MckLinky Blog Hop

This week's MckLinky Blog Hop is favorite photo of kids. I have so many but this is a recent one that just strikes me.

PLEASE PRAY

I know most of you who read my blog also read The Riggs Family blog and My Charming Kids blog but I wanted to be sure everyone was praying.
http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/ Please pray for Abby. Things are serious right now.

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ Please pray for Stellan. He's in extremely critical condition right now.

Got my hair cut......

I decided that my hair was looking WAY TOO SHAGGY!! I know it's summer and I was really only pulling it back or up into a pony tail but school is starting again soon and I wanted it to look nice. When it's longer, styling it takes FOREVER because it's so thick and wavy. This style is much easier to achieve!

Proof that I can have fun.....

or at least let my kids have fun!
I'm not one for outside. Well, I like a nice breeze and warm air and sitting on the deck to read. I don't like sweat or bugs or heat. Hence, I don't love going outside with the kids. BUT, they LOVE IT!!! So, yesterday, I was cleaning drawers in the kitchen and bedroom all day so I let them open the windows to get that outside feel and pull all the couch cushions off (8 of them) and build/climb with them.
Today, since I know I'll be at an all day meeting tomorrow and it isn't terribly hot out, I let them go out. Since we still have to nap/rest, I steered them onto the deck and away from the sand table! We started with bubble snake blowers. Fun stuff!
See it here
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=12210
Then, since Taylor was having fun "washing" with the bubble snakes, I let them "wash" the play house and water table and slide and glass door with shaving cream.
Then I let them draw on the glass door with dry erase markers.

Finally I let them just play in their water table (and make a ramp with the slide for their cars).

Favorite Recipe/Food MckLinky Blog Hop

Okay, I'm not much for recipes. I like to see new ones and try ones that sound good but I don't have tons of favorites.
One I've used a couple times lately is a Buffalo Chicken Dip. It's yummy.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buffalo-Chicken-Dip/Detail.aspx

I see all sorts of recipes all the time that look good but I'm not much for trying new things, I sort of stick with things that work. I'd like to cook more but I don't like the mess, the clean up, the buying of all the ingredients, plus my husband likes such simple stuff that it's not much fun making new stuff.

So, instead of going all recipe crazy, I'm going to post some pics of my favorite foods.
I love chicken fajitas (love the flavor of the peppers and onions but don't like to eat them). Lots of cheese and sour cream on soft tortillas with beans and rice. Yum!



Love pizza!! Pretty much just cheese but I can eat pepperoni too. I like most all kinds of pizza and one of my favorites (if it's not piping hot) is to eat it cold the next day. YUM!! I do like lots of other foods but these two stick out as faves. I love:

*bread and cheese

*pastas

*fresh veggies (corn, peas, green beans, zucchini, etc) in the summer

*pastries

*chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes

*I LOVE LOVE LOVE ham gravy on white bread

*bread pudding

* apple, peach, cherry pies....my mom's butterscotch pie....my sister-in-law's blueberry pie

* oh, there are so many more but I'll stop now.....gee, any wonder why I look the way I do??? :)

Random Stuff

Grady pooped on the potty today! Not that I have any thoughts of this being the beginning of potty training (I don't think we'll even think about it until next summer--2 1/2--) but I was proud of him!

Taylor has gotten up to pee the past two nights. This isn't unusual but she has peed and then WALKED BACK TO HER ROOM BY HERSELF WITHOUT ME CARRYING HER!! This IS a BIG DEAL!!! She comes in, tells me she's going to pee, wipes herself, and then walks back to bed!!! Yay! True, she's still waking me, but at least she's just going back to bed and not making me carry her/walk her back!

Taylor's 4 year old fits/attitude are about to drive me insane. How can she be so sweet/thoughtful/kind/smart and then turn into a screaming/crying/arm flailing mess in the next second??

My family is coming to the zoo today. The zoo is about 20 minutes from me. I'm not sad to be missing the zoo but I'm sad that my family can't come over and see the kids and me for a while. They have 2 hour drive and work this evening so I understand, but it still makes me sad that they'll be here and I won't get to see them.

I've got the windows open and it feels awesome! The kids and I will probably not make it outside for a while, maybe not until after naptime. Everything is wet from rain/dew. I so wish we had a fence to keep them in. I could do the work I need to do and let them out to play. As it is, I have to keep an eagle eye on Grady because he bolts!

Speaking of work, I am planning on cleaning/organizing the drawers in the kitchen and my bedroom. Should be loads of fun! :) Better get to it!

So many emotions

Frustration: As Grady cried out through the night for no apparent reason. I got little sleep. Ryan got little sleep (and he had to be at work early for the big back to school sale!)

Pride/Love/Happiness: As Taylor and Grady played dinosaurs together in her room. They are getting closer and closer to being able to just play together. They were so stinkin' sweet to listen to and watch.

Fear/Sadness/Anxiety/Excitement: As the kids and I walked by Back to School stuff at Target and I realized (not for the first time, but it hit me harder this time) that next year at this time it will be ME buying school supplies (and not for my classroom!) for my daughter who will be heading to Kindergarten. It's just not possible.

Sadness/Despair/Anxiety: As I realize that I have less than a month before I have to be back to full time work. I love my summers with my kids but they go so stinkin' fast!! But, as I'm home and growing more and more impatient most days, I realize that me being a SAHM isn't the best option (and not just because we'd lose our house!) I LOVE my kids but I don't think I'm made to be home with them 100% of the time! I guess I've got the best of both worlds as a teacher.

Excitement: As Ryan's big Back to School sale started today I wished to be there. I always want to be there to see/feel the excitement of the teachers as they get ready to head back to school. He called a while ago and said that customers were lined up already waiting to get in!! Amazing! Hope sales are good sweetie!

Contentment: As I sit here with the windows open and feel the cool breeze (it's only going to be like 70 degrees today IN JULY!! We're usually in the 90s with 100s from the humidity) Ryan hates the windows to be opened but I just couldn't pass it up. Taylor just told me, "I love to feel the breeze!" Awwww.

Relief: As I think about how sick Grady was and how very healthy he's been this year it makes me sigh with relief. We will start his Flovent back up on Aug. 1 for the duration of the Fall and Winter and probably Spring but we'll stop his Zyrtec in the Winter.

Anticipation: As I think of the meetings/outings/appointments/projects/etc. coming up I feel a flutter of anxiety and anticipation.

Nervousness/Pride: As I think of how proud I am of a project that should be great for our school and it will help countless others in the process. I'm nervous, hoping it all goes well.

Nervous/Apprehensive: As I think about the fact that I'm getting a student teacher this year. I had one in 2004 and it was HORRIBLE so I'm concerned about this one already! :)

Sadness: As I think of a girl who lost her husband recently in a car accident. He left his wife and two boys who are the same ages as my two children.

Wow, how's that for emotions that run all over the place?

I forgot to share these.....

These are the unedited pics we had done with my kids and my nephew last weekend. We were pleased with how they turned out. My newphew and Grady are just 10 wks apart (nephew is older).

Ok, this one below isn't the one I meant to pick. We got a better one where Taylor isn't cheesing so much but I'm too lazy to change it! :)

MckLinky Blog Hop--3 Things You Didn't Know About Me

Hmmmm, three things you didn't know about me?? Well, I'm sure there are 3 thousands things but I'll pick just 3 and try to make them somewhat intersting or amusing.
1) I had never had a cavity in my life until I turned about 23 and then I had 8 at one time. The dentist said they get tons of women around that age that have never had cavities and then BOOM! I was devastated. Never had one since though!
2) I had to have my gall bladder taken out when Grady was 4 weeks old. Never had a single problem with it and then BAM! On Christmas and the week that followed I was deathly ill and finally realized it wasn't going away. Went to doc and she sent me to ER. Waited 3 hours there for them to say the gallbladder was infected and I needed it removed. I couldn't wait for them to take it out! 2 weeks later they had to go BACK IN and do a scope thingie because I got deathly ill again! Finally, all was ok! A couple days after that was when Grady started his 3 month critically ill phase!
3) I had to have my ingrown toenails surgically removed because they were that bad! They put me all the way to sleep to cut them out when I was a Senior in high school. Now I have messed up big toenails but no painful ones!

I can tie cherry stems in a knot with my tongue, I'm deathly afraid of deep/open water, I grew up in a small town, I can't carry a tune, I don't love to cook, I did better in college than high school.....
That's it for now!

I need your help!

I'm in charge of an upcoming blood drive at my school (where I teach 4th grade). My biggest job in the beginning will be to get the staff on board so that they, in turn, will get their students and the students' parents excited and willing to participate. I'll be doing a Power Point presentation in which I show pictures of Grady when he was so sick and needed his blood transfusion in order to survive. I'm hoping to really tug at some heart strings here! :) But, I'd like to end my presentation with some other "faces" to make this all the more real to the staff. Here's what I'm needing.
1) Have YOU or anyone you know ever needed blood? For surgery? During illness?
2) I'd like to have a picture of you or that person. Picture only would be fine. If you want to include a first name to make it more personal to the staff, I'll include first names only. I want them to see the faces of people who have benefitted from others being willing to donate blood.
3) You can email the picture to me at amandarouse31@hotmail.com
4) Of course, you probably would want to have permission from the person (if it's not you) in order to send me this photo.
5) I will be grateful to you and your help should lead to MANY others helping by donating their blood!
6) I don't have many followers so would you help by passing this along to those you know who may be able to help?

THANKS SO MUCH!!!!

Favorite Photo MckLinky Blog Hop

Hello to all MckLinky Blog Hoppers! I missed this last week but I wanted to participate this week! Pick my favorite photo? I don't know if I can pick just one!
You can read more about me on my sidebars but overall I'm a wife, mother, teacher. My son was critically ill in 2008 with respiratory illnesses (which is where the name of my blog came from)
Okay, I'm sure this is sort of cheating but I just couldn't pick ONE favorite photo! This is a collage of many of my favorites. I didn't go all the way back to Taylor's infant years--I had many to choose from there too! Anyway, this photo collage contains some of my very favorite more recent pictures of my children.

MckLinky Blog Hop Carnival Coming Tuesday!

This week's Blog Hop with MckLinky is about favorite photos. How can I pick just one?!!? Well, I'll have to pick one and post it for tomorrow's Blog Hop Carnival with MckLinky! Check back Tuesday!

My Little Dancers 7-5-09

Taylor wanted to put on a show and Grady is never one to be left out so he found an outfit and joined the fun! :)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Holiday World

Took the kids to Holiday World with our inlaws. Had a good time.
Should have taken a pic with Santa at the BEGINNING of the day! :) Last ride of the day= tired= hated it! :)

My China Dolls

I got the kids these Chinese pajamas in San Francisco's China Town. Our picture taking session after bath time tonight didn't go all that well. Grady kept having meltdowns because he couldn't hold Taylor's parasol. Anyway, I got some decent ones. Here they are.

San Francisco

I recently went on a trip with my mom and sister-in-law to San Francisco. Thanks Mom for a great trip! We had a really good time! It was Gay Pride Weekend in SF; we didn't realize this until we got there. Made for some interesting times!
Here is Devon posing in front of some gorgeous sunflowers. There was a wonderful Farmers Market down on the wharf that sold all sorts of fruits, veggies, flowers, etc. I would LOVE to have something like that close to me! We visited the Muir Woods red wood forest. That was a crazy drive up the mountain on a tour bus! These trees are gorgeous!!

Here was one of the entries in the Gay Pride parade. We sort of wish now that we would have made plans to get a spot and watch the parade. I think it would have been interesting to say the least. Our tour guide said there was some nudity!

A cable car. There's not many left in SF but they sure are neat to ride up and down those massive hills!

A good view of the Golden Gate Bridge. See the fog coming in under it? We were lucky to have some wonderfully clear days.

"The Seven Sisters" is a row of houses that you usually see representing homes in SF. These homes were on the opening of Full House too. These are some of the only originals remaining after the 1906 earthquake because of the massive fires that resulted from the quake. We got to go in the one on the far left. NEAT!

Chinatown. What a neat experience to get to cross a street and be in a totally different culture! We also saw black chicken meat!

Alcatraz--"The Rock".

Sea lions at Pier 39 (I think that was the pier #). No one knows for sure why they started coming here. They started coming in to the pier after the big 1989 earthquake.

Walking on the wharf you can get all sorts of fresh seafood. Crab anyone?

Due to the weekend, this flag was flying a lot. I also saw it flying with the CA flag and US flag. Don't know if it always flies or if it was just for this weekend. I saw 2-3 cross dressers too but couldn't bring myself to be so touristy as to take a picture of them.

The BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train. We've decided we're glad not to have to rely on public transportation. BART wasn't bad but the MUNI (busses, cable cars, street cars) weren't reliable at all schedule wise.

One of our flights (from Chicago to SF) had us on this massive plane. It had a stairway!!