This was Yesterday

I showed the pictures of a couple of weeks ago and now look what we have!




And of course the kiddos out in the snow. Telling me that they were going to help me shovel.....yeah right! So we have been cooped up in the house.



So I am making chili in the crock pot today. This is a first for me. I took some crushed tomatoes, a chili starter can with beans, ground beef and lots of seasonings oh and some chili tomato sauce. It seems a little runny but we will see how it goes. I am going to make some corn muffins to go with it.

Well when I put it on literally 10 minutes later Brooklyn walks through the kitchen and says "Mommy what is that stinky smell?" I about fell over! First of all she has a stuffy nose, second I guess I know who is not eating tonight!

So the girls and I got some scrappin done last night with the exception of some embellishments that I wanted to cut with my Silhouette. I have like 10 layouts that need stuff on it and my darn machine is not downloading the driver right! Ughhhh! So stay tuned for some more layouts from me.......hopefully.

Let It Snow............

More snow. It is not like it didn't snow enough this winter already! I mean it looks nice and all but I am really getting sick of having to shovel the driveway. Especially since it conveniently snows 5-10 inches at a time on the weekends that Randy works for 24+ hours! That means that I am out there shoveling with the kids. What a pain....pain in the neck, back, legs.............
But the girls have a lot of fun playing it so that is one thing that I cannot complain about.
Here are a couple of pictures from the last snow fall.
It is kinda pretty isn't it?

Chaos Is Done!

Or is it?

Christmas was great! Here is our weekend in review:
Saturday was Rileys 2nd birthday so we stayed at a hotel with Gwen and Chiquita and the boys and Mom and Dad. We went swimming and played games. The next day Ashlynn went to Savannahs house to spend the night. Her birthday was the 24th and they went to Libby Lu. I had never heard of it before but let me tell you it sounded pretty cool! She came home with her hair done in a Rockstar style and all kinds of hair and makeup accessories! From the sounds of it they had a great time! I cannot wait for Paula to send me the pictures!
Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma Rhondas. We had ham and potatoes and lots and lots and did I mention LOTS of cookies! The girls got fun things like a Playdoh center, Webkinz, digital camera and Shrek the Third! All in all it was a great night.
Christmas Day we had at our house. Grandma and Grandpa Zabel have been with us all weekend so Gwen and Chiquita and the boys came over. Dad and Randy went and got Missy and we opened presents. The girls scored again! Ratatouille, Barbie Globe, More Webkinz, Lots of arts and crafts, and my all time favorite game Hullabaloo! If you don't have it you have got to get it! It teaches shapes and colors and makes it so much fun! I didn't even have to read the directions to them I put the batteries in and they figured it out on their own. Definately an A+!!
But one of the best gifts was what Grandma and Grandpa and Gwen and Chiquita got Taylor and Ashlynn......Tickets to go see High School Musical On Ice!! So February 8th Gwen and I are taking them to go see it! I think that I was more excited then they were! Maybe they just didn't get it since it was a piece of paper. What is the big deal about a piece of paper! Ha ha!
I got my Heat Embossing Tool with some glitter for it, some Rockstar Paper, Alpha Stamps Shop Vac, and a space heater. Randys mom and I got him a Garmin GPS system. He loves it and for once I am able to say that he will not take his present back to the store! We ate all kinds of appetizers, played Disney Scene It and Cranium Wow.
I would say that this was a really great Christmas!
Now I have to find room for all of these new toys!

Starbucks Fantasy

I'm dreaming of a Starbucks Latte.....all the way to Ashlynn's school. (The the tune of I' Dreaming of a White Christmas)

Yesterday we did some of our Christmas shopping for the rest of the family. We stopped at Starbucks and got Latte and Mocha. Well this morning I got in the car to take Ashlynn to school and the cups were still in the cup holders and all I could think of was wouldn't it be cool to have a machine hooked up to the car that when it starts it pours be a Grande Vanilla Latte. That way when I get the car warmed up and the kids in it there would be a nice warm beverage for me. ahhhhh bliss.
Now if someone is willing to hook one of those up to my car feel free to drop on by but for now I guess I will just be Dreaming of a Starbucks Latte.

Weekend Activities

Well the weekend is here and really we do not have many activities at all. Gwen is coming over with the boys just for a little bit on Saturday. I think that the girls and I are going to try and make it to Missy's house. But man would you believe it, my Brake light on the van every once in a while flashes on. I think that when I make a turn the fluid goes below the warning level and causes the light to come on. I am sure that I have to bring it in next week. So I am a little leery of driving it that far.
But great news! Randy got a really nice bonus check! Right in time for a car repair....go figure! This is definately a huge help with the holidays here. Now I am feeling a little bit better about Christmas spending.
But you know when you get a windfall there is usually a downfall coming soon. Well it came right away. I have been going through the underwriting process for health insurance for my self for the last 3 months. And today I got the approval and the bill in the mail. Weeeeellll. My insurance agent called to say that he could prorate it to Dec 14th so that I was not paying the back months since I had no medical bills. Great, right? Well the bad news is that my rate increased 40%!! All because of my weight and height check. I was 4 pounds over the cutoff. 17 pounds over the cutoff for 15% increase and anything below that was the original quote.

So guess who has a new NEW YEARS resolution? Yep you guessed it. I definately do not want to have to be paying an extra $50 a month because of my weight. I need to lose it anyway so why not start now. But man this is going to be tough with the holidays. But $50 a month is totally worth it to lose. That and for my own health and sanity. Hello wake up call!

So get ready to hear me pissing and moaning about exercising and eating right. If I make a mistake make sure you yell at me. Please do. It won't hurt my feelings.

Snow Snow and more Snow

I really like the winter months but enough is enough. Not only is it snowing a lot it is icy snow! Right now it is raining and turning into almost instant ice! Ashlynn is off of school due to ice storm warnings. Randy is at work with a broken back (not literally but it is not good) and I am out in the driveway trying to lift my shovel off of the ground with the wet snow.

So now that we finished as much of the driveway that we could we are having a lazy day of doing NOTHING! Well I am here and the girls are watching non stop movies in their pajamas still and it is noon!

I promise that we will get some of the housework done but for right now this sounds good to me.

Whew! That Bug Got Us Good!

So it has been a while since I have posted and oh do I have the things to post! Our comptuer got a Major bug that left us out of the cyber world for almost 3 weeks! 3 weeks without my computer friends....what is a girl to do!

So let's see..... there was Thanksgiving which we spent at my mother in laws and then headed up to my parents house in Black River. We had a nice time and got to relax and enjoy the country while watching for deer and other wildlife surround us. But before we headed up there Randy and I hit the Black Friday deals! Yes we were up at 3am and out the door within 15 minutes. First stop was Kohls. 4am door buster deals. It was so cold outside and we got into line at about 340am. At 4am the doors opened and we were in and out of there by 415am! Then we headed to Walmart got in line at 450am and doors opened at 5am. In and out by 515am! Then off to Home Depot where I dropped Randy off to meet his boss and I headed over to Kmart. I got there at 540am and was the 5th one in line. There were hardly as many people there and it was nice to not have to make a mad dash for what I wanted. Then I decided to try Target. Well BIG mistake! I walked in and the line inside to checkout was wrapped completely around the inside of the store.
Whew.......We got most of our shopping done and I am oh so glad!

We were supposed to go to the Midnight Magic parade in Mukwonago but it decided to snow. I didn't want to have to bundle up the kids and sit in the snow and freeze our butts off. Randy worked all weekend so we cleaned and did a lot of arts and crafts. Plus the girls wanted to play in the snow so there was a lot of hot cocoa made. Auntie Gwen and Riley spent the night the night before and that was a lot of fun!

Grandma Zabel came down on Tuesday. She came to pick up her Christmas decorations. Even though they will be down here for Christmas she still wanted a few things to decorate up there. Wednesday Gwen brought Taylor and Riley over and Grandma made her awesome Pork Chops in Gravy......YUM!

Thursday we made the gingerbread house. I picked up a kit at Walmart and the girls and I put it together. The darn roof kept sliding off! Finally we got it to stay on. The girls were very good about not eating too much of the candy.

Then there was Friday. Oh dear what have my children done now. Ashlynn and I were doing arts and crafts and Brooklyn and Kaylin were playin in the playroom right next to it. I cannot not see them when they are in there but they always play so good. Well I thought nothing of it until the next morning. Kaylin's hair was a complete rats nest! I had put her hair in 2 piggy tail braids the day before and did not bother to take it out before bed. Well big mistake! Not only was it the snarl from hell ...... half of her hair was missing! So I ask her if she cut her hair and she says no Brookie did. So Brookie says no I didn't. Typical responses from both. Randy and I just figured that Kaylin did it. She is the one that always is doing something that doesn't really surprise us anymore. So I go get Kaylins hair cut. It looks real cute and is shoulder length. But I am sad because I do not see absolutely any curls anymore.
When I get home I go into the basement and pick up all of the hair. And let me tell you it was A LOT! Well while picking it up I notice that there is a chunk of blonde hair. Yes it is definately NOT Kaylins hair. Well I call Brooklyn and sure enough there are a few small chunks of hair missing. Now the real accusitions begin. "Did you cut Kaylins hair?" "No" "Did you cut your hair?" "No" Ok so 5 minutes later Brooklyn comes up to me and is almost crying says "I am sorry for lying to you, I cut Kaylins hair" Finally an answer! She took one of her pigtails and completely cut it off! I guess they wanted to play beauty stylist!

So now that the computer is back up and running I should be able to post more frequently. I look forward to rewarding you all with some good laughs from the kids. Sometimes they are the only thing that keep me sane and make me smile!

Miracle

So we are sitting at home all weekend because Ashlynn is sick. Well I think the girls got a little stir crazy. Brooklyn and Kaylin are definately butting heads and it ain't pretty! So Brookie went to bed like a charm tonight and I knew that Ash would fall asleep on the couch because she wasn't feeling well. And of course they both took 1 1/2 naps today. Kaylin well lets just say no nap and it is 10pm and she has been up since 7am. When I tried to get her to bed she simply says "No I am not going to bed it is the weekend and I can do what I want to do. Do you understand mama?" Ummmmm you are not even 3 years old and telling me that. I about fell off the couch. So now after an hour long battle and I have about given up because she is about to wake up everyone else.
I just don't get it. She has so much freakin energy in her. And she has got to be the most bull headed 2 year old that I know!
whew...While writing this I asked her again and I kid you not she said "mama put me to bed" and lo and behold she went right into bed. That it self is a miracle.

More Pages

Here are some more pages from the crop that I was in. I feel like I was really on a roll this week and think that the pages look pretty good.

Dreary and Cold

It is such a dreary and cold weekend. That means a GREAT weekend for scrapbooking! We have our 10 year old nephew for the weekend. It is kind of a birthday present for him. He loves to hang out with the girls.
So while they are running around tearing up the house I can scrap! And to help me scrap I have my wonderful friends at http://mommysavers.com/boards/crops/ to help. They are holding an online crop thru tonight. Starting Thursday the host posts 15 challenges you have to do 10 out of the 15 in order to qualify for the Queen of the Crop! They also post games along the way. It is a fun way to get your pages done and win some cool prizes!
Here are some of the pages that I have done for it:





These are two of my favorites. I really love the one about Ashlynn and her personalities and then the one of her and Savannah is just priceless. The survey goes like this if you cannot read it.
Savannah Grace
Eye/Hair
Blue/Blonde
Birthday
December 24th
Brothers/Sisters
Jon, Chris, Ray
Grade/Teacher
1st Grade/Mrs. R
Favorite Color
Sparkley Purple
Favorite Movie
Cars
Favorite TV Show
Spongebob
#1 Rule if You Were President
You have to enjoy Winter
Favorite Animal
Bunnies, Ponies and Kitties
What is the # for 911
Police-911
What is your favorite Game
Crazy 8’s and Tonka Trucks
How would You Solve World Hunger
Give Granny Smith Apples to everyone and make sure that they are chewy and yummy
Who is the President of the USA
George W Bush
What is the Capital Of Wisconsin
Madison
What is Your Favorite Book
The Secret Garden
Who Discovered America
Pilgrims or Columbus
What is 299 +101
1000
Who Invented the Telephone
Einstein

Survey Conducted on May 12, 2007
Ashlynn Marena
Eye/Hair
Brown/Brown
Birthday
August 4th
Brothers/Sisters
Brooklyn, Kaylin
Grade/Teacher
1st Grade/Mrs Houk
Favorite Color
Blue
Favorite Movie
Honey I Shrunk The Kids
Favorite TV Show
Hannah Montana
#1 Rule if You Were President
No Fighting In America
Favorite Animal
Fish
What is the # for 911
I Don’t Know…I mean 911
What is your favorite Game
Princess and Video Games
How would You Solve World Hunger
Send packages of food to everyone so that
they are never hungry again
Who is the President of the USA
President Bush
What is the Capital Of Wisconsin
Washington
What is Your Favorite Book
Lion King
Who Discovered America
Pilgrims
What is 299 +101
400
Who Invented the Telephone
The President

Survey Conducted on May 12, 2007

I just love there answers! They are so thought out and cute!

OH MY!

Our Bank was robbed last night ........And I was MINUTES from being in there! If my kids would not have been nagging me to with I would have been in there when it happened! I pulled into the bank at about 5:00pm, it was already dark and there were people all over the parking lot catching what looked like money blowing around. I was thinking that is weird. Maybe someone accidentally dropped some and it started blowing away. The winds were like 30-40mph yesterday. Well I walked to the door and there were like 4 people on the phone, one guy tells me that the doors are locked and a women points to the door and in the corner on the outside is the a bundle and I mean a bundle of money! Right out in the open! It was covered in red. The guy says that it must be the dye packets? I looked inside the bank and there was one teller just balling and the other 2 were scurrying around everywhere! It was like out of a movie! The police were not even there yet that is why I knew that it JUST happened! I pretty much fast walked back to my car and left. There is no way that I was going to stay and have to get pulled aside for a witness because I didn't see anything. One lady on my wayback to the car asked what happened. I told her and she was like "oh for crying out loud of all days!" I am just glad I didn't have the kids with me. But I am irritated because I needed to get to the bank and it is 15 minutes for me to get there. The other closest one is 30 minutes! I could have went since they are open till 7pm but I will do it today. I tell you it must have been luck that was on my side last night. I will have to see if I can find it in the newspaper as it wasn't on the news. Randy kept asking if I was trying to catch the money! No! I just wanted to get out of there! So I had an eventful evening to say the least!

Ooops!

I cannot figure out how to get the pic smaller. You can kind of see what she did. Not so pretty. lol

Is It That Time Already?

I cannot believe that Christmas is right around the corner! I have so much to do this year to get ready for it and no money. I really need to think of some easy cheap ways to make this a great Christmas. Now that we are in the house the whole family is coming here this year. That means meals, presents and entertainment. Good thing my parents left all of their Christmas decorations here. We would have enough but I would love to decorate the whole house.
We decided that we are doing only kid exchanges this year. This will decrease our amount spent by a lot!
Randy says that he has the Christmas money thing taken care of, I just hope that he is right. I am trying to get more creative and think of things to make for everyone. I am not sure if some people would like a premade scrap album or not? Not everyone is into that. So anyway I am sure I will be back talking about what I have done to get ready for it. I really am excited to have it here and decorate and everything.

Now I told you that Kaylin was a little devil. Well guess what she did on Thursday.



Yes that is marker but to her it was makeup. And it wasn't the easiest to get off either. She got into Ashlynn's Marker Book set and they are regualar markers not the ones that say washable. ugh. So we spent a couple days at home because I was too embarrased to bring her out into public because people would think that she was beaten up! I don't want Social Services knocking on my door. I didn't do anything wrong except let my kid have a little fun with a marker. And really, I didn't even let her do that she did it to herself! So that is the life of a 2 year old. I am sure that there is more to come!

Drained and Depressed

This daylight savings is really draining us! The girls are so thrown off at night. We have been bathed and fed by 6pm! So we clean up and go and do arts and crafts. Now mommy is definately ok with this, and daddy well I think that he is ok with it too! He is down there with us crafting away! Shhhhh don't tell him I told you though! Again I would show you pictures but I really have no idea how to get pics loaded onto the blog.
So things have been really tight around here. I am in such a funk and cannot get out of it. All I do is sit here and stare at the computer. I really need to be cleaning my house and working on the letters with the girls.
I am going to try and get on here every other day or so and soon I will be posting my scrap projects everyone. I really want to figure out this picture thing. It is driving me batty. Tootles for now!

Sunday=Lazy

So it is Sunday and we have proclaimed it our lazy day. Randy is out with a severe back strain and the girls and I are trying to clean up so we can get some Christmas projects done. I will post pictures later if I can figure out how!
I think I am also going to go through some more things of my parents in the basement to get on Ebay. I really want to get their stuff out of here and I know that they do not have the room. But like I said it is Sunday and today = lazy!
We have been struggling lately to pay the bills so tomorrow I am calling Walmart to see if they have any 3rd shift positions open. Really this would be ideal because Mon-Thur are the only nights that Randy does not work. Plus working there you get a nice discount and with Christmas coming pretty quickly that is definately a BONUS!!
So I guess this is short today but maybe once we get some projects done I will post another. We will see what we really get done today.

Meet The Clan

So this is a start. I have no freakin' clue what I am doing but here I am! Here is the story of lives of 5 Goodchild(ren). There is Randy the dad, Sonja the mom and their 3 sassy yet adorable and incredibly cute girls. Ashlynn is 7, Brooklyn is almost 4 and Kaylin is almost 3. [IMG]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q257/sgoodchild/The%20Girls/DSCF0103.jpg[/IMG]We live in East Troy, WI.
Randy- He works hard for the money and he better treat it right! LOL!! He does work hard and tries to provide a happy lifestyle for us. 2 Full time jobs and one is a firefighter. We love our HERO!

Sonja-Stay At Home Mom, Full Time Working Mom, Stay At Home Mom, I can't decide so it changes all of the time. I am so undomesticated it isn't even funny! I can't cook, I can't clean and I certainly am not organized with my kids. But for right now I guess my mac and cheese will have to suffice.

Ashlynn- A 2nd grade drama queen. But along with drama comes one smart little girl! Every day she brings home worksheets and almost everyday they are 100% correct! This week she has had a 100% week all week!

Brooklyn- Princess Brookie. I never thought I would have a princess. Ashlynn was so sporty and never wanted to wear dresses that I never expected it from my 2nd child. Brooklyn LOVES dresses, she loves baby dolls and she loves to play pretend make-up. She is definately one girly girl!

Kaylin- Miss K. So here is my 3rd girl. Not a lick like her sisters! She is spunky, and outgoing, talkative and funny. She is so witty that I will be sure to be posting her next adventure here. Be on the lookout!

So that is the Goodchild 5. I will be back with something new soon. Stay tuned!