A friend of mine asked if I would take some pictures of her and her friends in trade for babysitting. Umm-let me think about that-OF COURSE!!! good trade in my opinion. Aren't they so beautiful? (and handsome)

(if you are viewing my blog in Internet Explorer I understand that my blog is a little jacked. I will try to take care of that as soon as possible)

besties

Friday is short day at school, which in Peanut's mind=friends.

squeaky clean

Today was cleaning day. I survived. Dust and Dirt did not.

cocwat

Seriously. I am not even joking that Peanuts first word was "cocwat". It may have even beaten MaMa. translation of Cocwat=chocolate. I think it may be Meadow's first word as well.

wednesday #3

This was hard to post, there is a good excuse though. Let's just say Aunt Irma and the communists are in town (have you seen the show "IT crowd"?, you won't get the joke if you haven't, ask me about it) and there is always weight gain when they are in town.

Tri baby

Peanut competed in a triathalon at our local gym. The funny thing is, is that she really doesn't know how to swim. We wondered how she was going to pull it off. Here is what she did:

Notice her holding on to the side while she tries to do the breast stroke with the other. I guess it is time for another round of swimming lessons.

focusing on biking to the finish line.

Tired and suffering nausea, but still pushing. I love this girl. Way to go Peanut! We are proud of you!

(photos courtesy of Cache, still counting them toward my Photo-a-day)

Saturday

Peanut just started piano lessons, she loves it. She can't believe how good she is "after just one lesson!" she plays a killer one handed Mary had a Little Lamb. The fruit man came to our house yesterday. He came to our house 4-5 years ago and his oranges were so good, I wished I would've bought more. He never returned and I was so bummed. When he rang the doorbell yesterday I screamed with excitement(okay, not really) and bought way too much. Does anyone else have a fruit man come to their house or do they only come to mine because they know I am a sucker? His fruit is so good though, I think he must inject the seeds with karo syrup.

Meadow enjoying her orange

Finley eating a.....grapfruit!? see what I mean about the Karo syrup.

Slave Labor

Cache sent Finley out to shovel the walks thinking that he would do a few sweeps and come in complaining of the cold. 45 minutes later he looked out the window and the WHOLE driveway was cleared of the snow. I think we have a new chore for Mr. Finley.

I love her.

nuff said.

Homemade bread

We love fresh baked bread at our house. Finley loves to help, although I am sad to say I don't let him help enough. This time I was in a good mood (rare these days) and let him help.

I wish I had pictures of the finished product, maybe next time. We like to use these women's recipe for our bread. We bought the DVD and it is great. I like that there isn't oil in the bread, only Lecithin. email me if you would like the recipe.

I bowled......

a 138!! That is pretty good for me, I am lucky to break 100.

Pictures are taken at the Ladies neighborhood bowling league, which I am not a member of, but was filling in for a friend.

Can you tell I am trying to catch back up with my photography, a picture a day is my goal. I slacked off when I was pregnant and I feel that my limited skills are disappearing.

Also on my weight loss, today was a little harder. My neighbor brought me some yummy birthday cake over last night, I had three bites and had to throw the rest of it away (face down, so I wouldn't be tempted-hahaha) with me, once I start it is hard to stop. I also had a cookie and a handful of plain m&m's (see I started, and now I can't stop) tomorrow will be better, maybe I will even make it to the gym.

Yesterday our day consisted of sickness and Puzzles. We would have liked swimming and ice cream, especially because it was a no school day. Why do kids get sick on no school days, don't they know how to save illness for days that they would be able to miss school?

Peanut enjoying Princess Protection Program

Finley enjoying his favorite past time of puzzling.

Wednesdays! #2

22.4 to go

curious?

SWAT

Finley earned a SWAT team costume from the Chore store this week. He worked so hard. He cleaned his room, emptied garbages, cleared the table all in the hope of earning 10 "mommy monies". After paying for the costume, he ran to his room to put it on and came out saying "I want to be a cop when I grow up".

wednesdays!

Okay, it has taken me ALL day to get the guts to do this. I thought of it yesterday, and I keep arguing back and forth if I want to do it. Hopefully knowing that I am putting my successes and failures on the web will give me enough motivation to stick to my goal.

Here is the plan. Every Wednesday I am going to post my weight loss (or gain). Just so you know I want to loose 25 lbs. (that is a lot, I blame it on my first baby). I am not putting my starting or ending weight (I am not that brave) just -1 or +1 that type of thing. This isn't too bad there isn't that many people that read my blog right?? Okay so here I go....................Be sure to check back in next Wednesday, maybe even let me know you are there so I know that I am accountable to someone.

Distric of comumbia take II

United States Capital. While visiting the National Mall, Mr. Friend asked Senator Bennett's office if they did tours of the capital, they confirmed and we were in. Very informative. We were also there on the day of the big Healthcare Rally.

If you look close (or click on the picture to enlarge), you can see the rally on the steps of the capital.

Inside the dome.

Meadow on the National "crypt", although no one is buried within. George Washington was meant to be the occupant, but obviously ended up at Mount Vernon. Maybe Obama will want to be buried there, who knows. This spot is also the very center of D.C.

Library of congress.

Our view as we walked out of the capital. look close there is a rainbow, It started to fade, while I pulled out my camera.

Did you know Brigham Young was in the Capital?

View from the visitors center.

This window was covered with womens shoes on September 11th. People thought that the capital was the target of the plane that actually struck the Pentagon. People evacuated the capital and the women kicked off their shoes so they could run faster, resulting in this window being covered in shoes. I thought that was interesting (fyi: the visitors center is underground).

Iwo Jima

This memorial Is HUGE! and very impressive, the feeling there is amazing. This is also one of my favorite pictures.

A trip I never blogged about.

I think with Thanksgiving and Christmas following our wonderful trip to D.C. they caused a forgotten post(can you tell I am tired? I cannot make this sentence make sense, just pretend you know what I am talking about). This post should have been published months ago, but in true Carrie fashion it is happening late.

In Early November Me, hubby and meadow traveled to Washington D.C./Arlington, VA to visit our good friends. They are living there due to the fact that "Mr. Friend" is clerking for a Supreme Court justice. We are so proud of him and wanted to take full advantage of our friendship and tour the supreme court while he was there :) We got a personal tour of the building including Justice Thomas' chamber. Very cool. Silly me, wasn't sure what was kosher to take pictures of (pictures are not allowed in the actual court room) so I have limited pics. Our friend later asked why I wasn't taking any pictures of all the cool rooms he was taking us in. "oh, I can take pictures!" was my reply, and he just laughed. So please forgive me of not getting pictures of the places most of the general public are not allowed, but here are a few that were taken:

Supreme Court(I love the sky in this picture)

enjoying an inner courtyard of Supreme Court

Mr. Friend will have to remind me of who this is, because I don't remember, but it is hanging in one of the "ball rooms"

Chandelier in a ballroom.

a few other pictures from our visit (in no particular order):

Each star represents 100 dead in WWII, this is only probablly about 1/5 of the stars in the monument.

Atlantic entrance to WWII monument

Washington Monument (I love this picture, no photoshopping was necessary) look how blue the sky was.

Lincoln monument, so much bigger in person. This was Cache's favorite.

Stay tuned for more pictures of:

Arlington Cemetary, Mt. Vernon, National Capitol, Pentagon, natural history museum.

Daily Life

I looked around today and loved what I saw. Each child entertaining themselves. What makes me smile even more was that the two oldest kids were playing with toys they received LAST Christmas.

Finley the fierce boxer.

Peanut, Julie, Buttercup.

Panda

My brother and his family are visiting from Germany. It has been so fun to spend time with them. Here is my niece who is turning 18 in 12 days!! (I feel so old). Sorry boys (since so many boys read my blog ;) she is taken.