Pictures at Penny's

I got the kids pictures taken over the weekend, I know I can't believe I pay someone else to take "professional" pictures, but until I get the studio, camera, and lighting..... I dont think they turned out to shabby!!! Except Alex kept doing the standard little boy I dont want to be doing this... in every group picture... But we finally got a real one in the one of just him!!!

I am WOMAN hear me roar!!!

OK so I know I shouldn't be this proud of myself, but I am! Last night ONE or ALL of the kids broke the bathroom faucet and it was too late to do anything about it last night so Theo said he would fix it on Friday. Uh Tuesday night to Friday with NO bathroom sink..... I'll just ask Theo's Dad if he can swing by... oh he's racing this week.... and Ben is in Utah for 2 weeks..... who else can I ask??? So this morning I decided I would at least get a new faucet, then I thought I'll just take the old one off.... then I thought maybe... just maybe...... Here is the old one... yes I basically ripped it out, who invented these things???OK so there was a little water left in the pipes.... YUCK!!!Gus decided I could use his help.... and I guess it worked because....

TA - DAH.... our new bathroom faucet... working!!! :) It is now the ONLY thing in my bathroom that I don't COMPLETELY hate! Our bathroom is SO ugly it belongs on that HGTV show Bad Bad Baths... Maybe I could figure out how to change out the whole sink ??? But then I'd need a new cabinet too.... UH-OH....

When your a big girl you'll get a Barbie!!!

I'd love to say that I'm above bribery, but after 3 kids.... I'll do ANYTHING to just get them to do it sometimes!!!!

Leah being the strong willed little girl that she is, defied all my attempts to get her to go the bathrom on the potty!!! I tried all the books & video's, the big kid pants with Dora & princess.. nothing worked! The Doctor assured me that she would go when SHE was ready... I started to think she'd be graduating wearing depends. Well Grandma Ann being the wise mother of 3 kids & grandmother to 9 grandchildren. One day told Leah that when she was a big girl and went to the potty... she would take her to the store and she could pick out her very own barbie. Well last week Leah & Grandma paid a visit to Target and Leah got her very own barbie complete with nails for her to wear..... Here I am trying to get these stupid little plastic nails to stay on Leah's little finger with basicly tape! Thanks Mattell for that brillant engineering!!! Leah shows off her new PINK nails and her NEW BARBIE!!!!

Thanks so much Grandma Ann for the bribery that did the trick!!! Woooo Hoooooooooooooo!!!

Get on the Bus Gus.......

OK so it hasnt taken us THIS long to name him, but having a puppy is like having a new born.... Up at night crying, peeing/pooping everywhere, needing to be played with but it has been TOTALLY worth it! He's a great addition to our family!!!

Gus the fuss Schmierney

And when the kids are bad, I now have a new way to contain them..... I just want to go on record that I came upstairs and found them like this!

They thought it was SOOOOOO funny! Alex begged me to sleep in the cage with the dog!

But being the mean 'ol Mom that I am I MADE him sleep in His bed!

Gus had his first trip to the Vet with us and he weighed in at 25lbs.... at 3 months old! (YIKES)

the doctor thinks he has some Great Dane or perhaps Mastif in him....

Oh so he'll be a small dog! OMG!!!

Puppy Love

Can we keep him Momma?

Absoultely thrilled with the new puppy

This fella may have met his match

How can you not just fall in love with that little face?!?!


Stay tuned for the unveiling of his name...

will it be Gus, Ashton, Smokey, Dogwar, or Ball?

Fools watch out it's April first!!!

I love having kids, for many reasons, but lately I'm really enjoying having fun with them. We did the leprechaun boxes last month.... and this year I felt like I could finally pull some pranks on Alex for April Fools day! I started the day off by telling him to go wash his hands before he ate breakfast.... ofcourse there was a rubber band around the kitchen sink sprayer.... nailed him!

Then I told him to eat breakfast only I had put his cereal & milk in the freezer the night before and it was a rock.... he was so confused..... and then when he tried to drink his orange kool-aid... nothing would come up the straw.... orange jello.... that I had put in the fridge over night.. straw and all.... he ended up laughing so hard couldn't believe his old lady could get him like that!

Here Leah is demonstrating the frozen cereal gag....

Ethan didn't understand and spent about 5 minutes desperately trying to pull the spoon out so he could eat the ceral.... you can tell he was less than happy... I kept trying to show him but he lost interest and in the picture he looks like he's plotting a course to the south pole!?!?!

Here Alex is playing a gag on his class.... the old fake blood (katsup) trick.... too bad he couldnt keep the smile off his face when he was walking into school!

Hope you were able to pull a trick on someone and enjoy your youthful spirit! Now I have to start planning so I'm ready for next year that will really get him

Darling you look Bow-ti-ful!

Well my little Leah is just about the girliest girl you ever could meet! She loves make-up and jewlery, purses and shoes, she loves to "do" your hair and will sit still and let me do just about anything to her hair as long as I use the pink princess spray! Well I always wished I had more cute hair bows to put in her hair it just never seemed to make it to the absoultely NECESSARY list. On a recent trip to get the hair kids cut I was admiring yet again the cute little $5 bows they had and decided that I could make my own for a fraction of the cost, it shouldn't be TOO HARD to figure out how they make them.... and for once I was right! I found a great website
So I made a trip to JoAnns and the rest as they say, is history.....

Day 1 of the bow making adventure...
it looks like a lot, but I just was not very organized!

Day 2......... Some of my new creations

Leah & Daddy model some of their favorites

Which was a trick for Theo since he currently doesnt have any hair! Leah's favorite...................A pretty Pink Bow tie (shocker!) She hasnt taken the silly "bowtie" out of her hair since I put it in.... she even fell asleep with it and was distraught that I took it out of her hair.

So I'm offically in the bow making business....I'm even thinking about setting up a website to try and sell them! But for now.... anyone with little girls.... let me know if you'd like me to make some for you (just supply the ribbon) but beware... you going to become a walking marketing campaign for my little business!!! :)

Now I just have to come up with a name!?!?!?!?