OSU game

Yesterday the girls, D and I went to our first OSU game of the season. This was the girls first game ever. They really had a good time watching the band, cheerleaders and hearing the loud noise from the game. They both dressed in scarlet and grey and knew how to sign O-H-I-O. We had to leave the game early so that D could take the girls camping down at my brother-in-laws land. They had a great time and got muddy and got to stay up late. They said that it rained which surprised me but it was actually the dew on the ground. Nathan and I had a really relaxing day spending some quality one on one time together. He is so active and loves to jump into my lap then immediately get up since he does not sit very long at one time. On Sunday morning we played in my bed and he was not into cuddling or snuggling. He was into to trying to get the fan pull or jumping onto me while I laid down. Needless to say we did not stay in the bed for too long.

For labor day we are just unpacking, de-cluttering and cleaning. D goes back to work tomorrow after his two week hiatus. It will be hard to readjust to not having him around so much. The girls will also miss him. I know that he is ready to go back to work but he will also miss all the action at home.

It would be great if we could live in an ideal world where we both get to work part-time jobs, share child rearing responsibilities, and get to really spend more quality time together. I think that society would be much happier if dad's could spend more time at home, mom's had more access to professional part-time jobs and children got to see more shared parenting. It is too bad that our society is too serious and that working more than full time is considered prestigious. I would love to live in Italy where "holiday" is at least 4 weeks and the pace is a little slower and not so orientated toward production and making money.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-spending alone time with Nathan
-D wanting to go camping with the girls and having fun with them
-seeing the girls when they get home
-participating in a great Labor Day Yoga class

Rain Stick

I had a great idea, well actually I have seen it on another blog, when I saw the container that D received his diploma in. It was a cylinder and it would make a great rain stick. So Mallory and I put some rice in it, closed it and then hammered some nails in it. Then Mallory painted it. It really does sound like those expensive rain sticks sold in the stores. I think that a longer tube would work better so I may go to a packaging/mail store and buy one for Julianne. The project was a great success and Mallory had fun hammering the nails in and painting it. It is always a great feeling when a project I think of actually works or is successful. I have led too many science projects that either did not work or were not much fun for the kids or for myself. This was a great success and will definitely do it again for Julianne.




I have finally finished my sock and glove animals. More importantly than finishing these animals is that I get to start on my new purse.

These are the newest addition to my animal collection. These are going to homes with new babies.

The animals on the left are the girls. It includes two monkeys and one dog. The girls like their animals but they love the new animals and tried to trade their old animals for the new animals but I told them they could not trade. These new animals were already taken.

This is the fabric that I am using for my Lantern Bag. Katie what do you think? I am going to use the paisley fabric for the main panel, the light brown for the inside pleats and the dark brown for the top and straps. I will let you know how it is going.

A side note. The tooth fairy forgot to come again that first night and she finally made it the next night. Julianne lost her other tooth today in school so she got a tooth necklace from the school nurse and the tooth fairy will not forget tonight!!!

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
- a cool rainy day
-reading a note that Julianne left for me at parent night
-seeing Julianne's face today when she came home with the tooth necklace from the school nurse (she has been wanting a tooth necklace from the school nurse since she first started loosing her teeth)
-having a lunch with D and more importantly having good conversation

We have a doctor in the house

Yesterday D received his Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology diploma. He has been waiting for this day for a long time. He has worked 4 long years on this degree. This includes going to school full time for three years and working at his internship for one year. Within this time he completed and defended his dissertation. This is a great accomplishment in itself but when you add to that having two newborns in the house, three children all together and a wife that is extra work to an already hectic lifestyle.

Reasons why I am very proud of my husband:
1. He discovered what his passion was and figured out how to achieve it.
2. He attended school full time and worked part-time one and sometimes two jobs in order to gain more experience and to pay for his school.
3. He studied nights while we were asleep
4. Overcame university bureaucracy
5. Discovered a lot about himself along the way
6. Grew from bad experiences
7. Finished what he started

The best thing about him getting his degree is that he will be able to do something that he is passionate about and talented in. He truly is a gifted psychologist and I know that from personal experiences:)

So when you see him for now on make sure you address him as Dr. D. (S I told you not to tell people to call me Dr. D)

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-seeing D excited about getting his diploma
-knowing that D does not have to worry anymore about what holdups there are to getting his diploma
-spending alone time with Mallory

Frisbee Golf

Yesterday we went to the local Frisbee golf park. It was really fun. We have not played Frisbee golf since college so it was fun to play a different game. We started out with Nathan in the backpack and then Mallory was getting tired so we took Nathan out and put Mallory in. She looked so funny in the backpack. She was to long for it and it was hard on Dwight after he carried her for awhile.



Nathan decided to practice his Frisbee throw.


We decided to put Nathan in the goal.

A week ago I took this picture of Julianne and her two loose teeth. Today she knocked the right one out with her knee. She was worried that since she lost it so late in the day that the tooth fairy might not be able to visit her. She remember that when she lost a previous tooth so late in the day the tooth fairy did not visit her that night. We told her that since she lost it so late in the day that the tooth fairy probably had other teeth to visit that came out earlier in the day. Sure enough the tooth fairy remembered to come the next night. We would have been out of excuses if she had not come that second night.


Today Mallory said she wanted to be a mail person when she grows up. We asked her why and she said that she "read it in her brain".

Things I am grateful/thankful for
-taking Tylenol and feeling the affects it has on headaches
-remembering the cute and creative things my children say and do
-seeing my dogs having fun at the dog park
-knowing that a kiss on a boo-boo and a hug can make Mallory feel better

Camp out

Friday night we camped out in our backyard. We pitched the tent, grilled out, made smores and even played some games in the dark (ghost in the graveyard). It was a great night and one that we hope to duplicate at least annually. The girls slept in the tent with their father and I "had" to sleep with Nathan in the house. I really do like to go camping but if I know that my bed is steps away I would rather sleep there. Plus someone had to sleep in the house with Nathan so I offered to do that. I had a great time since we did not have to pack everything and the house was convenient for food, bathrooms, electricity and other essentials for young children.





Mel even enjoyed the leftover marshmallows bits.

The girls new favorite toy is Bakugans which are little toys that are "small spheres magnetically morph into powerful Bakugan warriors when they roll onto the real metal Gate Cards". They basically are balls that when you put them on a metal cards they pop into an animal. There is a game associated with them of which I have not figured out nor have the girls. The girls just pretend play with them right now so we will see. As Julianne would say they are boy toys, but she really wants them. It is funny that since she is back in school she is discovering the new toys plus all the neighborhood kids have them so the girls wanted them. Mallory is even in the mix. The girls bought some on Friday with their own money and then Dwight took them today to get another one, with their own money. They were actually sold out of two Targets so they ended up buying some mini polly pockets. Crazy Bones was the latest craze this summer and now it is Bakugans. I have gotten over the fact that I really did not want them to have brand name trendy toys. We set a good foundation while they were younger with generic pretend toys and now they still really love those toys so I am OK with letting them buy, within reason, toys that they want to buy with their own money.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-seeing the girls faces when we completed the tent
-having a fire pit in our backyard for roasting marshmallows for smores
-seeing the rain after 20+ days without it
-spending quality time with the family

Julianne is adjusting well

Julianne had a good day at school. She went to school with our neighbor today and I am sure that that helped. The children are allowed to come to school 10 minutes early and play on the playground so that is what they did this morning. She had a good day and is slowly learning her new classmates names. So it seems like the first day sadness and crying has subsided and she is enjoying school. She had homework on Wednesday and Thursday. It was only drawing a picture about the first day of school and what she did over the summer so it was not too much but she does she really need to have homework? I don't think so. So we will see if it just getting the year started or if it is really going to be a daily occurrence.

Nathan is also enjoying my computer. He goes over to it once a day and plays with it and usually starts laughing. I think he likes the screen saver and then he likes moving the mouse. So today I got him in action. Aren't these pictures cute?


He also tried on Mallory's shoes and put them on correctly. He was so proud of himself.

Dwight was off of work this week so my neighbor and I went to the gym this morning, laid by the pool and then went shopping for fabric for a purse I am going to attempt to make. It was great to get out of the house and to have good conversations with a new friend. She was a great help in picking out the fabric for my purse. My friend Katie gave me the pattern so hopefully I will be able to make it soon. I am still trying to complete my sock and glove animals first before I start anything new. I have a tendency to get very excited about new projects, work on them for awhile and then start on something else before I finish the older project. So I am concentrating on getting the animals done first then work on the purse.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-having good uninterrupted conversations
-picking up Julianne from school and seeing her run toward my car
-being able to preserve memories through journaling, photography and video
-seeing the girls pretend play together

First day of school

Today was Julianne's first day of 1st grade. She was a little sad or I guess she was really upset. She cried and did not want me to leave. It was hard to drop her off. I felt really bad that she was so emotional. I think it was a combination of her not knowing as many kids as she had in Kindergarten and her going all day instead of just in the afternoon. The teacher wrote us an e-mail during the middle of the day and said that she was doing well and participated in class so that was good to hear.

Mallory missed her during the day. She was recording messages on Julianne's little recorder and she said, "I love Julianne and I hope that she comes back". We only explained to her last night that Julianne would be going to school all day almost every day and I think she was a little worried. So it will be an adjustment for her also. She was pretty quiet all day and pretty much played by herself. So we will see how she does. I think it will get better when she goes back to school which is a couple weeks after Labor Day.

Nathan of course was unchanged by it and pretty much played well with Mallory. So they will probably become good buds during this year.

The night before a neighbor girl came over and I dried her hair and flat ironed it and then she flat ironed the girls hair. So we had fun getting ready for the first day of school.





Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-having D there with me while dropping off Julianne at school
-knowing that Julianne worked through her sadness and had fun at school
-eating fresh tomatoes and cheese from the farmers market
-seeing Nathan sleeping