Cheerio from the Cherrypop gals!

These little ladies have been in waiting for quite a while now. Finally, I got the spark I needed to get them off my desk. They are each doing some of my very favorite things. From eating birthday cake, to shopping, to baking, to getting ready for the Holidays, each little Cherrypop Doll is as busy as she can be.

Haircuts...

While we were in Tennessee Gramma and I ventured out to get the girl's hair cut. I couldn't believe what big girls they were. They weren't the least bit apprehensive, just jumped up in the chair and sat as still as an adult. Livie had a hard time figuring out which way to tilt her head =)

An attempt at getting a good "after haircuts" picture:

A so-bad-it's-funny attempt at getting an "after haircuts" picture:

Since I'm posting...

I know I said I wasn't going to, but since I did, I'm kinda on a roll now =). Here are some shots from our visit to Tennessee last week. The girls and I had a blast getting away for a little while. The only thing missing was Daddy =(. The girls got to spend some good time with Gramma and Grampa, and Claire and Michael, and I got to spend some good time with my girlfriends, Rosie and Jessica. Here are three really sweet girls. Just wish Shelby could have been in the mix...

This is one precious little boy right here!!!



Gramma took the girls for a ride in the "Doodle-Bug"

Happy Thanksgiving to all! (and Happy Birthday to my favorite fatherin-law =)

Black Friday on Wednesday =)

My sister and I decided to beat the CVS crowd and hit the Black Friday deals a little early. We got there around 11 pm on Wednesday night and shopped around until midnight, when all the deals were loaded on the computers. Yes, of course we're crazy, but neither one of us has to get up early in the morning, and there were other "normal" people there doing exactly the same thing - that made us feel a little less dorky. All in all, I made $29 - as in, they paid me $29 in CVS bucks to take all this stuff out of their store - so I'd say the trip was worth it. Probably the best I'll do in all of Black Friday =)

In case you're not interested in my great CVS deals, here's a picture of my great baby. Isn't she sweet?

Three kids asleep...

...busy weekend... better clean house. Update with pictures to come, but maybe not until after the holidays. Try to survive =)

Kathryn on Getting Big

I wish you could be at our house sometime at lunch when it's just me and the girls, but then it wouldn't just be "me and the girls" and so the conversation would not be the same. Most days I sit down, we start talking, and I think "where is the video camera so I could record this?!?" This was one of those days. We sat down to eat, and the conversation went like this:

K: "Mom, I'm getting SO big, that I'm almost bigger than Daddy, right?"
M: "Well, Daddy is pretty big, and he's a boy, so you probably won't ever be that big, but you are getting bigger every day."
K: "Yeah, and soon I'll be so much bigger that I can driiiiive (pretend stearing a car with her hands and arms flailing), and go to the grocery, and get all the food, then come in and make lunch, and do the dishes. Then you and Dad will be the little girls and YOU can take a nap!"
(me thinking "Boy, does that sound like a good plan!")
K: "No, that's not right is it, Mom?"
M: "What?"
K: "That you'll get little again? You'll just always be big, and we'll get big, and then we'll all be big, right?"
M: "Right."
K: "And then, Maggie will not be the baby anymore, but that's okay because I'll be big and I'll get a baby in my belly! Then I'll have to go the hospital and they'll take the baby out for me. Mom, does that hurt?"
M: "Yes, it hurts very, very much."
K: "Did it hurt when you had Maggie?"
M: "Yes, very much!"K: "Oh, did you cry?"
M: "No, because I was big and strong and brave, and you will be too."
K: "Well, maybe I just won't have a baby, because I'll just have Titus." (a 5 month old at church, who apparently isn't going to get bigger as everyone else does.)

Give Cookies...

...in pottery bowls, wrapped in a kitchen towel and tied with a bow. The bowls came from the Wal-Mart clearance rack after Christmas last year. This one cost me just over $1. I found a new dishtowel stashed away, and embroidered a little something special on it, then dug around in my ribbon and bow box for something to tie around it! This makes a nice, inexpensive hostess gift, or a thank you for someone watching your kiddos free of charge (can you guess what this one is for? ;)

Cookies also taste just as good in a brown paper bag tied with Christmas ribbon and a cute hang tag.

Thanks to Alaina for hosting Keeping Creative Kitchens every Thursday. Now it's your turn - join in!!!

Funnies from the day

Kathryn and Olivia were playing church, and Kathryn was standing up facing the audience (aka: Olivia) "After the sermon we'll stand and sing #68, If You're Happy and You Know It"
That must be one of the most recently added songs to our hymn books.

We were eating lunch and I asked Livie if she wanted something to eat that I knew she didn't care for. She answered in a laughing voice: "Nooooo!!! I can't eat that, Mom! I'm too little!!"

Mom and Dad just got back from vacation this afternoon. They have been gone all week, and we've been checking their mail. That's pretty much torture for two and three year olds. (driving to Nana's) "Mom!!!!! We're going to NANA and PAWPAW's!!!" "No, honey, we're just getting the mail. Nana and Pawpaw are on vacation." You get the picture. When we drove by last night we told them "Nana and Pawpaw will be home TOMORROW!" so all day today they've been driving me crazy about when they will get to see them. Here is a snippet of Kate's prayer at lunch: "...and Lord, help Nana and Pawpaw to come home today and never do vacation again."

In Kate's prayer she had also thanked God that her friends got to come over and eat with us. Not to be outdone, Livie wanted to pray for the same thing. Here's what came out instead: "Thank you, God, for all our friends we have to eat." Careful when we invite you over for supper!

Super Savings Saturday

All this for just $10, folks! Thank you, Meijer, for your great online coupons that allow me to make money on my groceries. I'm not sure we could afford to live otherwise. (I did use $15 worth of Meijer coupons that I had earned free from a previous purchase, so my actual total was $25, out of pocket $10...)

Little Nashville

Brad picked up his Mom in Louisville last night and she'll be with us for the week. We decided to take the day and head to Brown County, since the weather was supposed to be nice. It was beyond nice. It was absolutely perfect, and the trees were gorgeous. All around, it was just a wonderful day.

We made it there around lunch time and ate at the Hob Nob cafe, then walked around the little shops until we were hungry again - then we got ice cream =)

Maggie's impression of a french fry - That's a pediatric approved first food, right?

The girls (especially Livie) were obsessed with this big dog. If the thing had been real, they would have been completely freaked out.

Then off to the park for a little play time. This might be my new favorite picture.

The country side was breathtaking. We took the "scenic route" through the park and this was one of the pullover spots.

Maggie is so in love with her sisters, and she loves that she sits between them in the car. She was well entertained the whole way home...

"And the Grand Prize winner is..."

Well, it's Stephanie, of course, for coming over to watch all of our kids while we went out on the town with Hannah and Brad. I would have been extremely thankful, no matter what, but as it turned out, I actually feel extremely indebted to her since half-way through their meal of pizza my middle child threw up all over the table. Yeah. Stomach flu. I felt so horrible, and it was pretty hard to put that behind me and have an enjoyable, lighthearted evening. But it was still pretty fun.

Here we are after supper having caramel macchiatos at a little coffee shop on the square. We pulled out the 'ol Scrabble game, but soon decided to relieve Stephanie and headed home. There we started up a game of Cranium with Trent that ended up in a very heated debate over how to pronounce "larynx". Fun times.

Starla was so sweet to come over to watch the kiddos - all 7 of them - while I took Hannah out to show her the ropes of CVS shopping. We decided 7 kids, 7 and under, in the CVS store while looking for ECB deals might be a little much.

More sweet kitten pictures (and sweet kitten holders)