My Chickabiddy

My precious "baby" is NINE years old today. That is crazy! Absolutely insane. I can't believe I am old enough to have a nine year old. The sweet girl will be going into fourth grade in little over a week.

It seems like only a few months ago when she was a cuddly, pudgy baby reaching up to pull my hair; a darling six-month old dazzling me with her smile that included 4-5 teeth; a strong ten-month old learning to walk; a cute toddler running at me with hugs galore; a beautiful and intelligent preschooler struggling to learn to write the letters in her name; a talented and outgoing elementary school student excelling at all of her studies.

Taste the sparks on your tongue...

Love the song "Come On Get Higher" by Matt Nathanson. The lyrics are fabulous too! Currently too busy to bore you with all of my non-sense and opinions, so just listen and enjoy.



"Come On Get Higher"
by Matt Nathanson

I miss the sound of your voice
I miss the rush of your skin
I miss the still of the silence
as you breathe out and I breathe in

if I could walk on water
if i could tell you what's next
make you believe
make you forget

come on get higher
loosen my lips
faith and desire
and the swing of your hips
just pull me down hard
and drown me in love

I miss the sound of your voice
the loudest thing in my head
and I ache to remember
all the violent, sweet, perfect words that you said

if I could walk on water
if I could tell you what's next
make you believe
make you forget

come on get higher
loosen my lips
faith and desire
and the swing of your hips
just pull me down hard
and drown me in love

I feel the pull of your heart
I taste the sparks on your tongue
I see angels and devils and god when you come on
hold on...

come on get higher
loosen my lips
faith and desire
and the swing of your hips
just pull me down hard
and drown me in love

it's all wrong
it's all wrong
it's all wrong, its so right

come on get higher
come on and get higher
because everything works love
because everything works in your heart

Garage Sales

Why do children find nothing more exciting than sitting outside "working" at a garage sale for the majority of the weekend? It's not really fun as far as I am concerned, but I simply couldn't convince my children of this.

Best & Worst

These precious children are the best of friends and the worst foes.

All depends on the day that you catch them in action.

Loving the Water

We had a fantastic, lazy Saturday on the St. Croix river with our phenomenal neighbor CP. She rocks! Here are a few pictures of the festivities.

Friends playing a fun game of disc-thingies together nicely.

Friends no longer playing nicely together, but note they are both still laughing so I had to start snapping photos.

We tuckered the children out so much that they all (with the exception of Precious E) fell asleep on the boat ride from the island to the boat dock.

Trust In Me

I adore Etta James. Her soulful voice can express so much gut-wrenching emotion. One of my favorite songs from her is "Trust in Me", followed closely by "At Last" and "Something's Got A Hold On Me". So in honor of another episode of Lyric Tuesday, here is "Trust in Me" by Ms. Etta James.

Please disregard the actual video and listen to the song. It was the only video I could find that included Etta James voice and not Beyonce's updated version (which doesn't hold a candle to Ms. James' version!!!)



Trust in Me

Trust in me in all you do
Have the faith I have in you
Love will see us through
If only you trust in me
Why don't you, you trust me

Come to me when things go wrong
Cling to me Daddy, oh yeah, and I'll be strong
We can get along, we can get along
Oh, if only you trust in me

While there's a moon, a moon on high
While there are birds, birds to fly
While there is you, you and I
I can be sure that I love you

Oh, stand beside me, stand beside me all the while
Come on Daddy, face the future, why don't you smile
Trust in me and I'll be worthy of you

Oh yeah, yeah, why don't you, you trust in me in all you do
And have the faith I, I have in you
Oh, and love will see us through
If only you trust in me
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Why don't you, you come to me when things go wrong
Cling to me and, whoa, and I'll be strong
We can get along, we can get along
Oh, if only you trust in me
Yeah, yeah

Photo Shoot

Over the weekend, I brought the children to Minnehaha Falls to have a brief photoshoot. I have been playing with the idea of putting the children in all white outfits all summer and finally got around to it. I was really happy with how the photos turned out -- given how uncooperative and CRABBY the children were. Enjoy my precious, darling wee ones.

For this photo, I had asked the children, "Who is ready to stop taking photos and go get ice cream at Dairy Queen?" To my surprise the children didn't just yell, "Me!", but raised their hands which caused E to laugh. I was quick to take the cute candid shot to capture their expressions. Love it!

Happy Birthday, "Sisser"!

On Sunday we celebrated my middle sister, Katie's, birthday. Since she and her hubby, Jim, just bought their first house and are feverishly trying to finish parts of it prior to the end of August when their apartment lease is us, they were having a working birthday. I didn't want my sister to miss out on a celebration, so my mom, sister Molly, and I brought my family to her new house and crashed the working day with some cake.

We were having a fab time until my weest one fell on the concrete floor (laminate flooring yet to be installed) and gave himself the hugest goose egg I have ever seen. I freaked out and wanted to take him to the ER. Seriously, the egg takes up the ENTIRE side of his forehead. You should see how brightly bruised his poor melon is now (hours later.) My poor baby!

Feelin' Love

Lyric Tuesdays...

Love this song! Lyrics are explicit, so no reading them near children who can read...

Feelin' Love
As sung by Paula Cole (in movie City of Angels)

You make me feel like a sticky pistil
Leaning into her stamen.
You make me feel like Mr. Sunshine himself.
You make me feel like splendor in the grass where we're rolling
Damn skippy baby
You make me feel like the Amazon's running between my thighs.

You make me feel love

You make me feel like a candy apple all red and horny
You make me feel like I want to be dumb blonde
In a centerfold, the girl next door.
And I would open the door and I'd be all wet
With my tits soaking through this tiny little t-shirt
That I'm wearing and you would open the door
And tie me up to the bed.

You make me feel love

Lover, I don't know who I am
Am I Barry White?
Am I hot inside?
What would I place with your hot conscious
Oh baby babe babe babe
I will be your death the moon light
Take your time

You make me feel love

Seriously Funny

Seriously funny stuff!

Hypothetically, if I were ever to get married again (mind you, not that I will. Once is enough for a lifetime) this is how I would make my entrance. Make sure you are at a place where you can watch the video and listen to the non-traditional music. LOVE IT!



SERIOUSLY FUNNY!

Olbekson's

A few Fridays ago, we had a fantastic play date with my awesome friend, Jacki, and her three boys. Her fourth, precious little boy is still in utero and I swear she is the cutest pregnant woman ever -- but unfortunately I didn't get a good preg pic of her darling tiny belly.

Playing Camera

Here are a few more pictures of my little-big Diva from our Duluth weekend. She is in love with the camera. Adores having her picture taken, which I am very glad about because I love taking pictures and would hate to have that battle all the time.

ATVs, Sleds, Boats

We like to visit Auntie Katie and Uncle Jim at work at Lighthouse Motorsports and Marine in Rosemount, MN. Lots of dreaming while looking at all the ATVs and sleds and boats. Good times!

Bad Mommy Side

Yesterday, I walk into the children's bedroom to find my two and a half year old and almost four year old jumping on Little D's mattress...

Mind you, the mattress has been pulled off the bed and is now on the floor -- which kind of shows the children were listening when I barged into their room 90 seconds ago. I had to offer the motherly warnings about often the fatal, or at a minimum disfiguring, dangers of jumping on the bed. I mean, for pete's sake, they could fall off and bump their head on the bed railings and fall into a coma! Blah, blah, blah.

You know, all those regularly offered motherly warnings.

So, I walk into the children's bedroom to find the two wee-est ones jumping on Little D's toddler bed mattress which is now on the floor and no longer on the frame where it belongs. I give up, shake my head and walk out of the room figuring they are playing together happily, so who am I to break up the party?

However, our very astute and precocious almost nine year old who is trailing after me says, "Mom! You're going to let them jump on that mattress?"

I respond, "They'll be fine. It can't hurt them that badly. It's on the floor, right?"

Nine year old: "Hello! They could fall and get hurt. Remember all the warnings you used to tell me? A coma?"

Okay, she's got me there. I used to be a worry-wart parent, but I am getting better. I consider myself a recovering worry-wart. I digress...

I look at our nine year old and just kind of shrug helplessly. So what does our nine year old do? She emphatically states, "That's it! You're losing it! You've gone to the Bad Mommy Side."

Ummm... okay?! Now there is a Bad Mommy Side?

And here I thought I was just giving my wee ones a chance to explore their physical boundaries or possibly of a good ol' lesson in "cause & effect" (jump & bump?) in a semi-safe environment.

Or perhaps I could justify it as my wee ones having superb problem solving skills. I had previously told they to "stop jumping on the bed". Obviously I had neglected to include "stop jumping on the bed or any part of the bed, including the mattress, which means you should not pull the mattress off the bed frame and put it on the floor..."

(Even if that would be considered creative problem solving.)

Teeny-bopper Stuff

Lyric Tuesday...

As a nod to my fantastically awesome oldest daughter, we are featuring a Miley Cyrus song called "Let's Dance". Yes, it's bubble-gum, teeny-bopper music, but we love this song in spite of that. No, I don't think Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus is a great role model for my pre-teen but again, we'll ignore that fact so we can listen to this song -- and it could be worse! She could love... Marilyn Manson or something equally as creatively genius but psychotic.



"Let's Dance"

The weekend’s almost done
The moon is low in the sky
I feel like going out
Before the night passes by
I won’t just sit around
When life becomes a drag
I dance

I like the bass - turn it up
I like the boom - turn it up
I need guitar - turn it up
I like that drum - when they go…

CHORUS
Let’s dance
What the weekend, what the night is all about
Let’s dance
Grab your girlfriends, grab your boyfriend
Sweat it out
Let’s Dance
Move your whole body
Let’s start the party
To much rock for one girl can make her go crazy
I need someone to dance with me baby

The music’s on - turn it up
My favorite song - turn it up
And all night long – we’ll turn it up
And we’ll dance

When the night says hello
Yeah, get ready to go
Turn it up, turn it loose
Yeah you’ve got no excuse
Just take a chance
Get out on the floor and dance

CHORUS

Savor the Moments

In early July I took our oldest daughter, E, to Duluth for a simple mommy-daughter overnight. We had a fantastic time. She talked and talked and talked and I tried to listen. I think she really craved the alone time with me and I know it did my heart good. I am quite overwhelmed and have been sick recently, so I am going to be really creative by just posting pictures of our time together without further ado.

We spent a lot of time playing with the timer function on my camera and trying to snap shots of us together. In this shot, we were laughing so hard we could barely climb up on top of the rock in time for the picture, so we look really goofy. Silly us!

I love this picture because my baby girl is so precious and beautiful. She insisted on holding my hands, which just warms my heart. I know there will soon come a day when she is too "big" or "cool" to hold my hand and I am not looking forward to that moment.

Five Never Looked This Good

I have missed updating you on so many events! LONG overdue are pictures from H's family birthday party. Our sweet girl turned FIVE! Can you believe she is five?


I love playing with the timer feature of my camera. No one is safe now that I've figured it out (or as my husband more appropriately pointed out -- I was told how to do it. Thanks Bro in Law)

This is my favorite picture. It's what happens when adults are sick of watching their children ride bikes and have all the fun. LOL!