{Sam's FIRST tooth}

Sam lost his first tooth while playing his video game. He kept wiggling it while he played and it just popped out. He was happy as a clam!

{Lilacs blooming and more}

The lilacs are blooming and the dandelions are popping into what Ruth calls "wish makers". Just wanted share what I saw this afternoon. Enjoy!

{GoodREADS.com}

I have joined GoodREADS, it's free and a great way to get to know what everyone is reading and browse books and read reviews all from the comfort of your own home. You can see what your friends are reading (if they are registered) and I love that I can save my books that I have read and want to read. It's a great way to organize your want to read books from those you have read.

I would love to add you as a friend! Are you apart of GoodREADS?

{Cool or Uncool?}

My husband just told me about his theory on why we don't have many friends:

"It's because we have kids. Don't you know that today's generation doesn't want kids and they won't be making hybrids for families because having kids is just uncool. And that is why we are uncool and won't have a mini-van hybrid to look forward to and that is why we don't have any friends!"

Of course I laughed so hard I almost pee'd my pants. Seriously, I have no friends because I am uncool BECAUSE of my kids? Well, I do have some friends, just none who live close to me.

He also started ranting about "over population" and how we are making enemies everywhere because we are planning on baby number 4 and those people will put us on their hit lists with all the "other mormons who can't keep their legs crossed."

Of course he was just joking as we were watching some show on PBS about global warming, unclean water, the need for non-gas cars and so on.

So what is your take on kids? Are they uncool or cool? Did you lose your friends because you "got knocked up"?

I didn't lose any friends when I got preggers but I do find it harder to go out to a movie and dinner at a nice restaurant because it would cost waaaay too much to take everyone, so instead I wait for it to come out on DVD and make it a special night with popcorn and other fun foods to snack on. It's more cost effective that way. Ya know with the "recession" and all.

{Cleaning up}

I have been working all weekend to get my bedroom back to being a bedroom and not a storage room. I took 4 boxes to the storage unit, cleaned out my closets and got rid of one of the dressers that we never use.

While at the storage unit I found my cookbooks & the lid to my crockpot (yeah!). Of course I found some more books to read (my stack of books by my bed is growing) and I also found some CD's I burned years ago and thought I would play them - boy has my taste changed is all I can say.

I even organized the master bath so that everything is accessible by both William and I. Of course I am sure it will be all jumbled up before the end of next week but at least it's looking good now.

I got my desk cleared off of papers that just seem to pile up around the computer...I never saw a sign that said "dumping grounds" but that's what my desk looked like before I cleared it off. Now I can get to my printer without having to sift under papers for it and you know what? I found two jump drives I had been looking for.

It really is nice to have a clean room again, well mostly clean - I still have some odds & ends that need to find homes but for now it's fairly clean. At least I am not tripping over boxes or over piles of stuff that mysteriously appeared on my floor (from the car I might add).

I know what I really should do and that is just purge again because I just have too much stuff taking up more room then I have available to me. But I know if I do that I will only go out and purchase it again once we buy our own home, so off to storage it goes. I have been pursuing craigslist to see if I can find "the" bedframe I want and have seen things I want to get when we purchase our own place and have to stop myself from going and putting it in storage...lol...even if it's a great deal I don't need to fill my storage unit! or do I?

Anywho, I need to get started prepping for dinner. It's such a beautiful day today! Blue sky, fluffy white clouds and crisp green showing in fields while a soft refreshing breeze blows the newly grown leaves from side to side. Ahhhh, what a day!

{Reads this month}

So because I wanted to refresh myself on the books I have in my storage unit and finish the series I had started so long ago, (aka before kids). I thought I would compile them for my own benefit and feel as though I have accomplished something:

I started this month off with:

Piers Anthony's "Mode Series"

1. Virtual Mode
2. Fractal Mode
3. Chaos Mode
4. DoOon Mode

and then moved on to:

Nora Roberts "Irish Trilogy"

1. Jewels of the Sun
2. Tears of the Moon
3. Heart of the Sea

and then continued with Nora Roberts "Three Sisters Trilogy"

1. Dance Upon the Air
2. Heaven and Earth
3. Face the Fire (I finished this one this morning)

I am now going to re-read Cathrine Hart's "Silken Savage" and then go to the bookstores to find some of the books you all have suggested...Gosh, 10 books in 23 days! I wonder how many I can read next month?

Do you have a favorite book that you enjoy re-reading and if so, what is it?

I do notice that most of these were romance novels - but I do enjoy all sorts of books and any and all suggestions are welcomed!

{What I have been up to...}

So this month as you know my blog has been neglected and yes, it was all for good reason.



Yesterday was William's birthday!! He's the big 3-2! we kept it low key and we went to the game shop so he could pick up as many miniatures as he wanted. Now there are oodles to paint (I picked up a few too). I made steak on the grill with broiled asparagus and even baked a german chocolate cake with that coconutty frosting he likes. And he got cards from my mom, his mom & his dad too. His dad even called to wish him a happy birthday! It was a nice day of just relaxing and checking out his new booty of miniatures.

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We got an inflatable pool for the kids to splash in since the irrigation water is being kept from us by a greedy neighbor...One day it was nice and full and now it's just a mud pit!

But the kids like the little pool better...it has a whale slide that has a small sprinkler. Next month we will get a slip 'n' slide. They are just loving the weather but I think I need to get black out curtains for their windows because they try to use the ploy "It's still light outside so I don't have to go to bed, right?"

It has been warm enough that the air conditioner is now officially on. It's been nice and comfortable but yesterday it got too warm for comfort and there was no breeze, today is another story all together. It's been the perfect temperature outside and a refreshing breeze. Have I mentioned the lilac tree out front is starting to bloom - it's going to be full of blooms soon and that means my home will have that fresh fragrant scent of lilac wafting thru the rooms...lol

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About a week back, the kids and I painted clay pots and planted some flowers to set on our front porch to make it more inviting...seriously if the wet clothes, strewn toys and barking dog don't say welcome I don't think the chalked on "welcome" will help either...lol It's all up to the flowers for sure.

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I am still looking for great reads for the summer, if you have any ideas let me know and I will try to find them in the book stores. I have forgotten how much I love to read! I love being sucked into my stories and getting involved in their lives - even if it's fiction it's better then what's on tv lately. Am I right?

On that note we have been having the TV off most of the day. We just spend time playing with the kids, reading, painting and photographing moments as they happen and of course trying for baby number 4... ;)

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I have also been working on painting miniatures and below are 3 that I have done so far this month. The larger ones measure about 6 1/2 cm (that's about 2 1/2") and the smaller miniature is about 3 cm (a little over 1"). I don't know why but I find the larger ones harder than the smaller ones. Not sure why but I just like painting the smaller ones better. What do you think?



Amazon Princess














Amazon Warrior














This is my miniature for my new dnd character, Naran, she looks sorta like my rendering and her long sleeves reminded me of wings...It's the best I can do for now but I think she will do the trick.


















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Well that's what I have been doing, basically nothing but sitting around reading, playing, having fun and enjoying my family! Now off to read what you guys have been up to!

{Easter Images: late}

I have been working on family stuff the past few weeks so I have not been online as often as before and I am afraid my blog is suffering. I can't believe it has taken me so long to get these snapshots from easter up on here...I hope you can forgive me Mom.

I only took pictures of the "hunt" but we did dye eggs too and the kids ate all the candy in those eggs as well as ate all the hard boiled eggs too...Guess Easter was a big hit here at home. Enjoy!

{Thoughts: Random-ness}

It's late and here I sit on my couch using my hubbies laptop. (He's a PC & I am a MAC) I just can't get to sleep I thought maybe if I caught up on my blog reads it would help me sleep, but it didn't. I even thought that if I watched some of the shows I have missed the past few weeks that it would help bring on sleep...not the case. I even thought if I just listened to music it would help but it didn't either. So here I am, sitting in a dark livingroom with my feet propped up and typing on this brightly lit screen, hoping and praying I will soon get some relief and get the sleep I need.

I probably won't anytime soon and in no time at all it will be time to take the boys to school. I really had a nice weekend with the kids. One reason I haven't been on blogging as much and the other reason is that I wanted to finish the MODE series by Piers Anthony. Did you know it had 4 books? I didn't! and it irked me that each book (I had the first two thinking there were only 3), ended abruptly so in order for me to know if they got to where they were going I had to read all 3. Of course I scoured for book 3 and found it in a small used book store in Ontario and after trudging thru it found it ended abruptly too!

Yes, I was madder then all get out! and everyone in the house knew it and the big chain book stores around here knew it too! No one seemed to have book number 4. Not a one!! But I did find Hastings and asked the info person if they had the book and she was so nice and said, "Yes, but we only have a used copy" I was thinking hurray and please get me the used copy! Of course it was hardback and not paperback BUT it did have a nice price on it! It was only $5.90 and for me to order a softback online would have cost that much and then shipping too.

I finished the book in about 6 hours. Now I know what happened and there was no abrupt ending. Finally I can move onto another book that won't need so much of my time. It was a fun book though I had to trudge thru book 3 because of all the big scientific words and theories that didn't need as much depth as the author thought was necessary...it just bogged it down so it took me a bit more time to finish that one then 1, 2 & 4.

I will tell you what though, after reading a hardback book I appreciate paperback books more and more. The paperback books don't hurt my wrists as much as holding a hardback does. It requires only one hand while the hardback requires two. It was hard to hold Ruth and read the last book because I couldn't reach around to hold the book properly. Oh, well. I still got the book finished.

If you were wondering what books I am talking about I read: Virtual Mode, Fractal Mode, Chaos Mode & then DoOon Mode. All four were written by Piers Anthony. An interesting series, but glad it's over with now.

Now onto my weekend with the kids! We played "Tag" and "Hide-n-go seek" and ran around searching for many hidden eggs and even decorating eggs too. It really was a great weekend. I did take pictures of the Easter egg hunt but those images are yet to be downloaded onto my computer. I will upload them as soon as I can so you can see the fun they had.

Aaron and Sam ran around and around, searching the front yard and then the back yard for the elusive plastic eggs. They found a great many and I had to send them off to different sections so that Ruth would be able to find some of the eggs before her brothers scooped them all up. This was Ruth's first Easter egg hunt. We are not big on the whole bunny thing, but it is fun and we discuss every year what Easter is really about and why it's celebrated. They really did enjoy every aspect of it.

I was supposed to have a Senior session this weekend but it fell thru last minute and I was rather bummed because I was all ready and rearing to go. I got a notion (still small voice) that I should call and make sure she was coming (it's a hour drive for me to where we were to meet) and her number was disconnected so I called her mom's number. Her mom said she would call her daughter to find out. I called the mom back as I hadn't heard anything in over an hour and she said it was off and we would reschedule. I hope it works out next time but I am sure glad I listened to that still small voice urging me to call because I would have been very upset had no one showed up and I had driven all that way for nothing. (God is always with us, guiding us, even in the little things we do. I appreciate it.)

I wonder all the time about random things and wonder if I could ever just shut my brain off so that I can just get the sleep I need...all this random-ness just clogs my brain making it all muddled and alert but all the while my body says "let me sleep" but my brain is shouting "No, I need to think about why cookie dough tastes so good" Lame I know, but it truly is frustrating at times. Especially when I need my sleep so I can be well rested for my day of fun and house chores...

I swear my house has severely suffered due to my lack of sleep. I have clothes piled up, needing to be washed. The sink hasn't been dish-less in forever. I don't even know what is lurking at the bottom of the sink because I haven't reached it yet this week. At least it doesn't smell...well, not yet. My floor needs vacuumed and don't get me started on the state of my bathrooms.

I just don't have the energy. I really should go in and see if iron levels are too low again. Did I mention I had my first "real" period this month and it was awful! I forgot how horrible they were. All the bleeding, cramping, nausea and not to mention the migraines. It was like the flood gates just being opened once I had my birth control removed. I really hope I get pregnant sooner then later because these periods will be the death of me I am sure...well, maybe not but it will take some getting used to since my periods while on the birth control were very light and had no ill side effects except for "Bitchiness" as hubby called it. (excuse the foul language)

Anywho I am going go sign off and hope that I can drift off to sleep soon. It's getting so late and I really would like to be a bit rested before being rudely awaken by the alarm in the morning...I miss my sunrises, I haven't seen any since the time change...another reason I don't like "springing forward". Oh well. Nighty-night!

{Evolution of a Miniature}

So here is the process from start to end of how a miniature becomes painted...at least my process...















First it starts off with a metal miniature. You need to take a file and sand off the bits of hard metal that need to be removed.

Next it needs to be primed (I use white primer). Then you paint it any way you want.

Finally you add a coat of varnish so that the paint won't chip when the miniature is handled.

and that is the my process from start to finish...