The Tragedy of an Older Sister

Just so you don't think we don't do "boy" stuff..... We did build some tracks yesterday and played with trains.

But, you can see what happens when your next oldest sibling is a girl. Teagan loves these purple, sparkly heels. They click and clack on the wood floors. Hopefully, you can't tell in the picture, that he has pink nailpolish on one finger because he insisted. And in case there are any questions, HIS DAD DID IT! Teagan has a serious shoe fetish, and he's really into carrying the baby dolls around, giving them hugs and kisses, and putting them to bed in the doll cradle.

My rough and tough tomboy

Tatum came running up to me earlier and this is the conversation that followed. Keep in mind, she's only 4:
T: Oh my God! Oh my God!
M: What's the matter?
T: There is a spider in my room.
M: Show me where.
T: (looking for the spider, whispering) I don't know where he went. I'm so freaked out.
M: Spiders don't bother people. They eat bugs. They run away from people.
T: This one was different.
M: How?
T: It sucks people's blood.
M: What?!?!
T: I saw one like that.
M: Where?
T: On the trashcan, it was fat and yellow and it sucks people's blood.

Too much TV? Or brotherly influence?

I know, I know

My Mom told me yesterday that I am a poor Blogger. Well, I knew that would happen. I have always been poor at keeping up with anything. Anyway, I got a brand new camera for my birthday (Thanks, Mom!), but I haven't started using it yet, so I thought I would pull out some old pics. These are actually pics of Spring Break 2006. We stayed in New Hampshire, (which apparently doesn't have Spring), and took day trips to Boston and Maine. We shopped at the outlet malls in Kittery, then drove up to the coast. We had just bought a new dvd recorder that also took still shots. Well, it took us nearly a year to get around to uploading them. :oP

Here is a pic of Tanner and Travis in front of a lighthouse at the coast. And don't ask me where, because I don't remember. That lighthouse is actually on a little island that we never did figure out how they got over to.


This is a pic of me and the kids on the coast of Maine. Does it look like Spring break with us in our heavy coats? We had to hurry up and click the pic because even with those coats, we were freezing our buns off.

I guess I've been tagged. Darn it.

A - available or taken: Taken, married for over 12 years now.

B- best friend: My sis, Krista and my budy Liz in Oregon. We've been best friends since 2nd grade. Now, if only she would move back to Ohio....

C- cake or pie: Pie

D- drink of choice: Pepsi, or a Mudslide if you mean the alcoholic version.

E-essential item you use everyday: Hairbrush

F-favorite color: Don't really have a fav. I like reds, and greens. But some blues. It depends on what it's on, I guess.

G-gummy bears or worms: Bears, definitely.

H-hometown: Dayton

I-indulgence: Brownies

J-January or February: January, for my birthday!

K-kid's names: Tanner, Travis, Tatum, and Teagan

L-life incomplete without: My kids. I can day dream about alot of things I could do if I was single and childless, travel the world, have the whole college experience, be a missionary.... but I can't really imagine them not being here.

M-marriage date: August 7, 1994

N-number of siblings: 4, two wholes, two halfs. :o)

O-oranges or apples: Apples

P-phobias or fears: Hmm, heights? Big, ugly bugs? Snakes?

Q-favorite quote: "Be the change you want to see in the world." Gandhi

R-reason to smile: Children's laughter

S-season: Fall, by far.

T-tag 4 people: I don't know 4 people who blog. How sad is that? Krista has already done it. Uh, Alison, if you read this, I guess it is your turn.

U-unknown fact about me: Well, then it wouldn't be unknown, now would it? Besides, I'm an open book. If it's unknown to everyone else, I probably don't know about it either.

V-veggie I don't like: Greens

W-worst habit: Playing on the computer way too long.

X-xrays: Besides, dental, none. Never had a broken bone.

Y-your favorite food: Mexican.. tacos, burritos, enchiladas, chimichangas, nachos......

Z-zodiac: Aquarius

My, how you've grown

Buddy was 4 months old when we brought her home. You can see in these pics how small she was compared to Teagan and Tatum.
She is now 7 months old, and still growing! She's bigger than Teagan now, and she's technically, still a pup!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

It's hard to believe my baby girl is a four yr old. But, on Dec. 23rd, she became just that, a 4 yr old. Tatum is looking more and more like a little girl and less and less like my baby. You may notice up in the corner there, at 1 1/2, she was still a redhead. She's turning quite blond now, much to my dismay. I was really hoping to get one redhead out of the bunch. She really is a handful, maybe even more so than the boys. She is full of life, laughter, and love. She makes me laugh, she makes me cry, she makes me yell. :op As precocious as she is, it is hard not to fall in love with the girl.




We went to Build a Bear. She picked out Prrrecious Kitty, whom she named "Kitty". I know, not real creative, but she had wanted to name her Cat. This was on the way home. Apparently, building a cat is tough work.





We came home to cake and ice cream, and a visit from Grandma. She added Dora paper dolls and a make up kit (which she loved) to her gift list. You may notice the shiny lip gloss and glittery stickers in the first picture. And some new Dora panties. A girl can never have too many panties. Unless of course, she gets the hand me down Thomas Train and Bob the Builder undies from her brothers.



Mommy made the cake. And I have to say, it was pretty darn good. Tatum liked blowing the candles out. Notice the cool girly pose.

Xmas card

Yes, I am the world's worst procrastinator. I just ordered my holiday cards. So since you will all have to wait until after Christmas to actually get a Christmas card from me, here is a preview.

Teagan was feeling a little hornery and wouldn't sit for the picture, so Daddy had to hold him for
his pic.

My little Teagie. Isn't he adorable? Love that dimple.

Tate's new coat

Since Tatum is the only girl I have, she gets showered with handmade items from great grandma. This Christmas, she got an adorable new hat, coat and scarf set, lovingly made by Grandma Guisleman. I think it is amazingly cute and very Parisian chic. Tate loves it too. Even took a nap in it that first day she got it. :op

Xmas tree

This is what we did last night. If you had had a chance to see it then, you might have noticed that by this morning, the glass ornaments made an upward migration. I thought I got them out of the way of Buddy's swishing tail. Why would a Lab think she could sit on a tree anyway? Apparently, glass ornaments are good with jam and bread. Teagan made it his mission to relocate all the ornaments along the bottom of the tree this morning. He got a hold of a glass one and thought taking a bite out of it was a good idea. Can you say Mama is freaking out??? Luckily, the little shards wiped right off his tongue. He thought it was pretty funny. Mama, not so much.

A Day in the Life...

Just in case anyone was really curious about what I do all day. Of course, there are some gaps, but fill them in with cleaning or sitting on the computer and you've got my day in a nutshell.


7:00 am Wake up, wake up. Yes, Travis really was sleeping sideways. Tanner was on the top bunk. I tried to snap a pic, but he was buried under the blanket anyway. Check out the wall there where Trav peeled the paint. Aren't kids sweet?

7:10 "Man, I gotta pee. Can I go out? And yes, there is an empty bag of dog food that I chewed up behind me." Aren't dogs sweet?

7:15 am Packing lunch for Travis. The picky eater will only eat pizza or grilled cheese at school.
7:20 Eating breakfast, yep, in front of the TV. Darn, where did that girl come from? So much for going back to bed.
7:45 Catching the bus

8:30 am Wake up, Teagan

A Day in the life..... take two.

8:35 Diaper changing time.
8:40Time to start the laundry
8:50Breakfast time for Teagan. Stop taking my picture, Mom!
10 am Mom's cleaning
Tate: Hey Teagie, while Mommy's cleaning up, should we go behind her and make messes?
Teag: Yeah, sounds like fun!
12:30 After lunch, it's time for a nap. Did you say nap? I don't want no stinking nap.


2pm Tired of playing. Teagan is still in bed, and the boys aren't home from school yet. Man, I'm bored.





3:30 I'm up again! It's time to play!












5:30 Waiting for Daddy to get home. The boys got home about 3:45 but they disappeared to a friends house.

You'll have to imagine the rest. My camera only holds 20 pics.

Why Preschoolers shouldn't dress themselves.....

Do I even need to comment on this one? Check out the red and black Power Ranger socks. I thought that was a nice touch. And the purple Dora hat and gloves really completed the outfit.

Uncle Trav's new family

Travis and Kristy at Hocking Hills

Here is Tatum and Brayden playing together. I think that's Teagan walking by. This was a combined birthday party for Travis, Brayden and Mom. Milestones for the boys. Travis is the big 3-0, and Brayden celebrated his first birthday. Mom? I think she's 50. Again.



Thought I would include some pics of family on here, since they do get mentioned occasionally. Travis has a new girlfriend. Well, not that new, they've been dating for a little while now. She has a little guy named Brayden. Unsure of the spelling. Someone feel free to correct me. Believe it or not, he's a little redhead! So he blends in with the rest of the fam. LOL Travis seems head over heels. Woops. Probably shouldn't say that out loud for the world to hear. Kristy seems like a sweet girl, and fit right in when everyone was over for a birthday party. This Christmas should be fun with another little person in the mix. Of course, we're going to have to wait for Mia to come home to get another girl!

Skipping school

If you've already checked out Krista's blog, you know that she was a bad influence and encouraged me to kidnap my eldest from school so we could enjoy one of the last warm days of the year. It was more fun to go to the zoo than hang out at school, I'm sure.



Teagan had a great time at the playground, going up and down the slide. The other kids disappeared into it's depths only to be seen again when we were ready to leave.

Travis hits the road

No pics to share. Just had to brag. Travis is riding his bike like a pro now. He rode another boy's bike a few weeks ago, with no training wheels. He's been bugging Dad ever since to take his off. And voila! He was off and riding like he'd been doing it for years. Where does the time go? Hard to believe my sensitive little guy is almost 7. :o(

Teagan's haircut

Since I posted the after pics, I thought I should share how well Teagan actually did during the haircut. Travis said he didn't seem too happy about it, but he sat real still the whole time. Just frowned a bit. What a big boy.

Happy Birthday Trav!

It's my little bro's birthday today. He is the big 3-0. And yes, if you frequent Krista's blog, this is the same pic. Perhaps Travis should get in the pic a little more often. Hard to believe he's 30. Don't know why, he's always been two years younger than me. :op Just seems like he's not old enough to have hit 30 already. Maybe it's the video games. (Just kidding, Trav. Well, no, not really) He's really turned out to be a great guy. He's an honest, sensitive nice guy. Oh darn, I let the secret out. So much for the macho image he may be trying to project. This is a pic of him and my youngest Teagan. My 6 year old is named after Uncle Travis. He really is a great uncle. The kids adore him.

Happy birthday little brother!

(And no, I didn't forget you Mom. Happy belated birthday! We'll see you tonight!)

Teagie had a haircut yesterday. His first real haircut beyond Daddy trimming the ends. Uncle Travis (in barber school) had a little help from his instructor for this baby fine hair.

You can check out his molars in the second pic.





And his adorable dimple in the third. Tanner has two. Tatum's is on the right, Teagan's is on the left, and poor Travis is dimpleless like Mom. For a before pic, scroll down to the Dora pic.

More from the lake

Teagan ignoring me because he's mad.
Teagan throwing a tantrum, or rather plopping down into a tantrum. He just drops his head and pouts silently, all the while peeking at you out of the corner of his eye to be sure you're aware that he's mad at you.
Teagan and Buddy. He likes feeding her dog food and patting her on the head. They get along great, probably because they're both really mellow fellows. Well, Buddy's not really a fellow, but let's not go there. She's the girl dog named Buddy thanks to Travis who refused to name her anything but Buddy.







Tatum riding her bike around the campground at Grand Lake. Her tantrums were something to be rivaled. Thank goodness she has outgrown that. If you're wondering why you don't see pics of Tanner and Travis, it's because those crazy kids actually went swimming! It was 70 degrees, but breezy.