Think of me fondly, whenever you fancy...

Sooooo.....Hmmm....how do I want to start this blog? I am unsure. This blog has the specific intent to set everyone up for the slew of blogs that will be coming in about 3 weeks that will be mushy and sappy and full of pictures, and to introduce someone who is very important to me. I guess let me refer back to a little blog entitled something like "I have been thinking a lot lately..." Or something to that effect. I believe that in that blog, I set out some rules and guidelines that I was looking for in a significant other. Lets review:

#1. Must have accent.
#2. Must love musicals and old movies.
#3. Must be able to dance..or willing to try to learn
#4. Must be Quirky.
#5. Must be willing to write me notes/give flowers/do cute thing
#6. Must Not be Gay

I think that I have found a man who fits into every catagory, and more.

#1. The accent, I know, was one of my most crucial points. But, his Jersey accent is incredibly adorable, and sweet, and not thick at all, which is good. It is just enough for this little Lindsay to swoon over :)

#2. He not only loves musicals, he is musical! He can finish almost any song that I start to sing randomly, or can at least tell me what musical it is from. He even knew what "Once on this Island" was when I had never heard of it. He has also been in musicals, and in the orchestra for musicals. Which, I of course, think is amazing.

#3. He can dance, and not only dance, knows how to ballroom dance. Hello!

#4. He is quirky enough to meet my quirkiness.

#5. In the time that I have known him, he has been very sweet, and has made sure that he made me feel wanted every single day by just doing the little things like texts. He plans AMAZING surprises, and has made me feel so special. There have been times when I have not known how to respond with words because I am so blown away by how sweet he is.

#6. I know what you are all thinking. There is no way that there is a guy like this who is straight. Well. He is. True story.

These were the few guidelines that I set up just a while ago. However, my boy most certainly surpasses these by leaps and bounds. He is an elementary school music teacher, so, I mean really, how freaking adorable is that? He is extremely talented, and can sing, play piano, guitar, bass, banjo and probably more, and is good at all of them. Oh, and did I mention that most of them are self taught. He writes songs that are good. Can juggle. Runs regularly (the other day he ran 12 miles, and I was tired just thinking about it, but it is amazing to me). Oh, and is freaking hot. And did I mention amazing? Cause he is. He is very smart, and our personalities mesh very well. Like, our first conversation, we had a full on theoretical discussion about Harry Potter, and whether or not Snape would have befriended Harry had he lived. He didn't even KNOW that Harry Potter was the way to my heart. It was just....him....

His name is Duane, and he is my boy. And I am swept away.

I know you are all like, oooo what does he look like? Well, I will have more pics and more stories coming in the next few weeks, but here is a sneak peek for now...



I know right. Freaking cute. Freaking, freaking adorable.

Holiday Season!

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I have blogged, and I apologize for that. We have been crazy busy over the holidays. Also, all the babies have been sick at some point over the past two weeks, so it has been very crazy. However, Christmas is over, and I finally have a moment to sit down and do a little blog. There has been a lot that has happened. The first thing is Severian turned 5! And, being a very spoiled boy, he got not one but three birthdays! The first one was supposed to be on the Saturday before his birthday, however it snowed very bad, so we didn't get a chance to do much. But, he still got to open his presents that day, got a cake, and we went to go see Bolt. The neat thing was that we went to go see it, and it just happened to be one that was in 3-D! Severian thought this was one of the neatest things ever, and surprisingly, kept his 3-D glasses on the whole time:



So he had that party, AND then we also had a little party for him on his actual birthday, which was the next wednesday. Kat and Ender were sick, so we did not do a whole lot, just a little cake at my Mom's house. He got lots of things, he got a playdough set, High School Musical 3 soundtrack, and lots more, here are some pictures:






He also got a doctor's outift, which was just about the cutest thing ever. He loves to dress up and play doctor with his brother and sister and me:




Severian's birthday is the last birthday in our birthday marathon. His is December 17th, so it is a week before Christmas. The week of Severian's birthday, we also put up our tree. This was very fun as the kids loved to help me decorate the tree. Ender was old enough this year to participate. Although I much prefer real trees to fake ones, real trees are expensive, and also very hard for me to get, and dispose of. You know, cause I am a small single mother of three that does NOT have the strength to get it up three flights of stairs by myself. While my parents and brothers would help me, it is still just a huge hassle for everyone. So, last year, we bought a fake tree. And, our fake tree is pretty much the coolest ever. I don't have to string lights in it because it already has lights. But none of those crap pre-lit bulbs. It has, get this, FIBER OPTIC lights. That are RAINBOW colored. For shizzle yo. Sev picked it out. Anyway, here are the kids decorating the tree:














And, finally, we get to Christmas. Christmas this year was amazing. The kids, as per usual, got a ton of stuff. I did not take a lot of pictures because my Mommy got me a little digital camera that allows me to take videos, and upload them directly to my computer. Which is A M A Z I N G. The kids got a lot of playdough, moon sand, building stuff, and tool kits. They also got this way cool dinosaur thing that makes sound and walks, a remote control car, and lots of clothes. And lots more that I am sure I am forgetting. It was great too because I got to spend time with my family, and with my in-laws, and it was not trauma at all. It was all very good, and it was very good for the babies as well.

Oh, and, as our big family gift, my Mom and Dad got me a Wii. And a Wii Fit. I am officially the coolest person y'all know. I mean, I am just sayin.... but, Severian is certainly the coolest five year old you know cause he is going to rock the wii out.

Here is just a little clip of Christmas, if you have made it through this lengthy blog, then I applaud you. I hope your holidays were as fabulous as mine. Here is our brief clip of Christmas, filmed with my excellent new camera. My favorite part of the video is the quote by Sev "Look, I got light up socks, so if I don't see my feet I can just see them!" Pure awesome:



More to come!!!!! <3 you all!

Jasper Hale? NO Jasper Adams!

I am very sorry, I have been very busy, and not blogging. I have a lot to blog still, which I am sure I will get to eventually. However, I have a very important announcement to make! There has been an addition to our little family! His name is

JASPER!



He is our new pet ferret! He is a pretty cool ferret, and is very nice. He doesn't nip at the kids or anything. He really is the most chill pet that we could have gotten. He just hangs out with us and gives lots of cuddles. He also goes on walks..



Although his favorite thing to do is slip his leash and hide under the boys bed at seven in the morning. THAT was AWESOME.

Severian was very excited about him, and has been such a big boy in helping to take care of him. Sev is still a little nervous about Jasper, but loves to pet him and cuddle him if I am the one actually holding him. He is also a very big boy when it comes to making sure Jasper has new food and clean water. I am very proud of him.



Anyway, lots more to come, but I freaking did something to my back, and it is KILLING me. I can barely sit. On top of that, Ender is having a fit over something. Sometimes, it is just not easy. >.<

My Sweet Baby Boy...

I was going to leave Kat's birthday blog up for a few more days before posting another blog. However, I have a story for all of you about my night tonight.

Once upon a time a little girl named Lindsay was sitting in her house playing on her computer. She was a happy little girl, and had just put her babies down for bed. While she was in the middle of youtubing Josh Weller songs (because lets face it, she was terribly bored and did not talk to Jersey this night) she heard her little girl Kat crying. Lindsay decided to wait for a moment, because all of her babies should have been asleep, and she figured that maybe Kat was just having a moment. Kat continued to cry, and then started to scream. This frightened Lindsay so she got up and went to go check on Kat.

Lindsay opened the door and was greeted with an interesting sight. Her 2 year old, Ender, was sitting on the floor coloring with some markers of Severian's. He had colored all over himself. Lindsay said "Ender! Go lay back down in bed!". Kat was still crying so Lindsay turned to Kat. This is what she saw:



Not only had Ender been coloring on himself, he had been using Kat as his canvas as well. Katalina was covered in marker on her head, and it was all over her shirt, arms, knees, and crib. Lindsay turned and stifled a laugh. It really was pretty funny after all, but she had to be strong and teach Ender that coloring on his sister was NOT a valid way to express your artistic nature. Lindsay turned and said "Ender, you are not allowed to color on your sister, that is a No No!". However, this is what Ender was doing:



Lindsay again had to fight back laughter, as Ender was not REALLY sleeping. He was actually faking sleep because he knew that he was in trouble. Lindsay attempted to speak to him, but he lay very still and kept his eyes shut the entire time. After Lindsay cleaned Kat up and put her back to bed Ender opened his eyes for a second, then quickly hid them under his hands. Lindsay walked out of the room and laughed pretty hard. Even though Kat was very upset about being colored on, it was about the funniest thing that had happened all day.

The End.

That is my story. My children are pretty crazy. But, I love the heck out of them.

Happy Birthday Kat!

One year ago on December 1st my Mom picked me up from my house and took me to the hospital. We must have left at about 7 in the morning and the weather was terrible. It was a huge snowstorm, and we had to drive about 10 miles an hour the entire way there. What should have taken us 10 minutes took about 30. We finally got there and got checked into my hospital room. I was tired, the last 4 months had been a living Hell, and, to top it off Severian had been throwing up the entire night before. So. I was sick, tired, very sad and very frightened.

About 2 hours later I had a beautiful baby girl. She was perfect in every way. And she was mine. She gave me a little bit of a scare because she had a little bit of a hard time breathing, and ended up spending about a day in the NICU with her head in this oxygen box thing. It cleared out the fluid around her lungs, and helped her to breathe.

December 1, 2008 we woke up and it was a beautiful and clear sunny day. Katalina has grown into a beautiful little baby girl and can already say things like "mom", "light", and "ba" (for bottle). She has everyone wrapped around her little teeny pinky baby finger. Including her brothers. She has a big temper for such a small little girl, but she doesn't show her temper that often. Usually only when Ender takes away a toy from her. She loves to give cuddles and big kisses and is such a blessing in my life. For her birthday this year we had a little party at my Mom's house. My family was there, including my Grandma Hoagland, and Ryley came too. Ryley and I often say that Katalina is our child because Ryley has been in her life since birth. For 2 weeks after my c-section Ryley camped out on my couch and helped me while I recovered from the surgery. Between her and my Mom I was able to get through the whole surgery thing, and even got to sleep on occasion because Ryley would take Katalina at least one of the 4 times she would wake up during the night.

Anyway, back to the point, we had a big first birthday party for Katalina:



She was the star of the party and everyone wanted to hold her and hang out with her. After all, it was her party!





Because she is now 1 years old, she is able to ride in a front facing car seat. This was the first present that she opened, and she was very excited about it:




She promptly climbed into the car seat and sat in it. She even wanted all the buckles done up for her.



Among other things she also got her first doll..



Her own car, because she loves all the boys cars, so I got her one of her very own (Jaime, you may recognize this one....)



And a squishy book for her to play with:



She also got the little outfit she is wearing!



After presents we had pizza:



And cake:






Obviously, Kat ate her cake rather daintily, while Ender made sure that he got every bit of cake he could into his mouth. Severian thought this was pretty funny.

After the party I put all the new car seats into my car. This is now what it looks like:



This is what the back of my car looks like with children all strapped in:



It was a great day, and it was so fun to see how much my little girl has grown. I am excited for the next year and all the changes it will bring in all my children!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAT!