Take it or leave it, quick style.

In an attempt to make up for a week of blog absence while traveling, I will go ahead and bore you with excessive details about our trip and other things:

1) My beautiful sister-in-law got married and it went swimmingly, that is, they are married. It was beautiful. 

Picture stolen from facebook, I took ZERO. She married the one on the right (her left).

2) Mike and I had a bit of a scare on Wednesday evening after our arrival in Steubenville when we realized that my tent of a bridesmaid's dress and Mike's spandex suit had been left in South Bend. (Mike's suit ended up not fitting anyways, lesson learned-- always try on suit in store when picking it up, also don't trust suit salespeople).

Utterly embarrassing photo of me for poof that we acquired our wedding attire. Photo also stolen from facebook

One of the bridesmaids lives here in SB and we were able to get her into our house and into our closet in order that we would be clothed at the ceremony, we were very grateful.

3) The old MOH speech went off without a hitch, or at least I didn't say anything incriminating or too embarrassing.

4) The remainder of our visit looked something like this:

super blurry picture of Naomi in a life jacket about to board the USS paddle boat= cutest thing ever

Lot's of fun in the sun with Nana and Papa at the Hahn cabin on a lake

 5) And this:

LOADS of fun at Grammy and Gramp's house complete with many tractor rides. I even took them for a ride- too bad we did not capture that, huh?

6) Tuesday was intended to be another super fun Hahn family day but Bernadette's stomach had other plans for us. She woke up that morning utterly exhausted and out of it and before I could say "vomit," she went ahead and and did just that. Many, many times. I had just read Grace's post the day before and thought to myself "I am so glad we haven't had to deal with vomiting children in a while"... solidarity be mine.

7) Last but not least and not in the least bit connected to the rest, just for fun. I am trying to decide whether or not to cut Bernadette straggling hairs/rat tail. When they are curly they generally look fine and even cute:

cute

fine?

When they are straight they all too similar to this:

Straight haired Bernadette is nick-named "Vernon." Growing up in Mingo Junction, I knew many a Vernon with a rat tail. No seriously, I knew several.

 To cut or not to cut? That is the question.

Now we are back in South Bend and ready for some nice weather to come back to us. It is June and the heat actually kicked on in our house today. Redic.

Go the Jen and many others for some fab quick takes.
Happy Friday!

7 quick takes: excitements and dreads

 I realize that this is all to similar to my "love/hates" edition of last week's quick takes, but I also realize that is doesn't matter, and that if there isn't some sort of logic to my quick takes I cannot participate in them as it makes me nervous and twitchy. So with this in mind, here are some things I am excited about in the coming weeks and some that I am dreading (in no particular order):

1) Super excited that I get to use my groupon that I bought for a pretty cheap hair cut and style this afternoon by MYSELF...
2) Dreading having it cut and styled by a man whose name I cannot pronounce and who was pretty awkward on the phone with me while I made the appointment, and I do not use awkward lightly here folks, he was super weird. And it was only a phone conversation. And the groupon is for a 45 minute cut, meaning there is no way I can get out of the awkwardness any faster than 45 minutes and it will probably go longer since he seemed like a BIT of a talker. Alright, I am done with this one.



3) Very excited for the upcoming nuptials of my sister-in-law to a fabulous guy next weekend. We leave Wed to begin the festivities and will return the next Wed after. Within this one I will say how stinkin excited I am that Hannah (said sister-in-law) will be living HERE in the Bend for their first year of marriage, always a fan of family in town and so excited to get to be around them during their newlywedship.

Hannah and Mike, because I could not easily find one of the 2 of us.

 4) Dreading 2 things about the upcoming event. 1) My matron-of-honor speech. Oh, did I not mention I am the MOH? Because I am. And there are something like 400 peeps coming to this thing. And I have nothing planned yet (don't freak Hannah, I am gonna nail it).

yeah, gonna nail it

5) and 2) (second part of 4, but I am not going to waste using up another quick take) Dreading that I realized this morning that I failed to mention to the seamstress at my dress fitting that I need some straps added to my dress. One week away from needing straps added and no one else but me knows that this needs to be done. No good. Again, don't freak out Hannah, I got it. I have about 7 plans in my head of how I will get some straps added to this dress. Seriously, I could have done a quick takes just about that, but I think that would have been lame.




6) EXCITED times 25 about the fact that Mike and I booked a hotel in this town in June (I will not tell you which weekend for fear that you will come and crash our party). My parents are coming to watch the girls for us so we can have a night away. By ourselves. I get a little short of breath with excitement just thinking about it.
7) As of late Bernadette has been just about the clingiest baby ever to toddle the earth. When I go from one room to another she weeps like I am being taken away for a life sentence never to see her face again. Therefore, I am dreading (just a little) leaving her for the night. I just don't want her to think that I have abandoned her and then have issues the rest of her life leading to undue angst and bitter feelings toward me for the rest of her life. That's all.



And so there you go, lot's so look forward to, a little to be scared of... man I had like 5 more I could have added, maybe I will do a sequel soon. But for now, go visit Jen and read some undoubtedly better quick takes here.

Love Hates

Joining Hallie over here for some quick takes and keeping Jen in my prayers today.

1) Hate: as recently mentioned my 3 year old figured out how to escape from her room which has been a source of much frustration and fear this past week and has generally been causing more sleep loss than my pregnant little big body can handle. Most nights it was sleep loss due to sheer fear of seeing her in the doorway with her blanket draped over her head like a ghost, which is her preferred way to exit the room. Great. I am working on the irrational fear.

2) Love: that last night was a vast improvement and found me waking this morning without being on the verge of tears because of how tired I was. Thank you over-the-counter sleep aid that made me too tired to think.

3) Hate: my new pregnancy diet. I think fat and happy is the way to be, but since I am sure my doctor will disagree, I will push through.

nasty and nasty's brother

4) Love: my recent reception if these:

from my sweet mother-in-law

and a starbucks gift card from my mom for mother's day. Best moms ever.

5) Hate: that while I began a super fun sewing project this week, my brand spanking new sewing machine is already not working. I JUST took it out of the box. Grrrr.

6) Love: that I figured out how to block my troll this week, thanks to all who helped me out on the old FB, always a faithful help in times of need.

7) Love/dislike (because it just didn't seem right to start and end with a hate): I am super duper excited that I can feel new baby nubbins moving all around, and there is ALOT of moving going on. This brings me to my dislike, which is that the kick boxing session was the only thing that actually kept me up last night despite my medicated efforts to sleep. It is worth it, for now.

That is all for now, have a splendid Friday!!

Things you should know about

  

1. I finally finished an insane clothing organization project this past week, resulting in my drawers finally closing and many bags of clothing (dating back to high school) being given and thrown away.
2. Mike has been reading "Little House on the Prairie" to Naomi every evening, which I was pretty sure she was not entirely absorbing, if at all, since she is only just 3 and usually looks pretty spaced out while he is reading. Then, a few days ago, I walked into the restroom with her, and she looked at our plunger in the holder and asked, "Is that a butter churn?" I said "no" and begged her never to try churning butter with it. At least I know Mike's reading is not totally futile.

3. My sister came to visit on Thursday with her Beau, and we got to make lots of great food and go visit my favorite SB hot spot: the history museum, because we're cool and exciting.

4. One of the recipes we made is definitely worth sharing: THIS ONE by the Pioneer Woman. I am still drooling like a teething baby thinking about them, and I am having to restrain myself from going into the kitchen and polishing off the plate of leftovers. I cannot take any credit for actually making them, since my sister did all the work (I was making my first crab bisque), but I did do a bang up job eating them.

Picture from the cookbook because we ate them too quickly to take a picture of our own finished product.

5. Mike spotted these awesome glass canisters at the best thrift store in the world a few days ago and I went back the next day to buy them in order to organize my crazy pantry. AND since no one will see or care about this because it took place inside a pantry that pretty much only I open, I decided to force you to enjoy the glorious results with me:

before

after

I think the total for all four canisters was $6. Best. thrift. store. ever. Also shown: my ingenious idea for storing our borrowed library books on tape. I could sit and stare at these pictures all day.

6. And last but not least (I have to stop at six so it doesn't look like I'm trying to do 7 quick takes on a Saturday- never!), I know what you'll probably think when you see that I've posted youtube videos--"oh, it's just a youtube video that she thinks is funny and I don't have time to look at videos other people enjoy, besides she probably has no sense of humor, and I have a life." But seriously, do yourself a favor and watch these, but IN ORDER--the first one is an actual real music video that people apparently like, and the second is a parody. This will ensure that you laugh today. (Warning: there is at least one bleeped out F bomb in the second video that they do a terrible job of actually bleeping out, so perhaps this is not good to watch around young children.)

Came across this picture

And had to share.
My little brother got married last October to one of the most fantastic women I have ever met (he's pretty great too) and this is the picture of them with all of her family after the wedding.

She is the youngest of 13 and has such an incredible family. I have never had so much fun with another family other than my own and I have always been convinced that my family is the most fun, but I had to question that after meeting them.
After they were married they each had almost 70 little kids who would now call them aunt or uncle. She has close to 50 nieces and nephews and he has over 20- amazing.
I pretty much brag about them whenever I possible get the chance, so here you go.

What can I say? I love my family and I love these guys.

2nd batch

This will be the last post full of Christmas vacation updates and pictures, I promise. I know you're all dying to get back to the regularly scheduled program of an over-abundance of details about my ever so exciting life.

Things really got better back in the Ville after my last virus post, once the girls got back to full health they were loving every second of cousin/uncle/aunt/grandparent time they could get, plus Bernadette finally stopped acting like she hated everyone else but me and Mike. Here is a taste of Christmas vacation with the Homols:

My new god daughter, Elsabet Theodora

It was a super beautiful Byzantine baptismal rite

best dad ever

older broski

what's going on here?!?!

20 something grandkids 9 and under= mayhem

hot sisters, hot mom

So that's it. The girls are sleeping much worse since getting home and were completely underwhelmed to be back at our house- they much prefer constant stimulation and distraction by uncles, cousins and grandparents to their boring parents. Anywho, it is good to be back home, hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year- you should read this, it was pretty funny, as she always is.

Happy Thursday

We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy case of hand foot and mouth disease.

Nothing says "Christmas" like a good virus, especially one that comes with a fever and a full body rash... good times. This is what I get for NOT sending my children to day care or "pre-school" where this little strain runs rampant. Perhaps they picked it up at one of the nasty toll road rest stops where they were walking/crawling everywhere and had their little paws on everything as I attempting use the bathroom while transporting them a few hundred miles via mini van by myself... and maybe, just maybe I forgot to wash their hands (badmom?yes).

Anyways, this Christmas, instead of a visit from a fat old man who watches you all year round and then breaks into your house in the middle of the night, we were visited by hand foot and mouth disease and went ahead and infected (most likely) all 13 of the cousins present and probably the four coming in a  couple of days too. And they thought we didn't get them all presents!

Most of the children are reacting just fine to the little "disease" but not my eldest. She is a veritable basket case almost all day and is sleeping like a non-champ, with wake times ranging in the before-6 a.m. range some mornings. Luckily I have a saintly mother-in-law who takes her at a more reasonable hour (7 a.m) and lets me enjoy a few more hours of slumber, best ever.

But for real, I am done complaining and will now showcase some of the fun filled times. There was much castle fun and movie watching in honor of the birth of our Lord.

castle awesomeness

family awesomeness

you can't see naomi's little "oral lesion" but it is there in all its glory

a couch shot whilst view the Lion King the day after Christmas

This is minus any pics of my side of the family since the girls were at their worst on Christmas day, the day we were supposed to all spend over there- I am sure you'll be graced with plenty more after this coming weekend's madness (more of my siblings, more grandchildren, and more baptisms than you thought possible.)

And God bless us, every one!

Blogless, sleepless days

On Friday I drove here, to my home town with my girls by myself to begin our never-ending annual Griswold family Christmas vacation. Coming home to my sisters hanging out at my parent's house with all their little ones to distract mine, to Grandparents salivating at the chance to take my kids for any length of time and let me do *anything* I want, and to non-stop celebration over something, not sure what, is seriously fantastic and so much more exciting than the mundane daily grind of our little home.

But there is certainly something to be said for the normalcy of our little home that keeps certain things like my kid's bowel movements and sleep regular (sorry, that is sick). It doesn't help that all three of us have been in one room AND that (of course) within the first 2 days of being here, Bernadette spiked a fever for about 24 hours that made her completely miserable and kept her up for almost an entire night the night before last. Last night I caved and separated the girls and found another room to sleep in and all three of us snatched a good chunk of sleep: about 8 hours on my part, 12 on Naomi's and Bernadette is still sleeping going an a full 14 hours and counting. And even though I got good sleep last night, I am still definitely planning on throwing both girls at my hard-working husband as soon as he gets here to let me take a gratuitously long nap.

I don't actually know how sleep loss has anything to do with me not blogging, I think it may have a bit more to do with the craziness that is vacation, but I think if I would have tried to write something yesterday (going off of about 3 *interrupted* hours of sleep) there may have been inadvertent swear words inserted in various spots. A happy blogger is a better one. SO there is the sleep connection.

I probably won't be around much until the new year, but maybe I will grace you with some fun shots of me and the fam, I do love to brag about them publicly as much as possible.

Have a happy last week of Advent and Merry Christmas!!

Post Thanksgiving

At my brothers wedding a couple months ago I left our camera case with the cord that connects it to the computer and now our camera is tragically dead. And so until I figure out which replacement cord I need to order and actually do it there will be no new highly anticipated pictures of the current goings on here.

Such as: 

the making of terribly cute Thanksgiving cupcakes,

a day trip to see family in Richmond, IN for Turkey day,

playing outside on an unprecedented beautiful late November day, also prompting myself to go for what I am sure no self-respecting human being would call a run, but it felt freaking good, Mike searching or some critter that we are pretty cure died and is rotting right above our kitchen- a really wonderful place to have rotted corpse smell emanating,

  and last but not least the erecting and decorating of the 4th annual Griswold family Christmas tree... it is probably better that I do not have photos as it would clearly too much for your little eyes and hearts to handle.

But here are some fake pictures of other people's lives for you to enjoy in lieu of our own:

Were my kids this helpful? In a way, no.

 These are the only pictures that is actually real

Joy abounds