{play of light}

I had hubby grab the camera for me so I could catch Ruth with the rays of light playing thru the mini blinds across her face. Some of the lines reminded me of those old movies where they showed the shadow of bars across the jail bird.

Enjoy!

{Staying busy}

I am keeping busy and here is what I got done today - 5 more miniatures and got some cleaning done too. I am glad William got me into painting miniatures, it's so much fun and so relaxing!! I love picking out what colors for which miniature and creating story lines for each one trying to get the right personality to come out - silly I know but so much fun.

The 5 I painted today:




all the miniatures that I have painted:


Look at all the ones William painted & he's painting more as I type:

{Painted Miniatures by ME}

That's right, I painted these miniatures. I know a few you have seen but I figured I got them all retouched and varnished (shiny) that I wanted to show them off. I know they are not perfect but they were fun to paint. (I loved how saucy and hilarious some of the miniatures are. You will see what I mean below.

Today we went to the hobby shop and got more miniatures and more colors to paint with. Let me tell you what, this hobby is becoming more and more fun and we have been saving money by only getting miniatures that are 50% off so the max amount we are spending per miniature is about $3. We won't pay full price for them just yet, I wanna get better before tackling full price miniatures.
















Tomorrow the boys go back to school (yeah!!). We had fun over spring break but they are tired of me and have been acting out. They are more excited for spring break to be over then I am. We have been having fun, playing outside (when it wasn't so darn cold from the harsh winds or rain). The kids painted, explored for buried treasure in the yard (you should see all the holes out back) and going to the park.

The boys have gotten into the star wars miniatures and we have been indulging them as they want to build up their miniatures as much as daddy has his, and Ruth has been building up her animal collection on each trip to the hobby store.

The boys get so involved in their little star wars world with all the terrain, ships & troopers along with the different aliens too. It's fun to watch. Ruth has either me or daddy play with her, the animals & fairies. They all have such great imaginations. We really haven't had the TV on hardly at all this past week. It's been really nice.




I finished my first book in 2 years, "Redwall" by Brian Jacques. It's a cute little book about a mouse with great courage who rallies everyone to save the abby and stand up to a villainous rat who wants to kill anyone who gets in his way. They made a movie and a series about this book & the many that followed it. I have added them to my netflix list so I can share the story with the kids now and then will share the books with them when they are a bit older and don't mind the book not having pictures in it.




By the way, if you have a good book to recommend please do so. I am always looking for a great read. I have several books that I have enjoyed over the many years. Below are just a few of my favorites that I have read over and over again.

1. "Silken Savage" by Cathrine Heart (a historic romance novel - more story to it) - I have gone thru 3 copies of this book. I have now learned the hard way not to loan this one out.



2. "Montana Sky" by Nora Roberts (a romance novel with story to it) - a gal that I worked with at Walmart in Newport recommended it to me and I have read it more times then I can count. They did make a movie of it but it was lame and not very good.



3. "Faerie Tale" by Raymond E. Feist (great mystery/suspense with a touch of horror mixed in with Irish folk lore)- my mom got me a first edition copy for my 16th birthday.



4. "Imzadi" by Peter David (a star trek the next generation novel that was a great read for me)

{bill HR 875 & bill S 425}

I read about these two bills over at Jan's blog.

These bills have some red flags that Jan points out:
(below wording taken from her blog)

• Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn't actually use the word organic.

• Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it. (gardening)

• Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game. (we raise chickens and have an organic garden every year and awesome fresh eggs and I love farmers markets - this will all be affected)

• Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.

On Alex's blog "Leave my food alone", he talks about the same topic and click HERE to sign the petition.

Believe me I am all for food safety, but really does that give the government the right to take away my RIGHT to be self sufficient and grow my own food?

{Painted Minitures}

William has started a new hobby of painting metal miniatures for d&d. Its time consuming and with the kids playing with them too, there is alot of touch up work. (we need to figure out what to put on them so they don't chip...any ideas?)

I have only painted a few and have several more that I want to paint too, it's amazing how relaxing it is. It's almost zen like...almost.

Below are our creations...




I painted these two...




William painted the miniatures below....

{Day 4: Horse Bite & more news}

Ruth wanted in on my picture taking this morning...


Well this afternoon I am going in to get my Mirena IUD removed so William & I can try for baby number 4. I am excited but nervous at the same time. I asked the kids if they wanted "mommy to have another baby?" and they all said "YES!"

Of course, they all had different reasons: Aaron's being we needed to have another girl to make our family EVEN. Ruth's was because she wants a real baby to play with and Sam said because he wants a baby brother.

I am thinking about stocking up on diapers - sizes 1 & 2. I have a crib & mattress from when I had Ruth, but I don't have any baby clothes - that's something I will have to stock up on too, not blankets though, I kept those...silly how you keep some things and don't keep others...

Anywho, I hope it's easier for them to remove the birth control then it was for them to get it in - my Uterus was inverted when they tried to put it in 3 years ago - lets hope it's normal now.

William is excited too, but nervous as well. But I know he enjoyed watching Ruth grow and develop and will enjoy watching number 4 do the same. He missed out watching Aaron grow from age 6month to 1 year due to basic training and He missed watching Sam grow from 6 months to about age 2 due to being deployed overseas. But he did get to watch Ruth grow thru the whole process and now he will get to do the same with number 4.

Well I better go...lots to do before my doctors appointment.

{Horse bite: Day two}

{9 years and counting}

William and I have been married for 9 years, TODAY!! It seems like so long ago we got married and started our family. We both have grown so much that looking back I don't always recognize us in earlier pictures. I hope we have many more years to come and that life will continue to be an adventure but hope that it's not as rocky as it's been in the past. (ya know, almost 2 year separation due to William being deployed to Iraq, brain surgery and stress of trying to get things done with the VA & Military).

Do you know that when William and I got married we have actually only celebrated our anniversary together a total of 2 times. Our first anniversary (2001), both of us forgot it ( silly I know but it's true) My grandma of course didn't forget it and called us to wish us a happy anniversary, catching us off guard. During our 2nd anniversary (2002) William was doing National Guard stuff. during our 3rd anniversary (2003) we were so busy taking care of Aaron & our newest addition at the time (SAM) that we forgot again. In 2004 & 2005 William was deployed. In 2006 we just spent the day together, same as in 2007. 2008 I was too busy helping William recover from brain surgery to even remember our anniversary. Now it's 2009 and we still have no plans but we will just enjoy one another's company...

In life it's not the BIG one day things that matter but the small everyday things that bring me joy and happiness and make this life worth living and I am so glad I have a great companion & soulmate to walk the journey with me who doesn't sweat the BIG gestures that everyone thinks should show your love but shows his love with the small stuff that makes both of us happy as we travel hand in hand down this bumpy road we call life. I am looking forward to spending forever and ever in his arms.

{Hormonal Horse}

That's right, the horse was preggers and hormonal and tried to take a chunk of my arm this afternoon...at least I hope it was hormones.

{"Magic" & make-over}

I am trying to revamp the look of my bedroom - it's a slow go but we did get a new bed (we have needed one for sooo long!) and now that we finally have a "grown up" bed and not some dormroom pancake bed. I wanted to start revamping our linens.

I want our bedroom to be a reflection of who we are and a peaceful place to come to at night. (we need to find a new home for lots of stuff in here but we need more room to do that) Right now our room is a mod podge of freebies, hand-me-downs & practicle thrift sale finds.

Anywho, I picked up this cute black & white quilt (it came with matching shams!) at walmart (on sale for 1/2 price) and picked up a black bedskirt. Yes, my sheets are hot pink but they were on clearance for less then what the one I wanted cost (like 2/3rds difference) and as many know me, I tend to sacrifice what I want for what is more practical and more within my budget. I also have shocking teal sheets too, someday I will have just plain white ones.

I want to go more shabby country, but not too girly (William would prefer Asian inspired and I want country inspired so we are compromising on some things) so I am going to go with a more black & white theme in the bedroom with hints of color (reds & whites mostly) here and there.

I am scowering for a nice iron worked bedframe that of course, would stay within our budget, (craigslist and thrift stores mostly) I don't care of the color, it can always be painted (I am hoping to find one in white with some soft scrolling perhaps).

Slowly but surely I am going to have a "grown up" bedroom where hubby & I can relax and just enjoy quite...

**on to the magic....**

William has been teaching the kids how to play "Magic the Gathering" - it's a card game like pokemon. (from what William has told me most of the card games now got their start from magic)

I love that he is teaching them this game, it's helping them with their reason skills and math skills. It's also teaching them to work together and staying on track. It also gives them some bonding time.

Below are some images I captured of them playing as well as a few images of Patten & Ruth trying to get involved. Patten kept moving so fast he is kind of a blur when sitting on my Uncle's lap. He was just all over the place and Ruth played with the boxes that my "gifts" were sent in (she confiscated them as her own when she saw them on my desk...they were the perfect size to hold her mini doggie toys that came with her latest barbie & dog)

Enjoy!