I'm trying to learn to not make the state of the house into a reason to have people over or not. It doesn't have to look like a castle to do my part, and if it really does look like a dump, then I'm not doing my job as a wife!! We are trying to do better at this too.. currently we aim to have somebody over at least once a month. It's not much but it's a start :)

there is a family at church who does game nights! i love when we go. we split up into groups and move from game to game, rarely playing with the same people twice and then they give out cheesy prizes at the end of the evening.

one of my goals is to try and have different people at least once a month. it will have to start in september, but since i get every other friday off now, one of those friday evenings will be a chance to have people from church over.

we have people over often, but we tend to have the same people over all the time, we need to branch out and invite others over some.

we usually play the wii or watch a movie when we have people over. sometimes we fix dinner, sometimes we get take out, sometimes we order pizza or something like that

I have fond memories of having dinner at you and Eric's apartment in Bowling Green!! :-) I agree, we do stress way too much about having people over. We just need to relax and enjoy spending time with our brothers and sisters in Christ and stop worrying about all the little things that most people aren't going to notice anyway!! We like to have people over after church on Sunday night for "breakfast for dinner". We just fix pancakes or waffles and it is so much fun. I think some peole worry about having to spend extra money to have company over. I think you can still be hospitable and be frugal! It just takes some extra thought. I think you have inspired a lot of us to do better at being hospitable. :-)

we just had all the little kids over for a "summer" party - it was fun cause all the kids loved to play with each other and play in the water and the adults got to sit around and talk. I just had some snacks for everyone to munch on. I was stressed about the house being clean because since we just built there were some people coming that hadn't seen it. I try not to worry about the house but I always do. I've been trying to plan a game night since we have a Wii too.

i heard about the one in olive branch. i can't make that one this year. maybe next year! :) my aunt will be there though. she attends at east shelby.

Thought you all might like to know that Robb Ahrens was baptized Saturday. It is so exciting.

Once they start school things stay busy!! ;-0 Glad you got the polish off!

I'm happy you got the "mess" cleaned up. Parenting is always an exciting adventure!!! :-)

Thats good everything cleaned up well. I'm sure that was not a fun job.

I'm glad everything got cleaned up and you didn't get upset! You're such a good mom! I think it's time for you to post new pictures of your family! :)

I can't believe Isabel is walking!! Time flies!

You're my hero. That's all I have to say. :)

Glad the polish came off.

WOW. Glad you were able to get it all. Maybe Abigail should pursue softball, though, because those nail polish containers are made of pretty thick glass. ;)

so glad you got it all cleaned up pretty well:)

I'm sure you'll have a great meeting week, wish we could come. You should post a new picture of your pretty girls w/ their haircuts.

I saw Marcus and your parents Monday night and got a Vondra...smith family update. Fat Tub says hello.

Ugh! By the timestamp I see this was a little bit ago. Did you figure out a solution?

ugh... all I know is alcohol and I can see why you wouldn't be all for using that on lips!! yikes!

but... in sypathizing, my 20 month old found a tube of lipstick and painted a chair with it... sigh

I had the very same thing happen here like four or so years ago...no fun:( It was red too:( I had to just use nail polish remover and everything I could...some things were just ruined:(

I don't know. I hope you got them cleaned!!

I randomly came across your page. I am currently studying textiles in college. There are a couple of ways to get nail polish out of fabrics. If it's a white cotton fabric, blot it with non-oily fingernail polish remover. For all other fabrics, blot with banana oil. Try to scrape it off with a dull knife after blotting. Do not rub or scrub!! That's the worst thing to do! If all else fails Fels Naptha soap is absolutely amazing! It has gotten out just about every stain I've ever had to deal with (nail polish, lipstick, coffee, etc). Good luck!!

You might also try washing the fabrics (if possible) with an optical brightner. Avoid heating the fabrics until the stain is out; otherwise, the stain will be permanently set.

It will come off of the kids...but, how's the tile???? :)

Seriously....what a mess! How deep is it into the carpet? Sometimes, if it's just on the top of the carpet you can "shave" the affected area off. Yes, nail polish remover will ruin some things. The tables, can they be refinished?

The clothing items are probably now "play clothes".

Wow! I don't have any suggestions, but let us know what happens!

Was Eric watching the girls again???--Kyle

So, have you had any success getting any of it out? When we came to Davenport for Suzy's wedding from NC, Brian was able to reach my cosmetic bag from the portacrib at your house and got into some foundation makeup and made a mess but not anything like what happened with the nail polish!

Oh no!! I have a fear of that happening here. I hope you were able to get it out. Did you take pictures of the girls or were you too mad?

OH NO! So sorry! Can't help you though!

Both preschools Shad was in (we moved him halfway) let parents volunteer whenever they wanted. I liked that I could be in the classroom and see what was going on. I monitored what kind of things he was bringing home to see what they were doing all morning long. One of the reasons we moved him was b/c the original school he started at stopped doing their centers by midyear and I ended up paying for a glorified daycare. I like my kids to be in a school with structure. From the curriculum to the discpline. But that's a personal opinion. Good luck!

Mallory went to a preschool through our park district last school year. She loved it and learned a lot, it wasn't just for social interaction. The kids learned how to cut, about the weather, days of the week, months of the year, holidays, letters, occupations, etc. There was lots of play time but also craft and learning projects. I think it was good program. She's going back again this fall, this time it will be three mornings a week instead of 2.

For the 3-4yr olds the school requests a parent volenteer several times throughout the year. So every class had the teacher, the teacher's assistant and a parent helper. For the 4-5's they'll just have a teacher and assistant.

Does your school system offer 4 year old kindergarten?

I would mainly look for structure...because a lot of daycare centers will call themselves "preschools" and they really don't do anything. But if you find something like what Tami was talking about, that sounds great!

I'm not a big fan of preschools.

While I'm not "dogmatic" about it, I think children that age need lots of in-home nurturing in a good home, like yours. You can teach her all the things she will need to know for school. As for crafts and such, you can get a book for more ideas, if you need them. I think its different if the child is in a poor quality home. That's my opinion, for what it is worth.

We did homeschool kindergarten for the boys for pretty much the same reasons. "Better Late than Early" is a book we read that influenced our decision.

Another idea for crafts is to go to art classes or music classes offered through colleges and museums. The children's museum, the art museum, and Augustana college, and Scott Community College Community Ed. offer things like that for preschoolers.

Happy Birthday! Hope you have a GRAND day!

Happy Birthday:)

happy birthday!! :)

Happy birthday to you.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy, happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!! Hope you had a good day and they all treated you like a princess.

Happy Birthday Sarah!!!

That brought tears to my eyes! The first time I noticed my niece reading, I really did cry!

We do have a portrait innovations...I usually go there, but they were closed that day we went and I needed Shawn with me:) But they do a great job!

Happy birthday!!!

I know!! Me too!! I also love how the guys is saying "I think we're dead". Freaks. LOL

Hi. I think it will be fine. But you can ask Katie. She will be teaching the little kids. Chelsea will be in there. I'm not sure how much help she will have, etc. But send a message to her, and y'all can talk about it. See you next week!

Sarah, I would be glad to have Isabel in class! The only thing I'm concerned about is the seating. We only have a couple seats that hook on the table (the class is really for 1 year and up, but I'm bringing Chelsea). There is another little girl that still needs a hook on seat, too. Do you have one or know of one we could borrow for the week? If we need to, maybe one of us in there can hold a baby. I'm looking forward to seeing you and your girls!

Thanks for looking for a chair. If we have to hold someone, we will, but a chair would be better. I'm sure Isabel will do great in class. :-)

happy belated birthday!

Hey girl! We are having VBS this week. I am planning on calling soon! It has been crazy around here!

those may kids are getting too big! and ben is just too cute for words now. he is talking a lot now (and most of the time we can understand him.) :)

Tyler & Grace both loved Disney - 4 is a really good age except Tyler is short and couldn't ride some of the rides - my advice is 4 year old and 40inches. Grace loved seeing the characters and had fun being outside.

Actually, next Monday is due date. When I switched doctors, he changed the date to the 21st. I guess technically things could happen any day, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much. I've had a couple of really good days getting stuff done around here, so I'm feeling a little more prepared.

what a great story...way to go Eden!

Happy Late Birthday!

Unfortunately, I've been feeling pretty good today. I took the kids to the library this morning and we picked up our new van this afternoon. Tonight after supper we all played outside in the nice cooler weather. So, we are still waiting. The dr. won't let me go past one week over, so I guess something's going to be happening by next Monday. You remember what it feels like to go over I'm sure. We're all doing fine. Hope you guys are well too.

chocolate :)