updated.

So my computer has been working a little better today!! Click here to see the updated Not Me Monday with pictures (or just scroll down).

Been busy around here getting ready for company tomorrow!!! My parents are flying in late tomorrow night and will be staying with us, yes...in the camper!, until Tuesday! Should be a fun filled weekend!

Hiking on Friday, Washington DC on Saturday, Easter at Nathan's sister's house on Sunday, and who knows what on Monday!! Picnics...parks...good times should be had by all. AND it's going to be gorgeous weather to boot! In the 80s (upper 80s Friday!) all weekend. NICE!

Stay tuned for updates!! :)

Not Me! Monday!

(ive been having major comp problems! My internet is not working great and therefore wont let me sign into blogger! So since im doing this post from my phone i wont be able to include pics but promise to upload them when i can!)

While waiting for all the males in my family to get out of the restroom in the mall, i totally did not look over to see a mirror across the hall from me with my reflection in it. And since i was standing sideways, i was so not excited to see that it looked like all my baby fat was gone! And since i haven't seen my 'non-baby fat carrying' body in several years, i completely did not take a pic of myself in the mirror in the mall! Nope! Not me!



I since im not a dork and dont love to organize, i was not completely excited to alphabetize our dvds the other night. Nope! Not me!

This is not what I saw in the van the other day after telling the boys to stay awake so they would take a nap when we got home. They listen well....


And since my sons are not obsessed with putting things under their pillow to 'store' or to 'hide', and since my boys arent completely obsessed with ketchup, i did not hear myself ask Tiernan if the ketchup was under his pillow when i couldnt find it. Nope! Not me!

What havent you done this week?

Not me monday is a blog carnival created by mckmama (www.mycharmingkids.net)

peaceful walk.

So we went on a walk a few nights ago. Remember me talking about the "peaceful but not so peaceful" walk? Well, I'll explain....

The super nice horse farm owner down the road owns lots of land and has miles and miles of trails throughout his property. The trails are as wide as a normal road, he keeps them mowed, AND they are fenced on both sides!! So on a gorgeous night, we thought a family walk through the pastures and woods would be a great idea.....or maybe not!

The scenery was gorgeous and Nathan even took Tiernan down to find the river, where they also found a white sugary-sandy little beach!

What was it that wasn't exactly peaceful???? Well, only the fact that Caedmon and Brayan cried...I mean, BAWLED....the WHOLE ENTIRE TIME!!! They didn't want to walk, and we made them since pushing the stroller through that terrain was impossible. So they cried, and cried, and cried. I told Brayan all the cows that we passed we looking at him wondering what that cray noise was, but he didn't seem to care.





We finally made it back to the van while the sun was setting on the horions of the moutains. I would never get sick of the views out here!!

new territory.

Ok, so bare with me!!

I have so much that is swirling around in my head about stuff I want to blog about and some *new* stuff that I want to add to my blog periodically, such as 'space saving tips' (yeah, I've learned a lot about that lately!!) 'cooking tips', 'frugal tips', etc. I really don't know where to start!!

And now that the 5 out of 6 of us that have not been feeling well the past couple weeks are doing better, I think I might have some time to organize my thoughts!!

And speaking of organizing....I am still so excited to show you my Home Manuel that I made that I literally don't know how I lived before I had it!! It's my 'go-to' for most everything now!

But for now I will leave you with these 2 things....

1) SPACE SAVING TIP OF THE DAY....

If you need somewhere inside to hang clothes to dry and don't want them scattered around your house hanging on everything that has a hook or empty corner (been there, done that!), buy a tension rod and hang it across your bathtub. Then hang your wet clothes on hangers and hang them from the tension rod. You could also put the tension rod in a walk-in closet or if you're like me and just happen to have a bedroom that is only 2-1/2 ft wide, you could hang it in there!

2)IT WAS MY BABY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY!

Doesn't that just make ya laugh?! :) It was so nice out yesterday (almost 80!) and whenever I told her to look at mommy, she wrinkled up her face :)

It was also nice because Nathan got off work early because of some equipment problems, so he was home with us! We took a nice nap, all of us!, and then picked up some dilly bars at the DQ for dessert. Everyone, including Ariella, enjoyed those.

I really cannot believe this sweet girl is already a year old!! We were thinking back to her birth story and looking at the pictures when she was welcomed into this world at Grandma and Grandpa's and it seems as though it was a few short weeks ago!

She finally has a tooth though!! Her top front left tooth made an appearance a week or so ago! Now I'm sure all the rest will soon follow :) Her favorite (and only) thing she says is "Uh uh" (as in No). She says it in response to everything, it's so cute! She is also taking a few steps in between stuff (usually 3-6), but won't walk when we want her too. She is a happy baby and we have been completely blessed with having her in our family! We love you Ariella!!

And this is also 'new' territory for me because my baby just turned 1 and I am not pregnant NOR do I have a newborn! When Tiernan turned 1, I was pregnant with Caedmon. When Caedmon turned 1, Brayan was 2 weeks old. And when Brayan turned 1, I was pregnant with Ariella. Yes, it definitely feels a little weird but we are enjoying this stage. (But, yes, we would like more kids...:)

My other 'new' territory has been that I only have ONE CHILD in diapers!! It actually has been like this for a couple/few months now as Brayan was potty trained shortly after moving into the RV. (which is another thing I'll be posting about...potty training) I haven't had only 1 kid in diapers since Caedmon was born, 3-1/2 years ago! It's always been 2 kids and TWICE it was 3 in diapers at the same time! Whew! I hardly even feel like I change dipaers anymore...which is a great thing!! :)

Well, lunch time!

get well soon.

I tried to do a post last night but my pictures wouldn't work...still won't.

All the kids have been sick during the last week.

I caught what they had yesterday, still am not feeling great.

The water pipe slipped off the other pipe in the bathroom (nice description, I know...but I don't know what the parts are called!) and was gushing water every where. (Yes, again...last time it was in the kitchen, remember?) But I heard it pop and shut the water off immediately) And, again, it was a blessing that we were home and not gone!!! and that the cupboard that it busted in was the where we keep all the towels. But...we can't figure out how to make it right...so it's time to call a plumber tomorrow!

On a better note, it was 72 and sunny today, supposed to be 76 tomorrow and 78 on Sunday. I'll take that.

For now I'll leave you with this pic and explain the peaceful but soooo not peaceful walk we went on the other day in a different post...maybe when my pictures are working and when I don't have a fever.

stuck.

In my post about us going shopping last Saturday, I forgot to mention the funniest thing that I heard Nathan say....

We walked into a sporting goods store looking for work boots for Nathan. An employee asked if we needed help finding anything. He said he was looking for work boots. She pointed us to the back of the store. That's when he asked....

"Are those boots snake resistant?"

Excuse me?? Please tell me I did not just hear you ask if the boots were snake resistant?? That was about when I walked away from him pretending I had no idea who this guy was! Ha!

Ever since we moved here, Nathan has been constantly talking about snakes and spiders around here that are apparently dangerous. I'm sure there are some, but I try to not let it consume my thoughts ;)

Anyway......

Can you guess what these pics are of?





Let me explain...
First, once I closed the door, it would only open that far. SOmething was stuck in it. Second, I look down that tiny crack along the side of the door and saw a DVD stuck way back behind the door. Third, I spent a good half hour with two kitchen utensils trying very hard to manuver the DVD to get unstuck. It worked. Now I just keep trying to explain to my 2 yr old that we can't "hide" stuff in the door!

this weekend.

It rained. And rained. And rained some more!

The good news about that was that Nathan was home for 3 days!! Friday, Saturday and today he showed up for work and they sent the guys home shortly after that! It has been so nice having him around and really having a nice relaxing weekend!

I was able to do something that I normally don't do....grocery shop by myself!!! I never really thought I'd be so excited to go to a grocery store, but I was! So instead of my cart looking like this,


Or like this,


Or like this,


It was actually able to look like this!


It was definitely weird to ONLY have groceries in my cart!!

I even had some time to swing by Goodwill and check for any deals!

Then yesterday Nathan decided he didn't want to sit in the camper all day so we drove about 40 minutes to the city where his sister and family live. Nathan also knew that he wanted to buy each of the boys a new outfit(Ariella has plenty :). We have been so blessed by people giving us boy clothes that we literally have never purchased them actually outfits from the store, ever!! So it was fun to shop around (but a little difficult to please Daddy...he's picky!) After going to a bunch of stores with the kids, we decided to buy things later when the kids were at their cousins house.

Speaking of being at the mall with the kids...it still amazes me at all the stares we get!! We might as well be walking around in a clown outfit and a shirt with blinking lights! While pushing the double stoller and having Tiernan hold one side of the stroller and Caedmon holding the other, we get SO many lookers and people who will stop us or say comments loud enough for us to hear. We hear mostly postive comments or questions like "are these all yours?" "how old are you?" etc. Yesterday was probably the most fun we have had with 'onlookers'.

For example, while strolling through Penny's, a lady working there said "Ma'am" as I passed but I didn't know she was speaking with me so I kept on walking. She then said loudly "Excuse Me! Ma'am?!" (Nathan and the kids kept walking). So I turned, 'yes?' "Are those all your kids??" "Yes" "Those(as she points in their direction)..All your kids?!?!" "Uh, yeah" "And you look like that?!" ::what do you say to that?!:: --I smiled, and she continued-- "Those are all your kids and you look like that?? (She turns to grab another co-workers attention) "Hey, look!...Those are all her kids and she looks like this. Girl, you look fabulous!" --Still smiling and blushing, getting embarrassed since this lady wasn't exactly quiet-- "Thanks!" I said as I hurried to get back to my family who was now quite a ways ahead. So I guess when someone wants to stop me to give me a compliment I don't mind quite so much!! :)

So after we left the mall, we stopped by Sarah's house for a visit. Her and I ran to a couple stores, but since I was nervous about buying something for the boys that Nathan didn't like (heaven forbid! :), the only thing I got was a shirt for Tiernan and he ended up liking it! (whew!)

And since Sarah and Jack were so gracious to watch the kids for a while, we ran off to find some clothes! We went to a bunch of stores but ended up getting things from The Children's Place, Kohls, and JCPennys.

Can you tell why I sometimes have a hard time figuring out whose clothes are whose when I'm doing the laundry?!?


And after we got back, both of the little boys were sleeping! I told Sarah "Well, I guess we can leave again!" :) Caedmon was feeling a little under the weather and Brayan must of had a long day. I wish they would do this at home!!!




Since the little boys have a cough, I decided I would stay home with them while Tiernan and Nathan went to church. It's always fun for Tiernan to go with us alone, so he had a special time with Dad. Then this afternoon Nathan took the boys to the park so I was able to have some peace and quiet!!! I actually got a lot accomplished, mostly things that have to do with the 'homemakers manuel' that I'm making! I'm so excited about this...it's going to allow me to be soooo much more organized! I'm going to have lists for everything (daily, weekly, monthly tasks; grocery lists, receipts, menus plans, goals, budget stuff, book reading lists, contacts, and so much more!! I'll share more once I have a handle on it..right now I'm at the beginning stages.

Hope you all had a great of a weekend as me!!

blooming.

Even though we could not move out to the farm like anticipated, I've decided that I'm going to be thankful for where we are right now.

I'm thankful for the long driveway that we have.

I'm thankful that we don't have any next door neighbors to the right.

I'm thankful that a lot of people have moved out of the campground recently making a lot less traffic in here.

I'm thankful that we live within walking distance (about 1/3 of a mile) from a gorgeous horse farm with amazingly friendly owners who have told us to come over, feed the horses, and let the boys run as often as we want.



I'm thankful for the new friends I have made through our bible study.

I'm thankful for my 'old' friends coming to visit us, even though they now live over an hour away.

I'm thankful that we found a park less than 10 minutes from here that is absolutely beautiful, huge, peaceful, and quiet.





I'm thankful that the adults can still have fun at the park too.


I'm thankful that I have an amazing husband who works so hard to provide for his family.

I'm thankful that we just got a new bed and that someone in the campground was able to use our old one.

I'm thankful for the spring weather we have been having, allowing me to open the windows and get some fresh air.

I'm thankful that all the snow has melted.

I'm thankful that my parents are coming to visit in less than a month.

I'm thankful that I'm learning that if I practice being thankful for one part of my life, it will flow over into other areas as well.

I'm thankful that the Lord is teaching me to be content right where he has us.

When we were leaving Nebraska, one of my friends told me "Bloom where you're planted."

And that's exactly what I plan on doing.

monday.

Well I don't have too much for my Not Me Monday today...

The only thing I could think of quick was that last night as I was setting the table, Nathan says "How come we aren't using paper plates?"

Okay...so I've been using paper plates for supper (and maybe lunch!) for the most part to limit my dishes in the evening when my energy is pretty well spent!

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On a more sober note....

We thought we'd be moving in the next few days to a farm that had about a half an acre all fenced in, trees, just a perfect setting...but it fell through and won't happen. It's been a hard afternoon for me as I was so excited to move there to have a place for my boys to run, a place for us to plant a garden, a place to just enjoy the outdoors. We just have to trust that that is not where the Lord wants us at the moment and hopefully another door will be opened soon.

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Here is the snow we have left.



Not too much given that last month it looked like this!

today.

Today was "one of those days".....again.




But don't worry...I had it all picked up (and vacuumed!) by the time Nathan got home. And the boys were even sitting quietly on the couch when he walked in the door. If he only knew...

mini me.

Okay, so I couldn't resist making a skirt for Ariella that matches mine! (See post below if you haven't already!) I whipped it together just now within a few minutes.

I had a pair of pants that I put in the wash this morning to go into the Goodwill bag because they were getting short on her...perfect for making the skirt! I pulled them from the dryer (still wet!) in order to cut them and sew on the skirt pieces. (No, I couldn't wait for them to dry...I was too excited and motivated so I needed to do it then!)

Isn't it adorable?! I'm sure it will look WAY cuter on but since it is still wet...I'll hafta show you a picture of her in it another time :) I set the remote by it so you'd get an idea of how big it was.

What else can I make?!

broom skirt.

When we were back in Nebraska, I had gotten a skirt at the thrift store for $2.00 and a bunch (4 yards!) of fabric for $3.00 total, both of which I thought would work great to make a broom skirt with.

Since I'm (fairly) new at sewing and usually have no idea what I'm doing (remember how I could never be a quilter??), I searched the web for some directions in making a nice flowy broom skirt. I've made a couple skirts before, one from a pair of jeans and another from sewing 2 dresses together, but I hadn't made this kind of skirt yet.

Since I love the fabric, I have been excited to make it but since moving into the rv, I haven't really had the time or ambition to take out my sewing machine and start it. Well, yesterday I did it!!

I started in the afternoon and then put it away and finished after the kids went to bed. It was fairly simple and I followed these steps:

1) Measured my hips at the widest part and added 8 inches. That would be my first strip. Then added 12" to that and that was my 2nd, then 20" to the second and that would be my 3rd. (all 11" wide)

2)Cut the fabric into 3 long strips and sew them into tubes.

3)Then I cut the jean skirt about 10 inches from the top.



4)I gathered the fabric on the first tube and sewed it to the jean skirt. Now I had my first layer.


5)Then I repeated step #4 for the 2nd and 3rd tube.

6)Then I hemmed the bottom and....taadaa....a super cute skirt!

rv water tip.

To those followers of mine out there who are becoming full time rvers soon or who just have a camper that they use during the summer months, here is a water tip...

A while ago we noticed that our hot water starting to smell. At first it wasn't that bad, but then it got worse. It smelled like perm solution or as Tiernan thought "eggs". Yeah, not something you want to smell everytime you do the dishes or take a shower! The shower was the worst because you were breathing it in too, it was disgusting!

We kept putting it off though to figure out what it was because, well frankly, we had no idea what to do or where to start. Maybe if we just ignored it, it would go away?? Well, it didn't and it only got worse.

Sulfer smell...and bad. After finding some stuff out online and talking with Nathan's friend, we thought we had a pretty good idea of where to start.

Before leaving for church, we shut off the water and the water heater to let the water cool off a bit. (Remember that little switch that needs to be flipped...yeah, that one. Just needed to be turned off.) Then when we got back, Nathan pulled the plug outside and let all the water from the hot water tank drain out. Once it was out, we pulled out the anode rod out and rinsed it off. (The anode rod is a little tube-like thing that the 'icky' stuff in the water will 'eat' instead of the lining of your tank...yeah, it's a good thing!) There was still almost the whole rod left, so we knew that we didn't need to replace that.

Nathan did notice some chucks of stuff draining out of the tank, so once he turned the water back on, he left the plug out, letting the tank rinse out a bit. We also changed the filter we have outside on our hose since this water is nasty out here...bright brown, nice huh?! Then he put the plug back in, filled up the tank, turned the water heater back on, turned on the faucets to let the air in the tank release and after a minute or two, we had hot water that didn't smell!!!!

Whoo hoo!! Problem solved!!

Sooo, if you have stinky hot water, it might be as easy as draining your hot water tank!

We are just learning all the time around here!

Oh, and another thing we keep learning...yeah, it's taken us awhile...is that we have to remember to flip the switch (yeah, that one!) if the propane runs out during the middle of the night if we want to take a shower that has more than freezing cold water. I learned that the hard way (again!) the other day. I had to settle for washing my hair in the sink with cold water before leaving.

One of these times we won't forget!!

Hope that helps someone! :)

i lied.

I told you the next post in the "tour de rv" post was going to be the dining room. It's not. It's going to be a bedroom. And can you guess who's bedroom??

I'll give you a hint.....


Yes, it's sweet Ariella's!

Here is the view from the door....

..nice and wide, I know! When we first moved here, I had the hardest time trying to figure out where Ariella would sleep. For awhile she slept with me in our bed since she was pretty used to that anyway. But then she started moving at night...a lot...so I wanted to move her elsewhere. We tried putting the big pack n play out in the living room every night, that wasn't so fun. Then we tried putting it into the bedroom but it was too wide. Then I created a little 'fort' for her in the bunk bed with a blanket but it was too hard to get her in and out. Then I found the perfect solution!! A travel pack n play! It is 20% smaller than the normal size pack n play and is super light weight! It fits perfectly, as you can see, and the best part was that it was on clearance when I bought it and I saved $30!....and she's slept in it ever since!

I needed somewhere to put the coats...and in the closet there's not that much room so just about a week or so ago, I got a great idea! (To which Nathan said that it was my best idea yet!) I got a tension rod and hung it across Ariella's room above her bed...and that's where their coats go! Out of the way!

Since no one is sleeping the the bunk beds in her room, I use it for storage. I didn't want to have a bunch of stuff in them and not have them covered with something because I think that's such an eye sore...so I made curtains for them! I searched a bunch of places and had very limited selection for fabric so I decided to buy a queen sheet set, cut it, sew it, and make curtains! I just bought a couple long tension rods for this and I think it works like a charm. Now no one has to look at ugly totes. It makes it more clean looking.

On the top bunk, I keep the kids' books, egg cartons that need to go back to the farm, a tote with kids' sheets and pillow cases, and totes with all the kids' homeschool curriculm. On the bottom bunk, I keep some totes with toys, a tote with my creative memories albums in it, one with some bag activities for the kids, and some puzzles (I've since added a big tote with all the puzzles in it)


Under the bunks there are 6 drawers and in them is where I keep our video camera, plastic storage containers (for food, etc), paper plates and ziploc baggies, and some misc stuff like the bag that the pack n play goes in, etc.

This is the view of the closet (it's hard to get far enough away since the room is a whole 2 ft wide!)

On this side of the closet (it goes through into the boys' room) is where I keep the kids' shirts. Each child has their own stack. On the very bottom of the closet is where the rain boots go, as well as 2 baskets, one with hats, mittens, etc and one with shoes.


On the very top of the closet I keep diapers and wipes. Above the closet there is a storage space (see the door for it?) that also goes through to the boys' room and that is where I keep extra blankets!

There is a door that is next to her bed...you might have to scroll up and look at the first pic to see it...That is the 2nd bathroom. Maybe I'll clean it out in order to post pics, but for right now, it's full of empty boxes :)

And that's Ella Bella's room!

Not Me! Monday

Since I am used to my iphone and the screen going black after not being 'active' with the phone for a few seconds, I totally did not try to touch our tv screen when the screen went black while my husband was changing channels and I happened to be standing next to it. I mean, I definitely know the difference between a phone and a tv and would never be so silly to get them mixed up! Nope! Not me!

While out running errands the other day, I totally did not empty out my garbage can in the van, crawl into the back seat, and let my 2 and 3 yr old go potty in the empty garbage can! I would never be so lazy that I didn't want to take all 4 children out of the van and into the store so two of them could use the bathroom. Then, I did not empty out the garbage can onto the parking lot and rinse it with a bottle of water. Nope! Not me!

I was totally not nervous about working the 'do-it-yourself' car wash since I've never done it before. Then when I was almost done, I did not wonder what the little trigger was for. Then I did not realize that you had to pull the trigger for the 'power' rinse to come on. So I did not have to add more coins so I could go around my car again to get it clean. Nope! Not me!

And before leaving our friends house, I did not ask my husband if he needed to 'go potty' before we left, as if he needed me to remind him b/c couldn't take care of that on his own! Nope! Not me!

And we totally didn't almost burn our place down or flood it, all within the same day. Nope!

Not Me Monday is a blog carnival created by MckMama.