Where's the camera?!

I don't know. Just use the phone.

Hence the quality of picture is not great. Regardless, we had a very blessed Christmas.

Better pictures to come.

Vanessa with her telescope.

Harley with her DSi.

Mo with her baby doll.

Ugh. Merry. Christmas.

Every year, for some reason, Vanessa HAS to get her picture taken in front of a Christmas tree at Walmart. It's first appearance in the store is apparently tradition in her mind and she needs to have her picture taken in front of it.

This year, Harley happened to be with us when we caught first sight of the tree. As you can see, Harley is not as enthusiastic about the "tradition".

If I didn't have Mo, I promise you this would be our family Christmas card. Cracks me up.

HALLOWEEN 2010

Vanessa as the Mad HatterHarley as a Zombie Cheerleader
Mo as a Monkey

My nephew, Tyler, joins us every year for Trick or Treat. He was Michaelanglo.

PUMPKIN SHOW - MO DAY

Yes, I was at Pumpkin Show everyday. It's an addiction, I admit it.

Friday was Mommy & Mo day. Just me and my baby. We had a great time!

Mo BEFORE the ride started. They had to stop the ride in the middle. My fearless little girl apparently doesn't like the feeling of dropping to the ground. LOL

We ran into cousin Olivia. They rode the little ferris wheel together. So cute!
Mo looking down on Circleville from the giant ferris wheel.
The day before I took Vanessa and Harley for rides and fun. We took the obligitory picture with the Pumpkin Man.
(Top secret: the Pumpkin Man's name is Tom. He lived beside my Grandma Louise when I was growing up. It's so weird to see him as the Pumpkin Man now.)

Texas, Y'all!

I was in Dallas/Fort Worth last week for a Statistics and Data Analysis Conference (try to contain your excitement!)

Highlights of the trip:

Longhorn steer (They still trade cattle at the Stockyard)

Dallas Cowboy Stadium

On my way HOME!!!

UPDATES

Let's see...

Vanessa and Harley are taking piano lessons. That was Step 1 of Harley's plan to learn all instruments. She was a little disappointed because the student after her played a song for her. The teacher wanted to show the girls how much you can learn in just a year or two. Harley was not impressed. Her critique? "That barely sounded like a song. How long has she been playing? 2 years? Umpf." Who knew I had a 6 yr old music critic?

Adrienne is using more words. That's a great improvement. She wasn't using very many words 6 months ago. Her favorite pharse? "Are you out of your mind?!"

Girls are sweet and lovely. HA!

Vanessa and Harley getting ready to go to school on picture day. They got so many compliments on how beautiful they were. It's odd to see each other out of uniform.

Mo loves to grab my phone and say cheese.Picture of Harley overcoming her fear. She stressed and cried about climbing OVER the monkey bars for an hour before going through with it. I was so proud of her!

1st Day of School 2010-2011

My big 2nd Grader!

"Mama." "How's this for a pose?"

Vanessa's Class

My big 1st Grader! "Stay out of my picture Mo" "Look how sweet I am!""This is my desk."

"Do we have to hug?"

They had to have the same shoes.

Why can't everyone look the SAME direction?!

Tony has begun the countdown 'til Mo starts preschool!

INFLUENCE

Why I'm Anti-Social

Reason #33

Vanessa and Harley want to have lip rings like cousin Brittani.

Oh Harley.....

Why why why

The girls and I were getting ready for bed last night. I went into our main bathroom. I notice some curly locks of hair on the floor. There are only 2 people in the house who has hair that curly, Harley and Adrienne. Adrienne's hair is in braids so by the power of brilliant deduction I go out on a limb and assume they are Harley's curly locks.

I call Harley back to the bathroom and ask her if it is her hair. She looks apprehensive but cops up to the fact that it is indeed her hair. At first she says it just came out when she was brushing it after her shower. See, the past few days she has been brushing her own hair (yea for me!). I also notice at this point that a razor is laying out on the sink. Again, my ingenious investigative skills kick in (it is what I do for a living...) and I ask Harley if she used the razor to cut her hair. She denies it but then I give her the look and she confesses that she used the razor to cut her hair on one side because it was shorter than the other.

She did a fairly decent job, I didn't notice when she came out. We even sat and watched Clean House and I never noticed (no comments!). I told her if she was concerned about her hair we would have gone to the salon. She said she wanted me to save my money. HA!! From a girl who asks for a milk shake every single day.

Then she also said "I should tell you more." Please do. "Feel my arm, see how smooth? I didn't even hurt myself!" Her arm was smooth. It was also hairless. As are her legs now.

Before you ask, yes the razors were put away. After her eyebrow shaving at the beginning of the school year I put them up. Why are my girls so fascinated with hair and hair removal?!

Oh my, whatta day...

Dateline 2010, 24 May, Columbus, Ohio -

It was going to be a full day. It was Harley's 6th birthday. She was taking cupcakes to share with her class. I had 2 doctor appointments in the morning.

Harley had a spider bite on her upper leg. I gave her benadryl and cortisone cream Sunday and Monday morning. She did not have a fever, chills or aching so the plan was to wait until after school to see if it looked better. It just so happened that the Fire Dept was at the school that day to show the kids the fire trucks. Harley showed the EMT her bite. The EMT sent her to nurse's office and wouldn't let her back with her class. Then the EMT and the school nurse talked about Harley while she is sitting just feet from them. She hears "infection", "can't be around other kids", etc. The school calls and says we need to come and get her because the EMT fears she has a staph infection and she will not be allowed back in the class. She completely missed out on HER birthday cupcakes. She was devastated. She thought she was going to lose her leg!

I took her to our pediatrician. She confirmed it is a spider bite but there is NO staph infection. She gave her antibiotics and said to keep up on the benadryl and cortisone cream.

While we were at the doctor's office, Adrienne went to jump on a bench that was up against a window. The window sill was marble. She jumps and smacks her chin on the marble. Busted her chin open! The doctor looks at her and says she does need stitches. She however, doesn't do stitches on the face. So I had to take all 3 girls to the Children's close to home where they put 5 stitches in my baby's face. She was a trooper! While being stitched up she didn't even move let alone cry. I was so proud of her.

My doctor's appointments found that I will probably have one procedure done in about a month. A tiny one, no big deal.

Also, I will have some IV steroids over the next 4 days. At least I won't h ave to be admitted to the hospital. I can come and go over the next 4 days. I also chose a DMD (disease modifying drug). I went with Betaseron. It has a small needle, the medicine does not need to be stored in the fridge, the drug company will cover my co-pay costs so the medicine will actually be free! I will also be checked to see if I have carpal tunnel trouble.

I'm exhausted today!!

Professional like Pictures

Vanessa: looks like Grandma Woods

Harley: looks like Uncle Scott (Woods)

Adrienne: looks like daddy!

EASTER PHOTOS ~ 2010

Aren't they precious?!

PRAYERS

A friend and co-worker lost their house yesterday to a house fire. The house is a total loss. Her family made it out unscathed and for that we are so thankful.

Please keep the Lansing family in your prayers.

Public Service Announcement: the fire was caused by a Glade Plug-In air freshener with an attached electrical outlet. I removed all plug-in air freshener's years ago but if you have them I suggest removing them for safety.

HARLEY-ISM

"We've all lived together a long time. I think we need a break, it's getting a little boring."

Standing in His presence...

with Angels all around.

I was saying our nightly prayers with Adrienne. We said "Amen" and she looked up, gasped and smiled. Then started waving. She was so happy. She tapped my arm and pointed up so I could see too. I smiled and waved. And cried.

I couldn't see what she was seeing, but I saw it in her face. It was so beautiful.

FUNNIES

#1 - We were in dire need of a dryer. Ours was so ghetto. Everything had to be dried twice. The door was broke so it was propped shut with a shower curtain rod. Pathetic. I ordered a new washer and dryer (You have to buy them together, it's law. Look it up.) from Sears. Sears has gone down hill. They were terrible to work with and I cancelled my order. Snow and sick children have prevented me from really getting out to look. I couldn't stand it anymore and took all 3 girls with me last night to look for a new washer and dryer.

I went to ApplianceSmart. They don't have carts or anything to strap a 2 yr old in. I guess they figure you can't put a stove in a cart so why bother. I'll tell you why they should bother. Adrienne didn't want to be held. When I put her down she would either run or just lay on the floor. The floor wet from dirty snow. I quickly picked out a new set and we went up to the counter to set everything up. Adrienne was bothering the calculator, phone, whatever she could get her hands on. To distract her, I put her on my shoulders. She then grabbed my hair with both hands and yelled, "YEE HAW!!!!"

#2 - We’ve all heard/seen parents rolling their eyes, sighing and walking away. THIS is why we do it. I was reading a bible story to the girls before bed. It had Psalms 23 written in a kid-friendly way. I repeated it several times. I told them to close their eyes and listen to the words. They did. When it I was done Harley opens her eyes and says with a grin “wanna know what my brain was thinking the whole time?” Sure. “it was saying ‘I love chocolate. I love chocolate.’” Rolled eyes, sighed, walked away.

Little Diva is 2!

Can you believe it?

Seems like just last week it was only Vanessa and Harley. Now my BABY is 2.