Meet Mr. Wrinkles.....

Ok , where shall I begin ?? The big kids came home from school today (track practice was cancelled due to the 89 degree weather) and thanks goodness for the following reason....

Ashden comes in yelling my name, now mind you I am knee deep in the boys bedroom by this time "Down here" I yelled back. Here he comes flying downstairs holding a note card holder. He proceeds to tell me he found something really cool at school today during his 3rd hour. They were working outside on something or another. He opens the box and inside is a baby painter turtle!! Aka Mr. Wrinkles....

He was very cute, as I do like turtles and remembered when I used to "collect" a few here and there keeping them until they die. Anyways.. Reese fell in love with him right from the start, and so I knew he was going to be around for a bit.

Funny part of the story is how he managed to make it to our house. So my child is in 3rd hour and sees this turtle outside, and decided he is going to keep him. Now how do you think he plans to smuggle the little guy into the building?? HA well, why not wrap him up in notebook paper putting in a few staples to make sure he won't escape. (In case you are confused on my 2 boys Ashden is the 8th grader) So not what to do with him until school lets out at 2:08? Well why not just stuff him into your locker?? Seriously what was going on in that little noggin of his is beyond me. So there Mr. Wrinkles sat hour after hour, possibly being checked on during a passing period or two. Reese is now "In love with him" she says. Why not she has seen him and held him all of 10 minutes..

This takes us to 4:00 time to take Rileigh to her volleyball lesson, so with puppy dog eyes and a real pitiful look here came Mr. Wrinkles in the car for a visit to the Dunes Center. The girls got a kick out of him, and according to Reese they all love him as much as her, and were quite glad she brought him.

And as I sit here blogging with a full belly of my husbands spaghetti (which he prepared early this morning before work for us, god love him) Reese is still perched at the counter now trying to convince her friend Maya that "He is just a baby, he will not attack you!!"

For those of you that know the Yettaw's you should know he will not be with us for long, so we will enjoy Mr. Wrinkles for now, and pray he goes before we are planning a turtle funeral!

Reese Addison 3-30-06

On this day, 5 years ago Scott & I welcomed our newest and last sweet baby girl. The next day she was given the name Reese Addison. She was a whopping 7 lbs 11oz and 21 inches long. She came home to two older brothers, an older sister, and a dog Zoe. She was perfect in every way!! It is crazy to think that 5 years has breezed by so quickly!! A wise woman once told me that "These are the best years of your life!" and then, I laughed "If these are the best , I would hate to see the worst!!" Little did I know , I would soon be missing the late night feedings snuggling with your sweet baby while she gazes up at you with those big beautiful brown eyes. Miss hearing the mispronounced words that we once thought were absolutely adorable. The naked little butt that would run off the minute you tried to change her diaper. The spills and "uh oh's " that you would be left to clean up on a daily basis. Raising children is very stressful, exciting, scary, hilarious, but most of all rewarding when you reach a time in your life when you can say to yourself, "wow I guess we didn't do such a bad job after all." There are times when you lay holding a sick baby, and pray that everything turns out ok. But as the time quickly flies by, you realize that all of those "stressful, & scary" times are the ones that you will forever cherish and remember. Being a mom has been a life changing experience to say the least, so thank you Reese Addison for being a wonderful, beautiful, smart and funny child, and for letting this mommy spend each and every day loving you, and being honored to share my life with yours...... Please enjoy these pictures they are some of my favorite ones of her.. Sorry about the bad quality of some of these, I litterally snapped pics of framed pics, and out of scrapbooks. Lets face it I do not have the time to go scavenging areound finding the master copies and scanning them all. :) Photo taken 8 months pregnant...

March 31, 2006 the day we brought you home.

I believe this was about 4 months old.. 1yr old

2yr old fall pictures

3rd birthday picture the day of her party

1at day of Preschool at Lambs Little Ones

Catching a little snowflake

Fun in the sun

And this brings us to today Reese- 5yrs old!!

ear piercings.......

The wait is finally over. Rileigh has been bugging her dad to please pierce her cartilage..... While most girls her age if they want them that is have had this done for quite some time, no she has had to wait. It is funny you know that people assume that because Scott does what he does that our children don't have to play by the same rules as everyone else. In fact, Rileigh was about 5 years old before he pierced her ears. We waited until she was ready to get them done, until she could make that decision. Maybe she wouldn't of wanted them pierced as a baby, or at all for that matter. Nonetheless, he pierced one one day, and the other about a week and a half later! LOL So we fast forward 7 years later, and she is finally getting her cartilage pierced. That's about as lenient as we get, so she know until she is 18 that she better not ask for anything else. Can you believe someone actually asked Scott one time if he has tattooed any of his children?? He responded with "Uh no the oldest is only 14!" Seriously people?? I could only imagine what he would get if we left it up to him at a tender age of 14, OH Lord........

A room fit for a princess.....

Gramas stool before

And after ...

Well, she made it...... drum roll please...... 9 days and counting. Reese Addison has been sleeping in her room for 9 days, and gets excited about it every night that she will be adding another tally to her list by morning. Sometimes I think that it's the parents that worry about it and have the hardest time. maybe she has been ready to "sleep" on her own, and we just haven't been pushing the issue. She was a breastfed baby and it was just WAY to easy to leave her there snuggled up to me for convenience sake! Daddy on the other hand did not have such fond memories of his beautiful baby girl snuggling with him, no he however had knees in the back, pushing him until he almost fell to the ground. A mighty little thing she is. So our "idea" was to make this switch a very big deal for her, and since decorating is practically my middle name, off to shopping mode went my brain. Rileigh is turning 13 this July, and she has been asking for a new "big girl bed" lol and so the idea was to give Reese Rileigh's bedroom set, and buy Ri a new one sometime soon?? Now to get dad on board with my master plan, he usually sees me pulling out the Pottery Barn magazines and runs the other way... lol. No seriously, I think he just tunes me out after a few moments into the convo with a blah blah blah, and "how much will this cost me?" When looking at the pictures I must add that the little stool came from my moms house, one that I had totally forgot about until my cousin pulled it out one day when Reese was there playing at her house. She thought it would be perfect in her room, thanks Tammy!!

So, the plan worked Reese got Rileigh's bedroom set, 4 freshly painted walls of Deep Carnation, and Posy Pink. New linens, curtains, and other cute decor. Not completely finished but close enough!!

And by the way RIleigh's bedroom set was delivered today, and her wall color is awesome!!! Not to tease you, but it is totally not ready to be seen yet, lots of decor to still go up!!!

A volleyball weekend.......

Last Saturday morning we left bright and early to drive to Rileigh's volleyball tourney in Indy. First, we had to drop off the other 3 kids to Scott's moms (well we meet her at a Pilot station on the HWY) lol its actually 1/2 way between her house in Ft.Wayne and ours. Reese was super excited to go to Nana's that she pretty much told anyone that would listen!! The boys were happy to just not be going to yet another volleyball game. SO with that said, by 9:30 we were the proud parents of just ONE 12 year old girl. Ahhhh.... Ok back to reality. Funny thing is, we didn't even have our bundle of joy with us, she decided to ride down with another team ate! We made in to Indy in awesome time, and met up with Ri and some of the other girls and moms for some lunch before the shindig began. We played that weekend at Sportzone, and let me tell you it was an awesome place for all things sports. Except for the seating arrangement, but you know we always find something to complain about. The first game we got beat, not a good start, but our girls were determined NOT to go home losers! So during the second game they proved to be great little volleyball players, and spanked Team Indiana!! Woot Woot. Ok, yes we get a bit excited for our girls, they practice way too hard to not be showered by our love when they win. Last game of the day we played Munciana, and WON!! So that tool us to leaving at 8:00 to check into our hotel, and find some food. The girls however decided to take a dip in the pool, before having some pizza. That led us up to our room, and quickly falling fast asleep, just to get up and put in another full day back at the court. (Funny how I'm telling this story like I'm the one playing lol)

Sunday comes we decide to get hotel breakfast which was very good, shower and hit the mall, I mean c'mon we had like 2 hours of down time. lol. Sundays game were awesome we played our first games against another Muncie team, and beat them! Thank god because their parents were very arrogant, spewing that "their"girls were 3-0 yesterday, blah blah blah, our girls ricked that court, and the parent, well sad they were. Ohh that sounds mean of me. sorry.

So that led us into the GOLD bracket, where we won the first match, lost the second and lost the tie breaker by 3 points!! Sad for us. But happy that they were a level above our girls and we were the only team to take them to 3 games!!! That says alot about how our girls played!!

Ok gotta get ready for work, ot the preK kids are gonna think, its wet hair day, and be oh so mad at their mamas for not sending them there like Miss Kim showed up!! LOL

Here a few pic, not good ones by any means terrible lighting, bit blurry but better bad than not at all!!!

Aidyn is cooking dinner..

So it's a normal Friday night in the Yettaw household, Rileigh has left us for her other family, The Bogers, Ashden where else but sitting 2ft away from the tv screen in his room playing Black Ops with the surround sound in full force, Reese huh well ...she has been playing Easter egg hunt all evening (Now that's a whopping good time), and Aidyn and I started his board for his science fair project (mind you a project he does not have to do, he simply said "I'm doing this for practice for next year when it counts, that way I won't be so nervous"... insert: melted heart.

But our tummies were getting hungry so there we were left to decide between popcorn chicken, chicken pot pies or..... pizza??

My little Aidyn, bless his heart, LOVES to cook. Often you can find him perched on top of the counter watching, learning, and helping as Dad is cooking. (If you didn't know by now, you should know that Momma doesn't cook!) So giving Aidyn the go ahead to choose what he wanted he decided on PANCAKES!! We added a side of bacon, and it was perfect. We are an easy bunch to please around here. The kids know that if Dad ain't cooking..don't expect too much! By the way I did get suckered into playing 2 games of Easter Egg Hunt, do we know how to have fun on a Friday night or what???

And the snow goes on....

SO yep it came, the big bad snowstorm of 2011!! And actually I wasn't all that impressed. I mean yes I do realize we got a ton of snow but I was preparing for alot more than what we got. Maybe it was all the hype of it all, but nonetheless it did come and go leaving me with a a sore back from shoveling! What a great year for us to be lazy (honestly) and NOT fix the snow blower. Well, the other reason we didn't bring it home this year was because there is just no room for it in our garage!! If you have ever seen our garage with the door open you would chuckle. My Yukon fits about nose to tail, and Scott's new truck actually has about 1/4 inch room from hitting the top of the door jam as he drives it in!! Any who I started shoveling today with help from Aidyn (who actually is getting pretty good at slinging the white around I might add) and after about 6 minutes Reese sniffed us out and here she came. All bundled up and ready to help, but when I explained to her we didn't have any more shovels she insisted that she could just move it with her hands.... Mind you the snow was up to my knees, SO that didn't work and she took my un-hired help with her to the play set. I yelled for Ash to come out, sometimes I think I'm better without help, and in between trying to shoot hoops now and again he managed to shovel some too. Rileigh on the other hand replied with a "no thanks" when asked to come help. Huh, I too should of tried that one. The neighbor across the way did ask if I wanted to "USE" his snow blower. I nicely replied "oh no thanks that's ok". Inside my head I was really saying "seriously, you can't just walk over here and do it for me??" HAHA. IF you know me then you know that using a snow blower isn't too far fetched for me, but that is one piece of equipment that I have honestly never used by myself.
Anyhow, here is sit at the end of our Blizzard of a day, blogging while listening to my friends blog song list which has a song from our "Chocolate Women's Retreat that I have lostened to over and over and over, with my feet propped on the coffee table, lap warm from the laptop, and my bestest doggie daughter "Ellie" at me side.
Oh , that reminds me, I found a new baby (you should know that I am having the baby itch, but not for a human baby, but another Yorkie baby) and I actually even went to the breeders house thinking my husband would surely know I was that serious about getting another dog, but it did NOT work! So nothing left to do but leave subtle hints here and there.... My birthday is coming in a couple weeks so maybe??? So goodnight to all, blizzard shmizzard, oh and yes Scott did get to work today as he promised on Tuesday. "I won't get snowed in, I have 4WD and a full day booked! "...... Text just came in that school is canceled for tomarrow. ok now snow storm were are going to have words!! I wish I could text back to the school system....and that's a whole other blog........

My little artist....

So today Ashden decides to do a little drawing, and this is what he came up with! When I asked "where did you get that idea?" his response "You tube."

So there ya go, this is what he is capable of when he puts down his PS3 remote.....

And now back to normal activity, as Reese is intrigued that he can balance on top of a basketball , and text at the same time....

Peace love and Volleyball.....

Top left to right: #7 Dani, #5 Kayla, #9 Ashton, #13 Maddi, #11 Jill, #12 Nicole, #8 Bailey, Bottom Row : #4 Rileigh, #17 Leann, #21 Alayna, and Coach Shags!!!

Rileigh's volleyball team had a tounament on Jan 23rd, and rocked the court!!

I started out a little bumpy, but soon the girls on the Dunes 13 teal Travel team showed all of us that hard work...pays off. The girls here proudly smilig at the thought of winning 3 for 3 today!!!

I am so proud of my little 4ft 11-1/2 in powerhouse ofa daughter. She has grown in leaps and bounds this last year. She was a bit suprised to have made the team this year (lots of great competitition) but has proved that this is where she belongs, along side team mates that too have as much love for this sport as she does!

So this is to new beginings, a great new volleyball season, and Many more wins to come...

A to do list that is out of control....

Ok, so my memory is something that is really starting to fail me..
My mind is a jobbled (not sure that's a word but it's what came to mind so I'm rollin with it) and in it is a to- do list that seems to go on FOREVER.
It goes a little something like this:
Don't forget kids dentist appt today@ 2:00
don't forget to pick them up from school at 1:30
then there's remembering to ask dentist about Rileigh -thinks she has a cavity
Rileigh ortho appt tomorrow at 8:30(dad is taking her)
Pick up chicken for stone soup at preschool
wear slippers today, and pjs on thursday
Reeses pj day and bring a baggie of cereal-remember to look at what day that is
printed out volleyball ribbon schedule, pass out Wednesday
collect $$ from vball moms turn into Dunes for Tourney on the 5th
pass out list invites to my scentsy party
send $ and an order with Amy today to Wendy's scentsy party
cunt how many silverware packets-report to Wendy
go to McDonalds to get more silverware packets
call Hacienda set up give back night for volleyball fundraiser
call vet ask ask ?? about Ellie
take out recycling today
write Scott a note about Rileigh's birth certificate copy for volleyball that I have FORGOTTEN since it started a month ago!
contact vball moms and remind them that the hotel I booked for next month has to be reserved by the 21st or the rooms are gone
finish selling football squares and collect all money and...
remember to turn it in at tourney on Sunday
get with neighbors about u s providing food Sunday after church, remind Scott he is cooking
have I lost you yet??
pack Aidyn a snack today, and every school day
call Tammy and remind her bring chicken for preschool on Wed
check on Rileigh's private scheduled with Jamie
ask Coach about Tourney on Feb 19-20
repaint Reese's nails (she's been asking all week)

So for now I think this may be it, but as you all know I forget very easily
I will tell you , it is a trait that was passed down to me, my mother was the queen of sticky-notes, and I the same. Sometimes forgetting y lists at home lol
Oh yeah, remember to take all tooth brushes to the dentist for the kids to brush

So the next time someone you know forgets something important or not, remember they too may have the worlds' longest to-do list!

more cards that are done....

Here are the rest of the ones that I wanted to post anyways, my stupid camera is not cooperating with me. I tried to phonr a friend for advise (but it sounded way to techy for me) lol so for now I resort to using my iphone. So I apologize for the bad pictures! Anyhow until I get these posted onto my etsy site, if you are interested let me know. They sell for a whopping $1.25. I know pricey huh? lol Well not to bore you of these any more I must go get ready for the preschool day.

check out what I'm working on.

So some of you may know that I LOVE to be crafty. It is you see something that is part of my genetic make up. My mom was a crafty-crafter herself (much better that I) and so I grew up watching, and learning. Most of all knowing that if you try hard enough, and give it your all, you will at times be satisfied with the outcome! LOL

Here are some of the cards that I have been working on, but am having much trouble downloading onto my etsy ughhh.

*Much more to come.

Pictures from yesterday

Catching a little snow.. Mr. Snowboarder

Aidyn not happy I'm taking his picture....

a long day it has been....

5:30- annoying sound of the alarm goes off, I wishfully check ch.22 new just in case of a delay- no such luck.
get up, wake up Rileigh
go downstairs wake up Ashden
6:00- check emails reply to a few volleyball moms
6:22- bus finally comes
fill my coffee pot, set the delay
jump in the shower
6:45 -walk down the stairs smelling freshly brewed coffee just like Folgers commercial, fill up
a mug, ahhh
7:00-wake Aidyn
7:05-start the daily task of applying the goods to the face covering up years of , well living
7:56- realize Aidyn needs his snow pants and boots, hats, & gloves packed up for school
8:06-bus comes
8:20-kiss the hubby and leave for preschool
12:10- leave school pick up Reese head for Walmart
buy water, snack for Reese's snack day, coffee & creamer
argue and give up arguing about eating at Subway.
enjoy a "nice and quiet lunch " as Reese admits to enjoying our quiet time before the kids
get home
1:30-unload the truck
sit Reese down with her letter dry erase board and practice V, H, and G
let out the dogs
make another cup of coffee, enjoy and work on some more cards I'm making
finish folding a load of laundry
2:50-big kids bus comes home
argue with Ash yet a second day in a row that I am not taking him to buy another video
game
hang out with them for a bit
3:35-Aidyn's bus comes home
realize he forgot his boots on bus, call bus garage to locate bus
due to our quick realization bus is at the front of the subdivision, and is told to wait there
drive to pick up boots and thank Mrs. Hunt for waiting
4:00 -ish kids go out to play in the snow, I decide to go shovel
uhggg stupid idea to shovel
decide to grab my camera to get some great shots of the kids playing
break up a one-way snowball fight between the brothers
5:00-start dinner (meatloaf leftovers) 2 min and done
make kids come in,eat dinner, start the dryer with all the wet snowy stuff
enjoy the news that Ashden has an essay due tomorrow, on what is like to be an American
and what justice and liberty for all , means to you
take out all the snow playing gear, hang up and put away
6:00- help Aidyn with a few of his spelling words in alphabetical order
decide to start my work with the scholastic book order
multi task with quizzing Reese on her rhyming words (just found out the girl cannot rhyme
to save her life , get an occasional bed/tired , correct it with a bed/fred/lead/head
keep working, decide to have her count by 5's, then 10's
7:00- make Rileigh jump in the shower
then make Ash
AShden decides to "dare" Aidyn to punch him, Aidyn does in the nose with a nice crunch
sound, and runs off
Ash chases him sown and punches him
ash gets in trouble, dumb idea

8:00- decide to bliog my day for laughs , and to reflect on how I usually spend my day
8:10- wrap up blog, tell the kids to go brush their teeth
8:11- Finished- now to go pass out, and you wonder why I am sleeping by 8:30 !! LOL
Good night.

A string of bad luck .....

A string of bad luck to say the least. No HOT water. UGHHHH! This is what we woke up to 3 days ago now. Do you really realize how much hot water one family of 6 needs? Well let me tell you a whole heck of alot! This ht water heater we just replaced 2 years ago.
This love/hate relationship we have for appliances in the Yettaw household has been on going since 2009. With what started with a 4yr old Kenmore Front load washer and & dryer (that needed $1500 worth of parts to fix, but was nearing the end of it's warranty thank god!) oh (and what ended up taking 6 weeks for parts to arrive) little did we know this was only the beginning!
Don't forget about the Fridge, yes side by side stainless steel (not top of the line, just middle of the road) appliance that has gone out not once, but twice! And did i mention that too was a tender age of 4 also?? Get this, the heating element was shot! Who would of known there was such a thing?
Ok, that brings me to the stove, ahh yes again a very nice match to the fridge, who also went ca put. It was an easy and inexpensive fix, but one that left me cooking from the microwave, or stove top for 3 days. If your seeing a pattern this too was bought jut 4 years during a kitchen remodel. (If you know me then you know this wasn't THAT much of an inconvenience. lol
Now if Scott would have been home for dinner those days, we would of went out.
So ok hot water heater, fridge, stove, oh yes the septic tank!!!!
Huh, where do I even begin on this one? Long story short it went like this. (But in our life it lasted about a year and a half) Toilets start to gurgle, tank emptied out. Toilets gurgle again 1 yr later,tank cleaned out again. Notice a nasty spot in backyard, call out a professional, yep sewage!
Talk with 2 neighbors, had same problem, call out a professional again, tells us the entire septic field has to be redone! Blah blah blah, lots of $$ , and a broken irrigation system later, it is up and running. No more timed showers or asking someone if they have to use the bathroom before we flush. We can use as much water as we need, but right now it just can't be hot!
If you missed the part of the broken irrigation system, let me remind you they snatched out every bit of hope that my beautiful yard will again see a nice sprinkle of water come the beginning of summer ughhh and even better they don't plan to fix it! "Did you plan on putting this back in?" they asked. "WE NEVER PLANNED ON TAKING IT OUT!!" we replied nicely. So here we are the beginning of a new year, and while you all sit and ponder your New Years resolutions , I would have to say that for me (While I want to say that I will try to not eat as many sweets, loose 10 pounds, and start running again) is that I am going to ask very nicely that MY APPLIANCES LAST THROUGH 2011 !!!!

Updated pictures of the kids...

Ashden Scott's Wnter 2010/14th Birthday picture.

Rileigh Makayla looking too old for only being 12 !
Aidyn Lucky-Taylor at 8 1/2...

And Reese Addison at 4 1/2.