we thought we were going to win it

Today we took our Christmas pictures~ should I say part 1 of our Christmas pictures. ;)

I don't think we have ever done Christmas pictures when something didn't go wrong. I'm serious. This year it was the tri-pod. It broke, so my Dad rigged it up with duct-tape-- like we do when anything else breaks! ha. ;) It was the tri-pod that gave us problems last year too. what's up with us and tri-pods?

we finally got outside and started taking... after rigging the tri-pod up with duct-tape of course. ;)

this is the typical Christmas picture... everyone is smiling, we look happy to be having our picture taken..

same here... for some of us.

 but really this is what 99.9% of them ended up looking like.

                                                                        

This picture has my Dad and I  laughing, my mom looking annoyed, and Abigail in mid-blink. I think we need to send this one out-- at least we would be honest. ;)

needless to say-- we will be re-doing them on Friday. ☺

                              

The other day I walked outside to get the mail... I pulled out one of those scratch of winner things from a car place here in town. I went inside and being the gullible person that I am, I start to scratch it off, and match up the codes with the winning code. When I got to the second scratch off, I saw that the code matched the winning one. For a second I just ignored it and then started to think that maybe it was the winning one. I showed my mom and everyone else. We read all the info. about the winning prize. You could either win $17,000.00, or a car. (we all agreed that we would rather have the $17,000..ha!)

My mom was kind of reluctant to believe it, so Abigail called the place and asked the about it. They said that you would have to come by the place and see if the key fit the hole in the car. That afternoon when Abigail and my Mom were out running errands they stopped by there to see if it fit. We were all anxious that afternoon~at least I was. Like I said, I'm a gullible person.

Later the got home and told me the bad news...

We were not the winners!

dern.

There's always next time! :)

when people think your something that your not

Last Sunday we visited a church. About 20 minutes into the service Mama, and I took Lily Kate, and Levi out, because LK was being loud. Imagine that?! ;) As I was holding her and walking out of the sanctuary, she waved to everyone. Oh the joys of being a big sister! ha!

Well, there was a Man that was showing us the nursery, and Sunday school class that they would be in. Levi went into the class that he would be in with Mama, and a lady showed me Lily Kate's nursery class. First I was called her mother, then the teacher went on to ask me, "So what does your husband do?" {my chin dropped to the floor, my eyes bulged out of my head, and I fainted. ☺} I told her"SHE IS NOT MY DAUGHTER!!! I AM NOT HER MOTHER!!! I AM NOT MARRIED!!!" well, not really quite like that.

     Then a few minutes later, when back in Levi's class, Lily Kate was eating one of her crackers, and a little girl tapped me, and said, "Your daughter is trying to give me her cookie!". I smiled at her and laughed~ you have to some time. ;)

I'm off to go watch the Pioneer woman do a throw down with Bobbie Flay now!

Have a wonderful evening!

to the birthday boy

today is Levi's 4th birthday.

how time flies! I remember the day he was born-- doesn't seem like it was four years ago~

He is a very funny child. Very mature-- esp. his taste buds. ;)

He loves coffee, and sushi... My parents are taking him out for sushi this weekend. Isn't that just like a four year old?! ;)

He made up this thing that he tells all the women in His life when we leave to go somewhere-- "Your gorgeous, and pretty, and beautiful. Your my one star, I love you, your my pink bulldog, I love you. Bye!"
he's got it down pat, and never forgets to tell us. He's a little romeo. {wink}

I love you bud! Happy Birthday!

Love,
Ydia

I've been saying for a week now, "I'll do a post tomorrow"..and then tomorrow comes, and I don't do it.

..so I am sitting down, and will hopefully will get it posted.

I absolutely l.o.v.e this time of year. It is beautiful!!

I love wearing sweaters, and boots. I love all the colorful trees. I love that Thanksgiving day will be here soon. I love that Christmas will be here right after that~

"The Girl's" (my mom, Abigail, me, and Lily Kate) went to the city that is near us today. We spent the day shopping. It was such a fun time. Our whole family has gone a couple times, and we always feel rushed, grouchy, and it isn't fun. ;) so just the girls went today~

The town that we live in is small. The shopping is horrid. Before we moved up here, my mom was e-mailing a lady that lived here, and she said that you can just about see one end of the mall from the other. Unfortunately, it is very true! ;)

Mama and I went into a consignment shop a couple days ago. It was depressing. We didn't find anything, and the prices where on the higher side.
     
          There were two women that walked in , that reeked of cigarette smoke (I don't mean to sound snotty here!), and said, in a very hick accent, "They've got some gorgeous sweaters here". I felt like saying, "Oh really? I have looked at all racks, and haven't seen a single one!". Ha!

But today we went to a consignment shop, and were expecting it to be really good, and were very disappointed! It was mostly clothes for business woman, and not really what we were looking for. I did end up getting a pair of jeans, a sweater, and shirt, that I really liked. In the last town that we lived in there was a shop that we loved! We almost always left the store with a couple of things. I guess we got spoiled!

(lily kate has finally grown enough hair to have pig-tails!)

Last Sunday afternoon I baked sweet potato pies. They were a hit! I got the recipe off of foodnetwork.com. It was a Paule Deen recipe~ I told my mom that Paula Deen knew what she was doing when it came to sweet potato pie! ;)

On my next post I plan on doing a tour of our house-- now that it is starting to come together. I will try to do it tomorrow~

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sorry it's been so long since I last did a real post.

I have been to busy climbing mountains of brown moving boxes. I couldn't seem to find my way to the computer~ ;)

we have gotten a lot done~ The 5,000 boxes of books are finally narrowed down to about 3-- that took a while.!.

The man who packed them, said that it was the biggest amount of books he had ever packed-- at least by himself. That's saying a lot, considering that he packs up houses all the time!

We are really liking our house~ it's extremely homey.

One of the many things I love about it is that most of the house has all the original doors from when it was built in 1954. Old doors are so much prettier than new doors. I love the doors knobs-- even despite the fact that on some of them they will only open, if you turn it a certain way; and the doors knobs will fall off if you shut it to hard... I still love them! ;)

I painted an old book shelf that the owners left. It was wood, but I painted it black. When I first started to paint it, it looked dark blue. Everyone thought so~ I was a little worried there for a minute. Then it started to dry and it looked black. Wheeh! ;)

 It now resides in the living room holding our books, and DVD's. I'm going to have to touch up on the places where the paint chipped off when I was loading books on it. The paint person at "Lowe's" told us the wrong kind, so it's not holding up to great.. oh, well!

 It's supposed to snow here tomorrow..(or so they say), snow already? I mean it is November, but still-- doesn't seem like it could possibly snow already! The year has flown by, wasn't it just yesterday that we were watching the ball drop?

Then when I think about all that has happened this year, it does seem possible.

I am singing Christmas carols, and listening to a Christmas CD. I guess it is that time of year again~

 I am listening to "The Best Day" (Taylor Swift), and when I scrolled down to the picture above, she sang, "Now I know why all the trees change in the Fall", kind of appropriate, don't you think? ;)

i'm going to go head over that mountain of brown boxes now...

long time..no blog

I know I haven't posted in a while..things have been extremely busy. My Mom fell and broke her arm on Monday! Yes, you just read that correctly-- she broke her arm!! Who would think that between her and her six kids, she would be the one to get hurt~ Kind of surprising, isn't it?  ;)

We got all of our things back Thurs.~ It's so good to see everything again-- my clothes esp. {smile}

I won't be able to post again until Monday, when we get our computer hooked back up, at our house.

bye~

ladybugs on the wall

Today was a long day. We headed over to the house after Mama, and Daddy got home from getting paint. We finally have all the colors picked out. Hallelujah!
Anyways~
We got over there and started painting. And that is what we did all day. Abigail, and Daddy are still over there painting. I came home to help Mama with the boys, and fix supper. I snuck down to the computer, while I was eating! ;)

It wasn't necessarily a bad day, just long, and tiring. My back hurts from bending over a lot-- I can't imagine what I'm going to feel like when all of this is over... mentally and physically. ;)

I think it is ladybug season. They were everywhere at the house. We had the windows open, and they would come inside, and get stuck in the paint. ugg!

I was looking at the wall just a few minutes ago, and counted three crawling around. I have no idea how they got in. but they did... ;)

Lily Kate is laying her head down on my arm as I type. She fell asleep that way this morning. She has her blanket that she is attached to, and we are listening to music. I think shes feeling cozy~

Now she's dancing. Now she's laying down. Now she's spreading out.. making herself at home. Now she's looking around. Now she's humming to herself. Now he is headed to bed.

She's got it pretty simple. ;)

.......
goodnight,
Lydia

Giveaway~

Well,  I'm not giving it away, but Carlotta from "Pastor's Girl's Ponderings", is! She is giving away an "Organic Bloom" picture frame. It is very unique, and so pretty!

All you need to do is go to her blog, (just click on "Pastor's Girl's Pondering's, above.) and read how to enter!

Good luck!

Lydia..

P.S) Her blog is great, and one of my favorites! I'm sure it will be one of yours, too!

i'm not her mother

alright~ i'm going to share a funny thing that happened to me and my mom yesterday at Wal-Mart.

We were standing in line at the photo center, a lady walked by and accidentally dropped a small, light-weight, card board box on Lily Kate.
She didn't get hurt--I promise. ;) But when the lady started apologizing to her, she busted out crying, (she hates strangers!), so  I picked her up, and was comforting her. Well...

A lady in the line, asked my mom, "Are you her grandmother?".
seriously?
I guess that makes me the mother. :/

A lot of people mistake Abigail and I for her mother, when we are out with her. I guess it doesn't help that I push her stroller. :)

You should see some of the looks that we have gotten. ha!

..~**..~**..~**

Last night my Mom, Abigail, Lily Kate, and I went to "Lowe's" to pick out paint colors.
Before we left I went up stairs to my room, to get ready.

You know how your hair looks on the second day without washing it... well, I had "second day hair", yesterday. ;)

I hate second day hair-- it looks awful!

Mine didn't look good yesterday-- at all. So I took out my "Paper Boy" hat, and put it on.
It looked fine, but not really appropriate to go to a hardware store in. You know what I mean? ;)

So I took that off, tried a couple of different things with it. Then finally decided to wear my sunglasses on my head. I always wear my sunglasses on my head, whenever I go out.

Yes, I know that there wasn't any risk on the sun being in my eyes at seven o'clock at night, but you know-- those bad hair days, you've got to do something to cover it up! ;)

My hair is officially down to my hips. This coming Thanksgiving it will be a year since I last cut it.
I can't decide on weather or not to cut it a little below my shoulders like it was when I first started growing it out or not. What do you think?

The last time I cut it is when my mom gave me bangs. I remember it was late at night, and we sat in my bedroom, and she cut them.

Don't asked me what possessed me to get them, the week before Thanksgiving, when everybody would see me.

But lets just say that I looked like a freak 60's freak. I hated it. Abigail, is the only one that liked them. My mom didn't. I hate it when my mom doesn't like something. After that I told her not to let me make such a quick decision next time! ;)

But they have grown out to where they look more like layers now. It only took a year! ☺

I think I will probably leave it long, and just trim a little at the bottom.


..~**..~**..~**

 It didn't work out to close on our house last Friday, but we are tomorrow! Yay! We are super excited~
we have to paint the whole house, so that is a lot of paint colors we have to pick out...
my mom just can't seem to make up her mind. She had them picked out, and we were going to get samples of them. She changed her mind, standing in the store, looking at the 500 colors they have to chose from. :/

We might just have to settle on ti-died. All the colors in one! ;)

..~**..~**..~**


We also went to wal-mart to pick up some cleaning supplies, after we went to "Lowe's". The house hasn't been lived in for a while so, it has collected a lot of dust, and nasty stuff, so we will also be cleaning a lot.
We decided to stock up on some groceries, and just take them over to our house, once we close tomorrow. There is this syrup that we get. It's all natural, and is really good.

We got like six bottles of it. It will take us about a year to use it all, considering that we don't have pancakes very often!
When we were checking out a lady said, "Is this good Maple Syrup?". I guess she noticed! :)

We also got some Starbucks coffee, that comes in the big bags, and you just brew it yourself. I really love coffee. We never get coffee, but we just decided to last night. So this morning I decided to have some.

I don't know how to work a coffee machine. I'm not "in" like that. :) So my mom and I were standing there, trying to figure it out. We ended up pouring the water over the ground coffee, not knowing that's not the way you do it. Bright, huh? :)

Once we saw the water drain through the filter, and it come out a yucky gold, we knew that we did not do it right, we started over, and re-did it, this time successfully!
{of course once we finished, I found the instruction booklet!}

I took the first sip.

It was SO strong. We didn't have any milk, or cream so all I could add to it was sugar. My little brother suggested putting maple syrup in it, I declined. :)

Later, after my mom had gone to the store, and gotten some milk, I heated it back up, and added milk.
I loved it!

I could really get used to it. That might not be a good thing! :/

Levi (3) lOveS coffee!! It is super cute to watch him drink it~

..~**..~**..~**

Someone asked where we were staying until we moved into our house. We are living in a vacation home, until our house is ready.

When we were packing our clothes to bring with us, my dad kept saying, "Pack light, Pack light". So guess what I did? I packed light! ;)

I really regret it now. I am getting really sick of the pieces of clothing that I brought! God was really good to us, and hasn't made the weather get to cold!!

We are supposed to get our things back next Thursday, and I can't wait!

I miss my stuff!

..~**..~**..~**

I will try to post again soon~

..~**..~**...Lydia

make me laugh

For mine and Abigail's birthdays, my parents gave us a visit to the spa!

It was heavenly. wonderful. relaxing. peaceful. and perfect.

We had a wonderful time~
We got a back and shoulder passage, a facial, and pedicure.
my dad specifically asked for women to do everything-- I wouldn't feel very comfortable with a man doing it! ;)

on the way home Titus had this little conversation with me~

Titus: "Did the men do anything?"
me: "no".
Titus: "Good-- I don't want any men touching on my sister!"

he never ceases to make me laugh!
if you think he is protective now, you can just imagine what he will be like in about six years, and Lily Kate is bigger! ;)

By the way~ Today is Titus 7th birthday!!
He is so cute, when Mama asked Him if He was having a good day, He said, "Yes! I love this day!".
He is so sweet~

Love you Buddy! Hope you have a great Birthday!!

.~**.~**.~**

We have had four birthdays in our house, in the last two months-- I will just do one big birthday post soon!

Lydia

t.o.d.a.y

the past few days have been, beautiful.

It's been perfect~ the air is breezy, warm. The sky is sunny, and the trees are gold. perfect.

I love the evenings. The sunsets are beautiful.

Lately we have been going to a park down the road from us, and playing in the big field. After a long day it feels pretty good to go running through it, and playing on the swings and playground with the boys. :)

I know--

i'm a big baby at heart!:)

I've been using these past few days to wear flip-flops for the last few times-- feel the sun on my legs for the last few times-- and wear my summer clothes for the last few times~ Saying goodbye to summer is a little sad, but I love the coziness of autumn/winter.

The sunsets, and open area, are also perfect for shadow pictures~

I love how the sun reflects on the lens.

The sunset, a couple nights ago~

The sky has been so blue the past few days. Not a cloud in the sky. :)

{Levi one afternoon, when I was taking some fall pictures of him-- he loved the bucket!}

and... the biggest news...

we found a house!! and we really LOVE it!

We are, Lord willing, going to be closing on it this coming Friday~ Please pray that everything goes through!!

I will post pictures of it soon...~

fALl is HEre~

it's been kind of lonely around here lately... not much posting~
I have worked on posts, but they just can't seem to make it to my home page. :)

fall is here and I am really happy about that--

even though I hate having to get up in the mornings because of the cold, I guess once I get up, and get warm, it isn't that bad~

I hate hearing Levi come up the steps, he comes to the edge of my bed, and whispers "Ydia, it's time to get up". He's always so chipper- un-like me. :)

He came there one morning, when I was having my Bible study. He was munching on a carrot. Yes, at 7:30 in the morning. I'd say he likes carrots. What do you think?

Levi's been, a challenge lately.

There. I said it. You would have never guess from those innocent blue eyes standing back at you in the pictures would you? Oh, bet, your wrong. He has an attitude. A big one. :)

He is so sweet, when he is sweet. But oh so ugly when He is being ugly. Aren't we all? :)

He doesn't like change, poor guy. He has gotten a lot of it, with the move and all.
I think it will pass.
..~**..~**

I better go now-- tonight's "19 Kids and Counting", one of my *favorites*.

I have a lot to catch up on... but it will have to wait!

..~**......Lydia

a night with my boys

tonight I am babysitting the boys.

it is not an easy job. our conversations go a little like this~

"you are really making me mad, PLEASE stop!!!"

"i'm not going to tell you again!"

"eat every bite of your salad."

"do I have to eat all of it?"

"Yes! All of it!!!"

yeah, we really have a fun time. :)

no, seriously it isn't that bad. usually. {grin}

I asked Gabe to give Levi a bath. Levi was doing something, so Gabe was in Mama and Daddy's bedroom, playing with a balloon while waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing. (He uses his time very wisely, don't you think? ☺}

He was bopping the balloon back and forth which makes a very annoying sound. So~

me: "Can you please stop doing that?"

gabe: "Yeah, do you want me to shut the door and do it?"

okay. can you tell me, (beacause I have yet to find out), why it is so hard to stop. Just stop. When someone asks you to. Why would I want him to shut the door and do it. Even more, why would I care?!?! I wasn't mad.. I thought it was a little funny.

My brothers are funny. They are weird. They are gross. They make me mad. They make me laugh. They make me cry.

I love them.

We are now happily residing on the couch, watching "Little House on the Prarie"~ All is well that ends well.

..**~ the promised post..**~

I realize that I didn't do that post that I promised to do. I tried. I have worked on it. But I never got it finished, and ready to post. So. Here I am. Ready.to.post.

{notice Titus looking at me, like I'm an idiot, and Lily Kate looking like, "I cannot believe she is doing that!"!}

these were taken a few days ago of Lily Kate, and Me, by Gabe. Thanks Bud! ;)

this is Lily Kate sittin' pretty, before falling off. She didn't get hurt. :)

                                                     
                                                 ..~**..~**..~**

This week has been so busy. Not because we did a ton of stuff, and were gone everyday, it was just the time  that school took, then doing things around the house, and all the that other stuff. There are times that I just wanted to run into my room, and dive under the covers-- which, realistically, you can't. So, I just take a deep breath, and...screamed. Well, I don't scream, but I feel like it sometimes. So I just try to be kind, and not scream. Which it usually goes better that way. :)

well~ One morning  I was laying in bed one morning, reading my Bible, when I heard Titus screaming for me downstairs.  "LYDIA, LYDIA, LYDIA". {it wasn't because he was hurt or anything, He just needed me for something. yes, at eight o'clock in the morning, when I was still laying in bed. I know eight o'clock sounds pitiful to some of you early birds out there, but I am not an early bird. *wink*}. So, I finally yelled back to him, and asked him what he wants. He said that Mama wants Me. So I climb out of bed, and ran down two flights of stairs, and wnet out side in my lepord print pajama shorts, and "Homeschool Rocks" T-shirt. {I like to sleep in style *wink*.} Mama says wants to take my birthday pictures. So-- if you think my eyes look like my eyes look sleepy, it's because they are. :)

{Me trying to make Lily Kate happy-- Don't I look corny? :) }

..~**..~**..~**

A couple of days ago we went to a farm to pick apples. It felt very fallish~ which I loved. Fall time is such a beautiful and cozy season!

..~**..~**..~**

I have a bunch of pictures from my cousin Emily's wedding, my birthday, and some others, that I need to post, so I will put those in another post~ But for now, I am going to read blogs before "19 Kids & Counting" comes on.

Have a wonderful evening!

because

because yesturday was the last day of summer..

beacause today was the first day of fall..

because leaves are starting to change..

because I love fall time..

because I love barns..

because there are a lot of barns where I live..

because I have 1 lb. of "Bob's" soft peppermint candy sitting by my bed..

because tomorrow is the last day of school-- the next day I get off to celebrate my birthday..

because I have a little sister that smiles a lot..

because I am a night owl..

and because I am going to drink a cup of tea tonight..

I am going to do a long post tomorrow~
stay tuned..