wedding weekend

we had the pleasure of attending the most beautiful wedding and reception this past weekend.

meet evan and amanda :)

evan is the oldest son of jan and carol.

jan is one of dave's greatest friends.
jan was dave's mentor in college, and they have remained close ever since.
jan was an usher in our wedding.
jan and carol's wedding anniversary is may 26th, the same as ours :)
we love them.


dave and the boys :)
lilly dancing with the groom :)

here's one of me and the little man on the dance floor.

it's not a secret that i LOVE dancing.

particulary at wedding receptions.

i don't think i'd get tired of them even if i got to go to one every weekend.

while mommy enjoyed a few cosmopolitans (Thanks Jan!!)... the kids were in love with this amazing candy buffet.

Ok, so Dave and I loved it too :) SO FUN!! it was absolutely gorgeous (and delicious!)

nothing like a few handfuls of candy at 9 in the evening for a 5 and 2 year old;)

the kids were SO good.

even hours past their bedtime :)

we all had so much fun.

one last photo... a family picture right before we headed home.

jan kept us laughing with his tripod-like stance and potty humor :)

big thanks to evan & amanda, jan & carol for the invitation to share this special day with them!! we had a wonderful time and we continue to be honored to know this family :)

8 on 5.26.09

we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on may 26th.
each year, we take our family photo on this date.
to watch our family grow.

this year, we headed out to the backyard and hoped that no neighbors were watching :)

happy anniverysary to my best friend.

the one who drives me crazy.

in all ways :)

class of 2009

we have a little graduate in our house :)

one of those moments were i am so proud, happy and excited, yet so sad at the same time.

lilly's preschool is one of the best there is.

it is truly an amazing place.

(i will actually miss loading and unloading the van of 4 kids each week.)

i am so proud that she was able to be a student there.

we have met so many wonderful kids, parents, families, and teachers over the past 2 years there... and now we are happy to call many of them our friends.

lilly, we are so proud of you!!

you have learned so much.

you are reading and writing and spelling now.

you know how to help a classmate.

you know how to be a friend.

Lilly, Congratulations on your Preschool Graduation!!

we love you :)

since i've been gone.

i'm in a major blog funk.
actually it's just an all around funk.

a few people asked when i was going to blog again.
that made me feel good.
made me feel like this thing is actually missed.
thanks mardee and susie :)

i do want to blog.
i think about things i could blog all the time.
but sometimes i have to try to get other things in line before i give myself time for this.

here's a bunch of stuff that has gone on.
im sure i missed something.
if i did and i remember, im sure ill feel guilty and try to add it next time.

-Lilly turned 5.
-Made and ate cake.
-Lilly celebrated her bday with school friends at W's gymnastics.
-Made and ate a birthday party cake.

-Lilly’s playing soccer (and has scored 2 goals!) -We put our house on the market.
-I turned 30.
-I ruined a big birthday surprise.
-Had a breakdown over the fact that I don’t like surprises, and don’t know why I can’t enjoy my birthdays.
-Still managed to be spoiled for my bday.
-Got lots of bday cards in the mail (thanks to ALL who sent me one!)
-Received a beautiful necklace from Dave and the kids.
-Ate at my favorite brunch buffet for my bday.
-Cohen turned 2.

-Made and ate some more cake.
-Had fun at a Rock Band party where Lilly scored big singing to the Beastie Boys and Cohen rode a flamingo.
-Lilly had her kindergarten registration and screening.
-Lots of embroidery going on.
-Enjoyed a special dinner and dessert out with a very special friend.
-Finally got new glasses.
-Had a very nice Mother’s Day with lots more spoiling.
-Was given a homemade coupon book with lots of things I like… including Subway, camping, scrapbooking, date nights and mommy time :)
-Received a very special bracelet from the boys I watch.
-Have been making lots of homemade food… mac and cheese, granola, breakfast bars, peanut butter, strawberry jam, hummus.

So that's it for now.
Hopefully my next post won't be ages away.

Have a great weekend!!

Happy Easter

i'm technically still on hiatus from blogging, but...

the little man is napping.

the little lady is out plant shopping with daddy.

i am printing gift certificates.

and uploading pics to print for a crop next weekend.

so i thought id use time wisely (by multi-tasking) and share some pics from this morning!

Happy Easter :)

busy.

signs like these sure are nice to see.
our yard is starting to look beautiful.
i need more of this.

i'm busy.

mommy.

wife.

sister.

daughter.

baby-sitter.

nurse.

sewer.

embroiderer.

small-business owner.

taxi.

singer.

dancer.

creator.

researcher.

scrapbooker.

party planner.

photographer.

friend.

volunteer.

baker.

chef.

organizer.

blogger.

reader.

teacher.

neighbor.

referee.

crafter.

washer.

dryer.

maid.

cryer.

thinker.

wisher.

dreamer.

hoper.

prayer.

i truly can't do it all.
at least not without losing myself along the way.

this may be the last post for a while.

there are some big changes about to go down in our household.

no new baby. (i know some of you are wondering...)

that is not in our plans at the time being.

not that any plans are really our own :)

enjoy some pics of my favorite little people.
the ones who keep my smiling each and every day!

pics to share

sorting through my february file of pictures to print and found a few good ones to share :)

the masked wondergirl.


and not to be left out... little backward masked wonderboy.

all bundled up with her new haircut.
i told lilly she looked like kit kittredge :)
love this pic.

mr. bone wild.
wearing his sister's boots.

wearing other people's shoes is a big deal around here.

only cohen can get away with this look :)

if you haven't already checked it out, i do have a Q&A link set up to the right. so if you do leave a question, i'll try to get back with you!!

and... i have 1.5 openings left in the chain of love party. (1.5 because i think katie needs to post on her blog yet?)

also... i've recently set my blog so that if any comments are left 4 days after the post being commented on, i have to approve it before it will be shown. i had been getting some 'comments' left for purses, nike airs (ha!), jewelry... junk comments basically :) so... keep commenting, but i may have to approve it depending on how many days after the post you are commenting!!

have a good day :)

it's spring here today. let's hope it lasts a while...

770

I am pleased, proud, excited, delighted to announce that together, through auctions and donations, we were able to raise...

$770.00 for the Tarapchak kids!!


Thank you :)
Thank you :)
Thank you :)

sorting laundry

conversation while dave was sorting laundry to be washed.

d: how many times do you wear your pants before you wash them?
me: look up at dave in silence. then laugh.
d: what?
me: i wear them until they are peed on, pooped on, spit up on, or they are crusted with food, formula, and/or not limited to playdoh, boogers, and anything else not completely solid :) which is usually about 1 day. sometime less than one day, sometimes more (though usually if it's more than one day, there is something hidden on them that i dont notice until i put them on for the 2nd time)
me: why?
d: it just seemed like there were a lot of pants in here.


thank you sweetie boy :)
for washing my pants ;)

Chain of Love

I just found this on my friend Rorie's blog, and because I love to spread the love and all I had to do so far was cut and paste her blog post, I'm in!

Chain of Love

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!
My choice. For you.
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make for you!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a song. It may be a self portrait or maybe even some creation I haven't yet dreamed up. I may draw. (Although it would just be stick figures...) I may bake you something and mail it to you. It may not be big or impressive. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! But lets be honest here. This is me and I will likely do something amazing. =) So come on, sign up!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch?
Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to post this same blog on their blog and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

Let's keep the chain of love going around!!

quick hello

i'm still here.
thinking.
too much.
wondering.
questioning.
being me.
i drive myself silly.
i wish i could just say... ok.
this is the right thing.
just do it.
i really want to want to.
with no hesitations.
at all.

my husband on the other hand.
he's confident.
bold. daring. adventurous.
proud.
borderline egotistical :)
depending on the situation.
i admire him for that.
his faith.
that eveything will be ok.
that we will make the right choices.
we've done ok so far.

it will be fine.
everything will happen just how it is supposed to.
even if it requires a small leap on my part.


ok... enough of that poetry style writing.
just had to get that out ;)

i'll be back.
when my mind settles down.
and i feel rested.
and caught up.
ha.

have a great weekend :)

Happy Vday and THANK YOU!!

Happy belated Valentine's Day to you all :)

I am addicted to this sugar cookie recipe.

I made hearts for Lilly's class.
I made bowling ball sugar cookies for a bowling party today :)
If there is a reason... I will make these sugar cookies!


A HUGE thank you to everyone involved in making the Tarapchak auctions so successful!

I am so excited as to the results!!
I'm waiting to tally our entire earnings towards the children's fund until the donations/winning bids start coming in, because these are the kinds of surprises that I do like ;)

Have a great week!!

Raq Quilt auction!

It's here!! and I am SO very excited...
The Tarapchak Family Blog Auction Weekend!!

Right here... up for auction is one handmade, custom rag quilt including an embroidered name, intials, or monogram. (custom... as in, it hasn't been made yet, because it will be made JUST FOR YOU!) 100% of the proceeds from this auction will benefit the Tarapchak kids!

Please read the following information before placing a bid.

-The winner of this auction will get to choose the gender/color/theme of the quilt according to the fabrics I have available. (Photos of available prints shown below)
-I generally use 9 patterened/printed fabrics, and 4 solid fabrics.
-The size of my typical quilt is approximately 44 x 42 inches (9 squares x 10 squares)(This can be adjusted per winner's request)
-The winner may choose to have one name/monogram/intials embroidered onto a square of the rag quilt

Here are some photos of a few rag quilts I have made, to get a sense of my 'style'.

Here are some more photos.

And here are the available prints :)
(I have most solid colors to coordinate, so I did not include photos of those.)

FREE shipping within the United States.
Auction will end at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard time, Sunday, February 15th.

Staring bid... $20.00
Bidding increments of... $5.00

Place a bid by leaving a comment to this post.
Cash, check or money order will be accepted.
PayPal will be accepted, with additional PayPal fee charges added on. I MUST have a way to contact you in order for your bid to be valid.

Please email me with any questions!
jenfinh@yahoo.com

I will contact the winning bidder the evening the auction is done! Payment is appreciated ASAP. At that time we will discuss your rag quilt preferences :) These do take a while to complete, but I would hope to have it in your hands within 4 weeks.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my auction!!
Please check out the master list of all the Tarapchak auctions going on this weekend... the image below will take you to the page with links!!

Happy Bidding :)

Now go hug the ones you love ;)

photo tagged!

Arminda tagged me to post the 4th photo, in my 4th folder of pics.

I've been wanting to be tagged for this, so here I go... off to see what the photo is!! I'm even going to surprise myself, I'm going to add a photo by the jpeg name, not the image :)

ok, it got a little tricky, cause i have folders in folders in folders, but here is the surprise pic!

ha!

i couldn't really tell you much about this picture besides it came from the april 2008 folder, it's in our kitchen, and it's lilly... hamming it up... true to herself :) looks like she has her pants rolled up and is sockless. VERY lilly :) and looks like the little man is drinking juice and having a snack. VERY cohen :)

now... i tag... erin, ali, denise, mary, and anyone else who just wants to!

and don't forget! the auctions are this weekend :)

entertainment.

besides music of course... here are some things we do for entertainment in our frugal home.

game entertainment: besides the Wii which we usually play at night and on the weekends, we've found a few 'new' games that we love to play during the day while the little boys are napping.

The Ladybug Game.
VERY fun and cute.
I would HIGHLY recommended it to any pre-schooler :)
i believe i got it on sale at Target for $5 a few Christmasses ago, though it's not too costly even at full price :)

War.

who doesn't LOVE a game of war?

great for learning number/face card values.

TV entertainment.

Desperate Housewives
House
LOST
My Name is Earl
Kath & Kim
The Office
Grey's Anatomy
Friday Night Lights

(throw in a little American Idol and The Biggest Loser... if I have time to sit around)

mind you, we have regular old cable.
no tivo. no DVR recorder thing. no hi-def whatever... so our Thursday nights involve taping (yes, VHS taping) The Office while we watch Grey's. Then we watch The Office on Friday before Friday Night Lights comes on. (Unless I go to bed very early on Thursday, in which case we watch the rerun of Grey's on Saturday)

Movies entertainment: As in... "it was on TV, we got is as a Christmas gift, we rented it with gift cards, or we checked it out of the library" movies. We've been out of the movie loop for so so long. I do miss movies. We did start a little movie watching spree over the holidays, but we are back out of any movie routine at the moment. Here's a list of what we did watch...

The Chronicles of Narnia:The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

High School Musical

High School Musical 2

High School Musical 3

Tinkerbell

Batman Begins

The Dark Night

I now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry

Pineapple Express

ok... so what movie(s) do we need to put on our list of movies to see??

i really do have a list of 'movies to see' up in a kitchen cupboard :)

happy week to you all!!