I'm back!

I've been on a bit of a hiatus from the bloggy blog world. I do, however, have 3 really great excuses for my extended absence:
1. October, for some reason, is crazy busy. Especially when trying to survive without a kitchen. Or half your house, for that matter. I have not been at my home much this month.
2. My camera is broken. It seems cute little Odie thought he should snap a few quick photos. Fun for him, not so much for my camera...
3. I have been reading a major book. The Devil in the White City. Long, heavy, non-fiction, not happy, put me in a bad mood for the week I was reading it. I also ate up my days trying to finish it in time for book club. I tend to procrastinate.
and I guess make that 4 excuses...
4. FACEBOOK! I have become a facebook junkie. I can't really say why? A bit less work than blogging.
So now I'm trying to make a comeback of some sort...we'll see how it goes!

Donuts and Snow...

My cabinets are being installed in my kitchen right now, and I am so excited I can't even stand it! So I will blog to try to entertain myself while I wait!

Saturday was our annual, (since I was a child) donut making day at my mom's. My mom does most of the work, we get to eat as many donuts as we can, and hang out all day with the fam. Yum! We ended up making somewhere around 600 donuts!

And then Sunday morning we woke up to SNOW! And not just a little dusting. It really snowed! My kids were SO excited, they had to get their gear on right away and head out in it. Here's little Odie peeking out his window to check it out.And Will. This is the boy who was crying 3 days ago at the prospect of snow. "The garden will die!"... Not so sad anymore!They even continued their play after church at Pop and Gram's with the cousins. They built this awesome fort, and stayed out until dark! Now Will is crying that the fort is going to melt. He's overly sensitive!

Halloween Flashback!

I almost forgot to post my flashback this week! This was just last year.
Lucy was the CUTEST raggedy ann (another made by gramnell)
and Willie had his costume details planned out all month! DRACULA...
Abby and Phoebe had a halloween piano recital in October, where they played the duet Chopsticks, hence these costumes.
Abby went with it for halloween night, Phoebe opted for the more cute and "popular" cheerleader...go figure!And little Odie, well, let's just say this is the 5th arnell clown we've had on Halloween. Gotta love Hand-me-down costumes!

(kitchen update: painting is done. I don't love the color but I am trying to be patient. I know it will look different with my cabinets in, which come MONDAY! )

thanks, angie!

For those of you that know "Angie b" you know how wonderful she is. For those that don't, you're about to find out about one of her many talents. The girl is awesome at everything she does, I swear!
A couple of weeks ago, Angie b and I took my little Lucy and Odie and her little Molly and Zac to SLC to take some pictures. Angie is an incredibly talented photographer, and I've been dying for her to do some of my kids for years. (She did Abby's baptism pics, but c'mon, that was 4 years ago!)
Well she took a ton of super cute ones of Lucy Lu. I had a hard time picking my faves, so I'm putting kind of a lot on here, but they are fun to look at, anyways.
Thank you so much, Angie, you are such a great friend...I'm proud to know you, girl!

Mothers Without Borders

(click to enlarge)
I cut and pasted this from an e-mail from my sister-in-law Jenny. (Hope she doesn't mind) Her mother is highly involved in this organization...I thought I would help her get the word out.

"I wanted to pass on information for an upcoming boutique to profit a community if Lusaka Zambia. Mothers Without Borders is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to address the needs of orphaned and abandoned children in a holistic manner. They support efforts to provide safe shelter, food and clean water, education and access to caring adults. They want to assure that each child has someone who cares about them to teach them of their value. (can you tell that was straight from their website?) My life has been touched from stories of these incredible people on the other side of the world whose light and love continue to radiate amidst their circumstances. As a woman and mother, one of the most heart breaking thoughts is to think of a child without anybody here on earth to love them. As you know, the AIDS pandemic in Africa is ENORMOUS. It is estimated that a child is orphaned every 14 seconds as result of AIDS. The money raised from this boutique goes directly to a project already underway in Lusaka Zambia. It will be a family resource center that will house 250 children in a family-like environment. It will also have a medical facility, AIDS counseling clinic, primary and secondary school and grinding mill all for the use of the surrounding villages."

Much more information is available on their website www.motherswithoutborders.org.

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Imitation is the best form of flattery...

Jeni is posting Halloween flashback Fridays this month. I joined the fun, although they will be random flashbacks, not just Fridays.

This was the first one I came across, only 2 years ago. I found it appropriate since that was the year Owen was born and we are celebrating his birthday this weekend.

Phoebe Jane was a witch (made by Gramnell) Willie the Builder, Lucy the bunny and Abby was Sacajawea (also made by Gramnell, we may see a repeat of this one this year...)

And my teensy baby Odie was but a wee little babe. And a cute one, at that!

Ode to Odie...

Today is my baby boy's birthday. He is really taking it to heart, and has become the most terrible of terrible twos the past month.
Did someone once say that the better the baby, the worse he will be as a toddler? Because Owen is proving that statement. He was the BEST baby, in every way. Great sleeper, eater, pleasant disposition, etc. He is making up for that now. He throws at least 3 temper tantrums a day. The kid is wearing me out!
He wakes up many a morning screaming, and yelling contrary things to whatever I say, "No. Willie not seepin. anymore!"
Breakfast can easily bring on another yelling fit. "No! Not! Mine! Seat! Odie want sconey waffle! No. Not. cereal! anymore!"
If we have anywhere to go, he is screaming as I hold him down to buckle his seat. "Not buckle Odie! Not! Mine! Seat! Ucy seat!"
In the store, he screams more. "Put me down! Not! Ride! In! Seat!"
Lots of times during the day I hear "Want! Mine! Daddy!"
If he is crying about something, and after 20 questions I still can't help him solve his problem, I tell him to use his words. "Not! use! mine! words!" Which is actually a good use of his words, but doesn't help me stop the crying.
He's cute. He's really, really, cute. His smile is to die for. His eyes are the deepest blue. His hair is thick and coarse and blond. He loves elephants, he calls them "elements" ...He can say the L sound, but not the ph. He knows all his colors, his favorite is green. He loves to play with his older siblings and Thomas guys. ("Nomas") He loves to sing songs and dance. He loves to eat beans. He gets extremely excited when we mention beans, or walk in to bajio's. Did I mention he's cute? But he is definitely 2, and is wearing me out!
Hopefully in a few months I can re-read this and see that it was only a phase. He asked me earlier "where mine birday cake?" Right now he is telling Lucy "Odie hab nap day! Pun!" so I guess he's excited for his nap today. I am too!
Love you, Odie. Happy birthday!

SHOUT OUT!!

to my bcff's...
"I will laugh at the world.
No living creature can laugh except man. Trees may bleed when they are wounded, and beasts in the field will cry in pain and hunger, yet only I have the gift of laughter and it is mine to use whenever I choose. Henceforth I will cultivate the habit of laughter.
I will smile and my digestion will improve; I will chuckle and my burdens will be lightened; I will laugh and my life will be lengthened for this is the great secret of long life and now it is mine.
I will laugh at the world."