So how do you......

..... find time to blog almost every day? I really wish I could, I'll sit down and look at blogs and be amazed that people have found time to write more often. I can't seem to do that, or maybe its because I just don't know what all to write about other than showing pictures of my girls, and then that means I have to download them, shrink them, load them, etc. I currently have some pics I need to upload and post. This past weekend we went camping in the mountains -- we had planned on camping at the beach, but due to "Fay", we got rained out. We had a great time though, spent one day at Tweetsie Railroad, where we found out our girls, yes BOTH of them are going to be daredevils. They rode on all the rides and LOVED the crazy ones like the Scrambler and the Tilt-a-Whirl (even that one was going so fast it ended up making me sick.) We also did some hiking, visited Linville Caverns, and were able to stop and go to my aunt and uncle's church on the way home. Again, I have to get the pictures for you. But that will have to wait until later, just thought I would mention that we are doing great, looking forward to the long weekend with Daddy, and are enjoying the cooler weather as we head into fall. Right now though, I have to go finish making bread, make pasta to freeze, and make some other homemade goodness for my family to enjoy. That is yet another thing that has been keeping me busy, trying to find ways that I can be more frugile and healthier. I'm actually excited about Seriously getting back to this. I figure I am no Proverbs 31 woman -- the part about rising while it is night cuts me from that list right away :) -- but I want to be better in providing for my family and the privilege God has given me. I have found a couple great sites to gleam some wisdom from and next week I'm taking a class at Whole Foods on Canning and Preserving food, but if any of you have any wisdom or sites you'd like to share, please do so, I'd love to hear them. Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!!!!

Still Chutters

Isabella and I are chutters, she tells me this on a daily basis. Lately, she's been telling me this more and also talking about wanting to be a mommy like me. Which is both the sweetest thing and also the most convicting thing -- wondering what kind of example I am being for her. This particular morning, she wanted to eat our brown rice farina (otherwise known to her as "hot cereal") in the exact same bowls, she wanted the same spoons, the same glasses and the same number of blueberries. She said "I want to be just like you mommy, cause we're chutters." I had to take a picture to remind me that she is most definitely watching everything I do and just to remember such a sweet little breakfast time. As we sat down, she tried to be as grown up as she could be and said in a quiet big girl voice "So.... how are you doing mommy?" Just like she hears me talking to my friends. Its just so sweet and I really do hope she always considers me her chutter. :)

**for those of you who are confused with the whole chutter thing, see this post http://bellaandmilly.blogspot.com/2008/04/are-you-chutter.html#comments

(And yes, I will continue to ignore that chutters is not a real word, its real to us. :) )

Backwards Day

Yesterday was a beautiful morning here. It almost felt like fall weather for a little bit. After breakfast the girls were begging to go outside -- even Amelia was saying "ba pa da do ou sie", which I could only interpret as backpack and outside, so I knew she meant she wanted to take her Dora toys and go play outside. Before we could go outside though I told the girls we needed to get dressed. Isabella went and put her clothes on, she's always so proud of herself when she picks her own outfit out and dresses herself. She can easily dress her self, but picking the outfit out is not as easy, or maybe its TOO easy, grab any bottom and any top and you're ready to go. :) Anyway, this particular outfit was just fine, so I went and grabbed Amelia's outfit and asked Isabella if she wanted to get Amelia dressed while I got dressed. She was thrilled, she loves being a little helper. She got Amelia dressed and brought her in to show me. I noticed right away that the shirt was on backwards, but I just decided to overlook it, this particular shirt has no extra tag, just written on the back, so no harm done to Amelia.

They put their shoes on and headed outside. I walked out a few minutes later and this is what I saw.....

Poor child, it was bad enough mommy let them go outside without fixing their hair, but her big sister put all her clothes on backwards and then she (Amelia) finished off the outfit with her shoes on the wrong feet. Thankfully we weren't going out anywhere other than our backyard and I was still able to praise Isabella for being such a big helper and she never knew the difference. And yes, I did let her continue to wear it like that until we came in for bathtime.

ADOPTED by her parents....

I am up late tonight, watching the olympics yet again. Wondering why since I could actually DVR it and watch it without commercials tomorrow. I was watching the womens swimming and the announcers were doing their normal who's who in what lane, etc. and they said "So and so from the US in lane such and such, A-DOPTED (with that much emphasis) by her parents, you can see them there in the crowd......" I tapped on my almost asleep husband on the couch with me and said "Is that what they're going to do to our girls forever? When Isabella is in the Olympics :), are they going to say --- 'there are her parents, who ADOPTED her....." Ok, I might even give it to the announcer if they felt like they needed to say that about Amelia -- here she will be getting ready for her race - oh yeah, she'll be a runner in the Olympics someday -- and they scan to the crowd and here are 2 crazy white people jumping around, so MAYBE they would be excused to say something so someone doesn't think they've picked the wrong crazy parents, but still only MAYBE and only because we will be the crazy excited parents, with red white and blue painted on our face and t-shirts with her picture on it. :) And I surely don't mind promoting adoption, but that's all he said, like he should have gone to the next girl and said "And there's so and so in lane such and such, her mother who gave birth to her is there in the stands." Ya'll know me, I'm rather proud that my girls are adopted and I don't shy away from telling my girls stories, I just wonder when my kids can just be my kids, when I can just be their mama.

Enough said, I'll just give the guy the benefit of the doubt and think he's promoting adoption in a round a bout way by saying "Look, you too could adopt an olympic athlete." :)

All is back to normal.... and I'm older now. :(

Thankfully, my huby got home safely early Saturday morning. He had a great time in Seattle, the girls and I survived while he was gone, but I am SOOO glad to have him home. We had a couple frustrating days here at home as our air conditioner went out and of course it was unbelievably hot last week. We spent the night at my parents one night, my dad was able to temporarily fix it, it worked for a day and then went out again.... vicious cycle. Needless to say, my girls and I didn't spend as much time at home doing crafts, we just would go somewhere... anywhere that was cool. Kenny called when their plane landed around 10:15 and I knew it would take a few hours for them to get home, plus some time for eating, but around 4:00 he still wasn't home so I started worrying. And on top of that, all week had been fine at home, but Friday night at 11, someone was beating at my door. I didn't go answer it, instead I called my parents and my dad rushed up. I think it was just kids trying to be funny, but it still scared me. Needless to say I didn't sleep that night until he was home. I called him and he said he was almost home, they had stopped at the only restaurant open late --- Waffle House (yuck). Anyway, what he really was doing was going to his office to pick up a birthday gift that he had ordered and then running by the grocery store so he could make me breakfast in the morning. He doesn't normally cook, but he made me stuffed french toast (with help from Isabella) and also decorated and had my presents wrapped when I got up. It was very sweet and it was actually very yummy, for any of Kenny's family reading this and wondering. :) I actually didn't even hear him get up and start making breakfast. I don't know about anyone else, but I just don't sleep as well without my husband there and until Friday night it wasn't from being frightened, although I guess it could have been from being pushed out of my very big bed by my 2 very small little girls. So once he was home, from 4:30 to 8:30, I slept like a log! The rest of the day was very nice and he made sure to make my birthday special. So he's safe, he's home, he's back to work. :( Now the world feels right again, except I'm now another year older and that just doesn't feel right at all.