My collection.

Here it is. Finally the post I've been meaning to do for ages. My collection. Pirates.

"In an honest service there is thin rations, low wages, and hard labour. In this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst is only a sour look or two at choking?
No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto." --Bartholomew Roberts

Plenty of blankets and burp cloths, thanks to my mom, my sister Megan, my sis-in-law Brooke, and my friend Gigi. I love them all.

My sister Amy mailed me a box after Talmage was born with seriously SOOO much pirate stuff. It was amazing and awesome. She said she'd been picking up stuff for years. Included were a kleenex box, tub toys, baby toy, dishes and plates, pajama pants, shirts, this teddy bear

and these slippers (and maybe more that I can't remember). Amy is awesome.Shirts.

This Canadian pirate one is particularly cool. It's from my sister Megan. Megan is awesome. Brett's wearing it even though he's not Canadian because it fit him a little better than me.

This was a drawing done by one of Andrea's students. Even though she spelled my name wrong, it's still cool.(In case you were wondering what the dp stands for in my e-mail, it is Dread Pirate.)

A drawing I did for a college art class.

Games. I think this particular card game was from Derek and Brooke. You guys are awesome.

From my mom for Christmas last year.
My mom gave me this pirate toy set for my umm, 19th birthday, right before we moved to Indiana.

Misc. figurines from various family members. The one on the far right was from my parents when they visited New Orleans several years ago. They also got me a t-shirt that says Pirate Pub. The two monkey ones in the middle were put on my wedding cake as a spoof from my Aunt Melodie. The flag is from Derek and Brooke when they lived on an island in the Caribbean. I'm not sure exactly about the other ones.

From Kami. She is awesome.

I love this one.

And this one.

The first pirate in my collection was given to me on my 15th? birthday by my brother Wyatt, along with a homemade raft of twigs. Wyatt is awesome. I look terrible in this picture, but I had to put it in because I no longer have that pirate. sniff sniff.

Books. My favorite is Roger the Jolly Pirate. So awesome. I believe that book is the only thing in my entire collection that I bought for myself. My family is awesome.

More books.

Oh, I guess I bought this costume. From a garage sale. Here's Hazel wearing it.

And Ethne wearing it.

Here's Wyatt and I dressed up as pirates one Halloween long ago. Wyatt kept his leg up like that almost all night. He's awesome.Hazel looking like a punk pirate.

But my favorite of all my awesome collection may have to be this awesome pacifier. So awesome. (This is Talmage by the way, I think when he was less than a month old.)

Happy Day

It is SUNNY today!!! Yes, in Indiana, in winter. Miracles never cease. And it makes me HAPPY!

I'm also happy that I went to Goodwill and found some jeans because my other jeans are wearing out. sniff sniff. Which reminds me of a song that I like. It is very upbeat and happy too. Here's the link: Chicken Fried. But don't watch it if you're morally opposed to country music, because you wouldn't like it. But I like the lyrics (only you have to assume that when they say beer they mean rootbeer :)).
You know I like my chicken fried
A cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up

Well I`ve seen the sunrise
See the love in my woman`s eyes
Feel the touch of a precious child
And know a mother`s love

Anyway, lyrics without the music aren't as good but that's the gist.

And I'm happy because I called Brett to try to tempt him to come home early and maybe go shoot his gun, and although he said he still had quite a bit of work to do, he'd try to come home early and at least take a walk with us or something. And I love him sooooooooo much.

And I'm excited because Isabel has been doing better and we might go to Chicago tomorrow!

I think that's it for now.

Catch up

Here are some pictures from the last several days. First, Hazel after playing out in the snow. (By the way even though it was FAH-REEEEZING last Sunday, like 2 degrees, -20 with windchill, today it was about 67 degrees. Psycho weather.) Anyway, I thought she looked so cute with her muddy legs and red cheeks and mussed hair.

You probably can't tell with how small these pictures are, but she had little speckles of mud on her cheeks. :)

Some pictures of the brothers. Brotha from anotha motha. (Okay, from the same mother.)

Cute.

Pictures of the Christmas pancakes Brett made on Christmas morning. (candy cane, ornament, angel and Christmas monster.)Brett and Jethro making a radio from Jethro's science kit. It's hard to say who has more fun--Brett or Jethro. Brett was soldering and Jethro was playing. Good times. Also, at one point Brett got some tin foil and told Jethro to make a little hat and wear it so that he could get better reception. After he wore it for a while, I said, "Jethro, you knew that Daddy just made you wear that so you look funny, right?" and Jethro immediately ripped it off his head and threw it to the ground. It was soooooo funny.

So, this was how our Christmas went. On the 24th, we were invited to a sensational dinner at our friends Jared and Sarah's. It was so fun. And fun. Oh, I already said that. But it was. Then, on Christmas, we let the kids open just one of their presents in the morning because we were waiting until the next morning to drive to Chicago to Kami's and Leo's because Leo was flying until that day anyway. We were going to have our traditional Christmas Eve hoagies that night and do the nativity and the kids had been practicing songs to sing for that night, etc. So on the evening of the 25th we were invited to our friends Andrea and Tyler's house and had another fun fun fun time. Let me just say that I feel very loved and blessed when people invite us over for special times like that.

So anyway, the next morning, we get the presents and suitcases and kids and chocolates and everything packed into the car, get going down the freeway, and when we were about an hour and 20 minutes along, run into completely stopped traffic. No movement whatsoever. So we turned on the radio to find out that many roads had been closed including the whole Indiana Toll (not the one we were on, but still) for ice and several roads had had accidents that closed all lanes, etc. etc. Apparently the ice was melting, but people were having problems with hydroplaning and the like. And the predictions just included more rain and flash flooding. So, we decided to head home. Driving through Chicago is hard enough without a million roads closed, and we figured if we even did make it it would certainly take all day. I called Kami and told her the bad news and felt bad because she was crushed as were we, but all in all it was probably good we didn't go because she took Isabel to the doctor that day and she had RSV, and much as I usually don't mind some good old-fashioned germ-swapping between family, RSV is something I'd rather do without. (One too many stories of my nephew Anders' lung collapsing.) Get well soon Isabel!!!!!

So we came home and brought in the suitcases and presents and promptly opened them. It was a little weird, as it wasn't early morning and we hadn't done all the traditional Christmas Eve things, but we adapted. :)

So here's Hazel, VERY excited over her and Ethne's twin baby dolls, complete with stroller, swingset, and playpen. (Goodwill purchase for 15 dollars. Score)

Here is a little doll/beanbag that I made for Ethne. I like it a lot and think if I ever have a room for the girls that is actually decorated I might make a few for the shelves. The tutorial is here.

And a little doll I made for Hazel. I thought it was fun and turned out cute. Tutorial here. And this was a big highlight (in fact I almost gave it its own post), Brett's gun! I am Wife of the Year because I surprised him with a Ruger rifle. He was super impressed with it and me for picking it (I called two brothers-in-law and a friend for advice though). I must admit, it was a little weird going and buying a gun, especially with three small children along. But the gun seller dudes were really nice to me. In fact, one said he'd take care of the tax because he likes red-heads. Sweet. :) They also gave me a gun cover thingee for free, and took it out to the car for me. And one told me as he was writing down my driver's license number that it would make a good poker hand. Thanks.

Anyway. It was fun.

Jethro made out like a bandit with his science kits, including a microscope, a Rescue Heroes robot, a little teeny skateboard (which has been the toy he's played with the most, go figure), and a spirograph thingee. Which Brett has had a great time with. What a weirdo.

Here's Daddy putting together the babies' playpen. Awww.

We did open pajamas that night from Grandma Bell. Thanks!

Ethne pushing her baby.

And Hazel pushing a different baby!

This was from tonight. Brett had the vacuum out of the closet, and Hazel and Ethne went in and closed the door, so we turned off the lights and said "goodnight" to each other and listened to them yell "Let us out Daddy! Let us out Mommy! Open the door, somebody!" while we laughed for a while. We let them out and they played around for awhile longer and asked if they could sleep in there. So now you're pretty much caught up. Oh yeah, and I got a jewelry box for Christmas, so that all my jewelry can have a nicer home than a ziplock bag.

Merry Christmas Eve

There's magic in the air this evening
Magic in the air
The world is at her best, you know
When people love and care
The promise of excitement is one the night will keep
After all there's only one more sleep till Christmas.

And a few funny kid stories before I forget them.

Jethro was writing a note to his school teacher for some reason, and he said, "You're almost my nicest teacher."

He wrote a letter to his cousin Myles, and he drew a little box and wrote, "Fun fact: I am in first grade."

The other day I was rolling up his sleeves for him to do the dishes and I said, "You have such skinny arms," and he said, "Well I ride my bike to school every day!" ummm, good thinking. :)

And last one. The other day I surprised Hazel with a big yell, and then I laughed when she jumped and said, "I scared you!" and she said, "No, you just freaked me out." ha ha!