Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Harvest Greetings

It is finally fall! I just love fall, it is my favorite season.

This fall, we are so excited to offer Harvest Greetings at UnOrdinary Life.





Brighten your loved ones day with a Harvest Greeting. Pictures from the pumpkin patch, raking leaves, or just any picture you can imagine would go great on a Harvest Greeting.

Harvest Greetings are completely customizable and taylored to your specifications.

Kodak Professional Portra Endura Paper

























1 - 10 11 or more
4x6 Flat Card$1.29 each$1.19 each
5x7 Flat Card$1.99 each$1.89 each
4x8 Flat Card$1.65 each$1.55 each


While I'm high jacking my own blog with a shameful plug, I'll go ahead and let everyone know that November 10th is the last day to order 2009 Christmas Cards with guaranteed on time delivery.

If you want to order your own Harvest Greeting, Christmas card, Birth Announcement, Invitation ... or any other custom photo card please just leave a note in the comments section or email us at UnOrdinaryLife@gmail.com!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Menu

Dinners

Chicken Pot Pie (Tuesday)
Chili and Corn bread (Wednesday)

Potato Soup and Chicken Sandwiches (Wednesday)

Pot Roast (Tuesday)

Stuffed Shells (Sunday Crock Pot)

Tacos (Sunday Crock Pot)

Pizza (Friday)
Pizza (Friday)

Left Over Buffet (Monday)

Left Over Buffet (Monday)

Chicken Fried Rice (Thursday)

Nick’s (Thursday)

Baked Potato Bar (Saturday)

Baked Potato Bar (Saturday)

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Treasure Box

Our treasure box is getting full! Memorizing Scripture is a sure fire way to be blessed. My Tommy bought Abigail and me this jewelery box a few years ago for our earrings, rings, and hair pokies. We've graduated to a more organized system now and decided that this little box with the heart on it was perfect for our treasure box!







Inside, we have index cards and heart stickers so that whenever someone learns a new verse by memory, we can write it down, reward with a sticker, and file our treasure away in our box.



Here is where our treasure box sits, on our devotion shelf. It is so much easier to start devotions cheerfully when we aren't all running around looking for our things! The kiddos grab their blankets, their devotion books, Mommy and Daddy's Bibles, and our hymnal so we can cuddle on the couch for our favorite time of the day.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Wordless ... Monday?

Slapstick Reality

I promise that everything in this post is true. It may seem like a Steve Martin movie, but it indeed really happened yesterday. I was making laundry detergent, in the bathroom. I had my bucket on the toilet so I could stir more easily. Katherine, who is 20 months, has recently started asking to go on the potty. She ran down the hall, stood outside the door and said, "Uhoh!"

I looked and saw that she had spilled her yogurt. I said, "Aw, it's OK, honey. Just clean it up."

To which she replied, "Uhoh!" with a look of great concern eclipsing her beautiful little face.

"It's OK sweetie, Mommy has a towel."

"Uhoh."

It was then that I realized that there was something on the floor. And it wasn't yogurt.

So, I threw Katherine in the sink and got her all cleaned up. While I was scrubbing her down Abigail came running down the hall.

I leaned out the bathroom door to tell her to watch where she steps just in time to see her step right where I was warning her about.

The looks of remorse and disgust that mingled on her face was priceless. She said, "I'm sorry! I didn't see it there!"

"It's OK, just get your foot cleaned up." All while still scrubbing Katherine and trying to make sure the 5 gallon bucket of detergent didn't spill.

Abigail hopped on one foot to the bathtub to rinse her foot. I stuck my head back in the bathroom that I was standing in to wrap Katherine in a towel when I heard, ""Ewwwww!"

Afraid to stick my head back out in the hall way, I said, "Please tell me that Emmie just saw Abigail'ls foot."

Of course, the reality was different. So, I put Katherine down safely away from the detergent to pick Emily up and put her in the sink to get cleaned up.

All I have to say is, "Thank God for Borax!"

Sunday, September 6, 2009

The Things You'd Never Think You Would Hear

We recently changed car seating arrangements. Abigail is now seated right next to Katherine; they both think this is a grand arrangement. Well, yesterday I heard a loud yelp from behind me. When I turned to see just who the yelper was, I found Abigail's arm stretching across the seat into Katherine's seat. Katherine is still turned rear facing, so I couldn't exactly see the problem, however experience has shown me the look on Abigail's face before. I was pretty certain that Katherine had Abigail's finger tightly in the grasp of her new pointy teeth. I coached Abigail through retrieving her finger from Katherine's mouth and scolded Katherine.

A few moments later Abigail said, very matter of factly, "Mom, how come Katherine is younger than me but she can bite harder and make it hurt more than I can?"

Not really sure if I wanted to know the answer I asked the only natural question, "How would you know that she bites harder than you?"

"Because it really hurt when she bit my finger, so I bit my finger to see if I could bite as hard as she could, and I couldn't!"

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Relax?

We are finally all moved in. Ahh, to be able to relax! Relax? Bwahahahaha! Yeah, relax. Mhmm. The other day we had just gotten home from running errands, we still had things to put away, but more importantly I had four hungry children just waiting for lunch. Abigail started slicing cucumbers, I started pouring milk and setting it on the other side of the island for Ian to pass to his sisters, then out of nowhere I heard “eeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Now, for anyone that doesn’t speak the language of power tools, that is the sound of a drill. The sound of a drill can be a very frightening sound. A frightening sound occurring only three feet behind you. A frightening sound occurring only three feet behind you while it attacks the cabinet just over your head. In the interest of preserving memories, as I always try to do, photo documentation was in order. I placed the lid on the milk and ran for the camera. Now, before I emotionally harm any farmers out there, I promise my John Deere did not explode while carrying a load of egg plants. I also promise to any home decorators out there that I did not paint the walls with an exploded egg plant, nor did I raid a John Deere factory for their green paint. Disclaimers over, I also have a confession. I like the autumn gold appliances. I know. I know. But, just look at them for a moment. Look how warm and cozy they feel. If only the broiler worked, more than two stove eyes worked, and the refrigerator actually possessed door shelves and bottom drawers instead of the two rickety shelves placed precariously within. Offending Cabinets' I promise that my counters are normally cleaner than that … remember we had just returned from errands … I’m not making excuses. Honest. No excuses … just as not to emotionally harm any maids out there. While I’m not making excuses, please ignore the 2 liter of soda. It just jumped into my cart, stealthily going unnoticed until it had made its escape from the lonely grocery store shelf with its best friend … a bag of ice. Now, I know what you are saying. How do you get to the half working stove and where is the drawerless refrigerator ? My Tommy was sweet enough to pause his assault on the offending cabinets so I could get a picture. There! See? Oh? You can’t see because of the cabinets? Well, now you know why we were taking them down. Poor Miss Katherine had been tripped over more than enough just in the time we were cleaning and moving in. They had to go. They were a safety concern! Look, Katherine felt it would be safest to seek shelter in a stock pot! Not to mention the mental damage they did to the poor claustrophobic soul that had to cook in there! And completely forgetting the mold spreading through the rotting wood. See the generous three feet of space between the stove and island … well, I guess technically it is a peninsula, huh? What’s that? That is the wonderful sight of dry wall being repaired. Repaired from what? The cabinets! The cabinets that are now suddenly gone. Look at the space! Ahh, sweet space. But, wait. Where is the fridge? With the peninsula removed, we could move the fridge over to the other wall making room for more counter space! Later, while the older three were getting ready for bed and Katherine was already sweetly tucked into dream land, I heard another foreign sound. Scraping. What was that scraping sound? We rushed in to see … What did we find? We found my Tommy ridding us of the odorous tile that could be smelled upon entering the front door on the other side of the house. He’s my hero. We were so thankful to see that tile go, although, just like the appliances they hold a certain appeal to me … if only they weren’t so smelly. Uhoh. Removing the tile unlocked the smell even more. I’m not really sure if the child that took this awful picture should be punished? What about the child that said, “Hey, Mom! These are drywall DUST masks and don’t block smell!” While we are at it, what about the dear, loving husband that had to stop working because he was laughing so hard at his wife for trying to block smell with a drywall mask? Now that the offending cabinets and smelly tiles are gone what are we going to do? You know that people have floor coverings for a reason. And, um, there were things in those cabinets. Things of which are now scattered all over the house, loitering in places they do not belong. The disorganized dishevelment started to close in on me almost more than the cabinets did when I was trying to work in the cramped kitchen. I closed my eyes, counting to 10 while taking deep breaths. Before I needed to beg for a paper bag, my eye lids flew open directing my gaze to our school and toy shelf. Ahh. Peace and harmony in 25 little boxes. Organization, beautiful organization. All thanks to Ikea. Ikea. Aha! To Ikea we must go! Oh, the place to find just what we need to finish off and organize our kitchen. This is where our remodeling journey currently is … I can’t wait to get back to share the adventures from our Ikea trip with you.