My Life in Numb3rs

10: pm--the time Glen gets home on an average night
9: the average number of kids in and out of our house on a summer day
8: hundred dollars at Costco for replenishing the house after nearly running out of everything--including printer ink, laundry detergent, olive oil, tp, diapers, and various other pricey items...AAAACK! (Disclaimer: I hadn't been to Costco in 4 months and I've NEVER spent even half this amount before!)
7: th grade!!! we have a middle school student living in our house!

6: new conveniences this summer...new computer, high speed internet, new washer & dryer, new bathrooms, new microwave, and new curtains!!!5: number of times per week Cami cooks us up something delicious--pancakes, cookies, cinnamon rolls, French toast, lemon bars, etc. Yummmmm!
4: more days until school starts!!!!
3: the number of weeks this summer Glen has been out of town
2: full loads of dishes (at least) and another 2 full loads of laundry--each and every day!
1: am--the time I collapse into my bed each night

110° and still smiling!

It's been a LONG time since we've been to an amusement park...1999 to be exact. Last year we really started getting the itch (and the begging from kids) to go to Busch Gardens.

Twice last autumn, we planned a vacation to Williamsburg to take the family to Busch Gardens. Twice last autumn, we were foiled in our plans...once by hurricane remnants and once by torrential all-day downpours. So this year we decided to try a little earlier in the year in hopes of missing the main hurricane time.

It worked--we finally got lucky this year! No hurricanes and nary a drop of rain! Instead it was a major heat wave with highs in the hundreds and super high Virginia humidity that made our skin glow with perspiration!

Here are four of the kids on the first ride we came to in Busch Gardens...they were so excited!

And lest you think from looking at the previous post that Emma had a horrible time...we saw a lot more of this cheesy, happy Emma than the sad little girl 1/2 inch too short for the ride!

Not only was she happy but boy was Emma a nut! She went on every roller coaster and scary ride they'd let her on and she'd get off giggling about how much fun it was!

EEEEEK! Are my kids touching a fifteen foot long python??

Cute little matching girls!

Friday at Busch Gardens seemed about as hot and sticky as any day could possibly be, but much to our surprise Saturday was even hotter! We seriously had a layer of sweat form on us walking from the hotel door to our car at 10am. Ugggh!

Thankfully Saturday was for Water Country USA. So we slathered sunscreen on every square inch of exposed skin probably 95 times and had a fantastic time playing in the wave pool, shooting down water slides, and relaxing on the lazy river.

And the highlight of the weekend for Glen?

Pompeii! As this 4 1/2 foot dolphin is dubbed by our kids. Glen made a 3-point shot in one of the basket shooting games and won this ginormous prize. He was really excited about his manly achievement and the kids were ecstatic when he let them choose which one to take home...however he did not quite receive the enthusiastic response from me that he was hoping for. I immediately questioned not only how we were going to carry it with us the rest of the day but where on earth we were going to keep it when we got home??!! It was actually pretty sad, I literally rained on his macho pride, nonetheless "Pompeii" is here at our home...taking up an entire twin sized bed.

I shouldn't admit this, but I'm actually hoping he'll get a hole in him soon so I'll have a good excuse to dispose of him.

We were completely exhausted by the end of the weekend...so exhausted that Ellie slept until 10:30 Sunday morning, but what a fun way to end a long summer!

Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

1 lb. italian sausage (mild or spicy according to your preference)
3/4 cup onion, diced
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/4 tsp. garlic, pressed
1/3 cup chopped bacon (I use the good bacon bits)
4 cups water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup kale or spinach leaves, chopped (I use spinach)
1/3 cup cream

Remove the casings from the sausage and cook sausage in frying pan, like you would for ground beef. Set aside.

In a saucepan add chopped potatoes, diced onions, and bouillon to the water. Boil just until potatoes are tender, then add garlic, sausage, and bacon bits. Simmer for a few minutes then add chopped spinach and cream and simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and serve hot with breadsticks and a salad. Yummm!

3 feet 11 1/2 inches...

We just returned from a trip to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg...our first amusement park trip in the 21st century!

Most of the big rides had a required height of 48 inches and Emma was just barely below the bar as you can see from this picture. However because she was so close most of the ride operators still allowed her to ride...except for "Tradewinds". One of those super fast, spinning rides that make my head spin just thinking about it. She was really pumped about going on and did not take the news well that this would be her first rejection of the day. Even after a little gentle persuasion on Glen's part they just wouldn't budge...poor Emma!

Need to laugh...

so I just read an article in the September Ensign about how we need to be more like children and laugh more often.

To help you out in this humor endeavor, I think you should try out this link to an ebay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675#description

I've never met the seller, but I definitely felt an immediate kinship to her after reading the description. :)

Summertime musings...

Ahhhh it's that time of year. Everyone's either on vacation, just coming home, or in our case just leaving for one final hurrah to Busch Gardens. I can't lie...I am more excited than I've ever been in my entire life for school to start. It's been a LONG summer!

I really haven't had much time to pursue many of my own hobbies...this blog has been my guilty pleasure, whereas my scrapbooking, running, reading, card making, etc. have truly suffered from neglect lately. I have grand visions of how much easier life will be when I only have 2 kids at home during the day--only 11 more days! My scrapbooks will get caught up, I'll lose the extra weight, catch up on my reading, my house will be so organized--it'll be so great! Hehe! Maybe I'm getting a little carried away with my idealistic visions, but hey a girl's gotta dream!

So this picture is to show what I like to do for fun when there's actually a little time for fun in my life (only 272 more hours)! Cards. Cards have become my "mini-scrapbooking" when I need to let a little of my creative juices flow, without making quite the mess that scrapbooking makes.

As I sit here and type the call of my messy house, tired kids, and bags to pack are beckoning for some TLC, so away I go still dreaming...

Somewhere over the rainbow...

We love the National Zoo...it's close to home, it's free, has cute panda bears...

...emus, elephants, eagle statues to climb on...

...AND water misters to cool us off after climbing all those hills!

Cheap Entertainment...

...and a good use for all of my unfinished projects! Cami and Emma have raided my fabric drawers (you know all of that fabric I bought to make something really fun and never quite got around to it).
So they've taken my fabric and created these elaborate toga type outfits with capes and sashes. It's fun to watch them use their creativity and try out some new fashion, but I can't help but feel a twinge of guilt looking at them all wrapped up in the fabric that was supposed to be a really cute dress or frilly curtains for their bedroom!
In the midst of their fabric fashion escapades, they discovered a much more exciting treasure...one that did not require creative wrapping. After many years hanging out of sight in the far end of my closet they found the two wedding dresses. They were in heaven as they tried on the mass of silky satin, beads, and lace (I on the other hand cried when I tried to join in on the fun and realized I couldn't zip mine up anymore) :( And just so you don't have any misconceptions about how many times I've been married...one is mine and one is my sister, Kristina's, left long ago in my closet because she didn't think her 300 sq. ft. apartment in NYC had sufficient space to store it.

Hmmmm...I wonder where Ellie gets her flair for fashion from?

Ellie's Fashion Tips

In case you're looking for some fashion tips, look no further...Ellie to the rescue.

Ellie's Fashion Tips
with illustrations (in order)

#1: Twisted swimsuits are very "in" this year and really it's quite attractive to put both legs through the same leg hole.
#2: A mitten on one foot and a glove on the other keeps things interesting.
#3: Winter boots and pigtails are classics that will never go out of style!
#4: Pants are over-rated.
#5: Tights and t-shirts under a swimsuit make you stand out in a crowd.
#6: Wearing your pants tucked underneath your tights is very attractive and provides a nice cushion should you happen to fall.
#7: You can never go wrong with a pink tutu and cute hat!
#8: If the twisted swimsuit look didn't work out for you, then try the swimsuit inside-out and backwards!
#9: When all else fails wear a dinosaur costume. If anyone says something you don't like you can just growl at them.
#10: MOST IMPORTANTLY....change clothes as often as possible.

Master Bathroom: Before and After

Here is the first of our three remodeled bathrooms, which was gutted to the frame and rebuilt! My cousin, Aaron has been hard at work and we are SO excited about how well they're turning out.
BEFORE--The lovely late 60's design

OUR BATHROOM AT THE DUMP--right where it belongs!

THE FROSTED GLASS SHOWER DOOR, NEWLY TILED SHOWER, NEW TOILET

NEW MEDICINE CABINET, DRYWALL, MIRROR, & SINK

NEWLY TILED FLOOR, NEW VANITY & SINK

YAY!!!

Curtains: Before and After

DINING ROOM: BEFORE

Anyone who's been in our house the last year has probably realized that sometimes small decisions can be paralyzing for us. We redid the walls and added crown mouldings in February, and in that process took down the old ratty curtains and threw them away. Now for 6 whole months we've been without curtains, with the whole world looking in on our house every night.

DINING ROOM: AFTER
So what's so hard about picking out curtains? My problem was that I wanted curtains that we'd be happy with for forever...or at least for eighty years and I didn't want to mess up.

LIVING ROOM: BEFORE

Our living room looked so barren without any curtains and I'm not going to mention how we also took down all of the pictures in February and still haven't hung them up ( you know--since they need to look good for eighty years)--so we're talking a VERY barren living room.

LIVING ROOM: FIRST AFTER

But barren no more. We still haven't hung back up the pictures, but the curtains actually add a significant homey feeling to the room and have inspired me to start looking at our pictures again to think about where to hang them.

LIVING ROOM: AFTER AFTER
Since the birthday photo was taken in July-- we changed our mind (*gasp* what a surprise)! In this darn darkened picture (my poor photography skills are to blame) you can see that we've made the striped valance go all the way across the top with the floral valances peeking out from behind the stripes...which is how it looks today [and for the next eighty years]!

Basement Bathroom dedication

Look! No more holes in the ceiling and wall. The toilet flushes everytime and the peeling pink and white wall paper is no more!

This bathroom is dedicated to all those of you who have stayed in our basement and had to use it in its awful state...Heather, AnnaLisa, Matt, Kristina, Mom, and especially to you Dad...our most vocal advocate for redoing it!

Mmmm...mmmm good!

These pictures are classics in the Crain family. Ellie and her cousin Andrew started off on this blanket right next to each other.

Andrew fell fast asleep, but Ellie was squirming all over and found a tasty new appendage to suck on! Andrew didn't mind a bit!

Discrimination!

"Why won't they let penguins into their store Mom? I like penguins."

In reality the sign says "No Puffin' Please" as in no smoking, but he was quite offended that penguins would be excluded from entering the fishing store he noticed this sign on.

Since we've been home whenever Adam plays with one of his penguin toys he loves to hypothesize what this store would do to his penguins. Maybe make them stay in the car, or maybe get mad at the toy...he's still so confused at how anyone could possibly not like penguins. Adam is awesome!