pick a favorite,
so I decided to share the VERY FIRST Monday Mugs post. The theme was "Desserts," and I chose photos of my cuties enjoying one of their favorites!

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If you are in need of a simple Monday post, JOIN ME! Grab my
button from the sidebar and link up your own post!

Next week's theme will be: Smiles