School's out!

From this...



to this...

Thank goodness, school is finally out for the summer! I am just as relieved as my kids...no more rushing to get ready, packing lunches, homework, dance practice, school events...just a well-needed break. Come September, I will be more than ready to get back into the swing of things, but for the next three months, I plan on enjoying the leisurely mornings, afternoons at the pool, and evenings on the deck or at ballgames.

Given the state of the economy and the price of gas alone, we don't plan on leaving our hometown much. I am so glad we live where we do, though...there is so much to do in our little town. The historic library with their fantastic summer reading program; the awesome YMCA just five minutes away; hiking and biking trails just across the street; and lots of town events like the Blues Fest, the pig roast at the Y, parades, Farmer's markets, produce stands...We will not be bored!

Looking forward to making this a summer of great memories, times spent together as a family, putting the brakes on the hectic life we live and cherishing all of our many blessings.

Backyard Adventure (and Bugs!)

This past Monday, after a busy morning spent in the van driving back and forth from Lebanon to Harrison to take my mom to the doctor (she's recovering nicely), Gabe and I took a much-needed break relaxing in our backyard. We found the first five red, ripe strawberries...we each ate one, then saved the rest for Daddy, Elijah and Isabel...yum! We smelled the honeysuckle and tried to drink the "honey" out of the flowers, and while we were looking for the best blooms, we found an unexpected surprise...this robin's nest, right in the honeysuckle tree, just above our heads. At first, I thought the momma was sitting on her eggs, but when she flew away, we could see two babies poking their beaks above the nest. Right away, Gabe started quoting from "Are You My Mother?" by Dr. Seuss...too freakin' cute.

Upon further inspection of the nest and the honeysuckle, we discovered something even better, at least in Gabe's eyes...CICADAS! I thought we were out of the zone for the 17-year cicada invasion, but apparently not. There were at least 50 shells on the leaves, plus gobs of holes in the ground where they came out! Gabe had the best time collecting them, putting them on his shirt, and making a huge pile of them to play with. I had the great idea of getting one of his Hot Wheels playsets, and we made a "Cicada Playground". Soon after, we were hit with a big scary thunderstorm, so we had to bring the "cadas" into the house to keep them safe :) The boy and his bugs...future entomologist in the making?

Hopefully the cicadas don't like strawberries...I don't want to share!

Memorial Day

Friday was a rainy and cool day, but Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and definitely warmer. We were invited to a cookout at Becky and Mike's in the afternoon, and I was so looking forward to spending the day with our families, celebrating the holiday and kicking off summer. It is so great to find a friend whose family is compatible with your own...Mike and Joe get along, our kids get along (especially Jake and Elijah, and Isabel and Matthew), and of course, Becky and I get along great. We had a great time jumping on the trampoline, fishing in the pond, chasing humongous bullfrogs, grilling out yummy food, visiting the open house of the new scrapbook retreat in Lebanon, and then drinking white sangria and eating s'mores by the fire pit, listening to Mike perform on his guitar for the crowd. We were so bummed when it was time to go, but I had to work at the hospital both Sunday and Monday and I needed some sleep. I took lots of pics at the cookout, none at work :)

Isabel and Tatum on the trampoline...Isabel had bloodied her nose the night before, jamming her knee on the bridge of her nose, and officially being the first injury on the Lieser trampoline!

Sweet Summer in her adorable bonnet...I can't get enough of this baby!

Becky and I, hanging out by the pond, praying our boys don't hook each other instead of the blue gill :)

I just love the expression on Summer's face, watching Joe and probably wondering what on earth he is talking about.

Gabe, wishing he was big enough to fish one minute, then crying "I can't like the pond!" the next. Why is it that all three-year-old's are bipolar?

Beer and fishing, does it get any better? (For the guys, that is)

Jake is holding Elijah's first catch...those fish were biting like crazy!

The end of a perfect evening...can't wait to do it again, guys!

Nothin but a Good Time!

So, last Wednesday night my phone rang. It was my friend, Becky, calling to invite me over for a playdate after our Thursday morning workout. Turns out she bought a trampoline for her son's birthday, and they were all having so much fun, she knew we would, too. She was so right! The nurse in me had visions of broken arms, closed head trauma, bloody noses (yep, just ask Isabel), but I decided to break out of my comfort zone and go for it. We had the BEST time, acting silly, laughing and jumping until I was ready to break out the Depends! (So much for Kegel's; that third baby did my bladder control in.) And you know Gabe was chomping at the bit for it to be his turn. He did a good job waiting, though, while Becky's husband took a few pics of us. How often do you get to be in your own photos, doing something so fun? Not often enough, for sure.

We had a beautiful day, that day and again on Saturday for our cookout. I have so many great pictures to share...I'm going to try to post everyday this week, if I can. Hope you enjoy! Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Field of ...kids!

One of the best things about our subdivision is this "green space" behind our house, where the honeysuckle and tall grass grow wild, and the kids can play Little House on the Prairie to their hearts' content. Yesterday was a gorgeous day, breezy and sunny and warm; our neighbor friends came over to play, and I saw the perfect photo op. Although the thoughts of poison ivy and snakes keep me out of there, I was able to capture some great pics from the safety of my backyard :)

Felicity and Isabel, AKA "Laura and Mary Ingalls"

Jonah and Gabe, playing the little brothers.

Sweet Gabe, searching for the perfect flowers for Mommy. Please, not the ones with three-leaves and a red stem, okay, honey?

Thanks, baby! I love it! Of course, Elijah is getting too old to be playing Little House; he was too busy playing Runescape and baseball with his buddy, Austin. Sometimes I really miss the days when all my kids would play make-believe together...

Escape

My sister, Michelle, taught me to read when I was four years old, and that is the best gift I have ever received, I think. What better way to escape from the stresses of daily life than through the pages of a good book? Forget television, give me Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Ken Follett, Jodi Picoult...and my latest favorite, Diane Gabaldon, the author of the Outlander series. A couple of my co-workers introduced me to this awesome set of books, and now I am re-reading them for the second time. If you love to read, you really should give it a try. Love it! It starts out in Scotland (explaining the photo above), but travels through France, the Caribbean, and finally the American colonies. There are even book clubs who plan trips to visit all the places described in the books! Wouldn't that be awesome? "Maybe someday", as Gabe would say :)

The only bad thing about getting lost in a good book: not getting anything else accomplished, other than watching the dishes, laundry and other housework pile up while you turn the pages. Still, one of my biggest goals with my kids is to turn them into lovers of reading. So far, so good. Our library's summer reading program starts the weekend after school is out, and both Elijah and Isabel can't wait to get started, asking if we can get signed up that very first day! And Gabe loves to be read to, especially books about bugs, dinosaurs and trains. Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around going to the library with my dad...hope I'm creating some of those same memories for my babies.

Now, off to workout, then back to the world of Jamie and Claire Fraser!

Thanks

Just a quick post to let you know that everything went well with my mom's surgery today; thank you for the prayers and words of support and encouragement. By the grace of God, I was able to get by with thirty minutes of sleep in the pre-op area, thanks to a kind nurse who brought me a warm blanket and a recliner. Amazing how much a little act of kindness can help a stressful time...something I need to remember daily, especially at my job. Anyway, Mom is tucked into her room, high on morphine and feeling good :) She should come home on Wednesday. My family survived the past three days without me, the house is still standing (although Gabe's lovey, "baby fwee" blankie, is lost without a trace). He seems to be doing okay without it (which makes me a little sad, to be honest). Now I am showered and ready to collapse into my bed. Yawn....Goodnight. And thanks again.

Weekend Plans?

Got any great weekend plans, anyone? Boy, I do...I'll be spending late nights on the banks of the Ohio River, basking in the glow of...the tower on top of Christ Hospital :) Hopefully, my shifts this weekend will be better than last night, when I barely had time to eat or pee; running between my two very sick patients and dealing with physicians, families, CT scans, labs, etc. I am TIRED! I don't usually admit to that particular feeling, but I am tonight. I am in somewhat of a daze, almost too tired to just sit and rest on the couch or even go to bed. I'm sure I will be recovered by the morning, in time to watch Elijah play his last flag football game and then, weather permitting, his first baseball game. I'll let you know how it goes next week. Please say a prayer for my mom, who will be undergoing surgery on Monday. Her name is Carolyn. I'll be spending the day with her, so most likely there will be no posts from me until Tuesday. Take care, and enjoy your weekend, for my sake!

Ice Cream and Baseball

One of the best things about where we live is the close proximity to Dairy Queen. Usually once a week, we load up the van and go through the drive-thru at the local DQ. You know kids...they love routine; Isabel and Elijah always get a small vanilla cone, Gabe and Daddy always get a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate, and Mommy usually gets a banana pudding Blizzard. Isabel was nice enough to share her cone with Ellie, who was in seventh heaven!

After ice cream, Mamaw Kay came down to go for a walk (to burn off those calories!). The boys are so ready for baseball season...poor Elijah has not been able to play a game yet, due to rain-outs. We're hoping for this Saturday to be sunny and dry. Last night, they were so desperate to have a practice, they played in the drizzly mist. My flowers and lawn love the rain; my son, not so much :)

Between the Bengals and the Reds, you can tell we are a Cincinnati family! Elijah is such a loyal fan, even when our teams are not doing so hot. I love that about him. He is a sports nut, even more than Joe or I. I wonder where he gets that? I have way more fun watching his Little League games than any Major League game; I get so excited when they get a good hit, I'm practically peeing my pants, cheering them on from the sidelines. I can't wait to get some good pics from his games, if we ever have any!

Kids in PJ's

There is something so sweet about kids in pajamas, especially when they're fresh from the bath and all lotioned up and smelling good. I love this time of the evening, after a hard day of playing outside, when we're all in for the night and ready to settle down. Baths, snacks, a cartoon, a story and a prayer, nightlights and white noise on...goodnight. We are finally at the point where all three kids go to bed and stay in bed all night (unless they're sick). Yay!!! Working night shift, it seems I am always in a state of "catching up" on my sleep, so I appreciate 7 or 8 hours in a row. I know I am totally recovered of baby fever...I would not want those sleepless nights to do over again, no matter how sweet those tiny babies are.

Here are some fun pics of my kids in PJ's. I couldn't resist the matching airplane sets from The Children's Place...Elijah still thinks it's fun to have Gabe look like him (I'm so glad).


Gabe is such a booger lately about getting his picture taken. It has to be HIS idea, or else he won't cooperate. Usually, I have to bribe or threaten to actually get him to look at the camera (the trick of "Look at the bug on Mommy's head" stopped working long ago...the kid is too smart for his own good). Don't you love looking back on a photo, knowing it was preceded by "Get over here and smile or you're going to bed!"?

Isabel is my only good model, who will smile on cue and always be willing to get her photograph taken. Such a girly girl!

Have a great (rainy) Wednesday, at least here in Ohio. Good day for snuggling up with a good book, or making some handmade teacher gifts, or maybe cleaning the house...naah. I think making gifts will win out for me :)

My Favorite MIL!

The unique angle of this picture was achieved by the short stature of the photographer...doesn't Isabel do a great job?

I have been wanting to do a post about Kay, my favorite (I know, only) mother-in-law; but it seems as if we never get a picture of the two of us together. So, I had to grab Isabel and have her take it on Sunday, for Mother's Day, after church and before our cookout.

Kay was only 39 years old when I met her. Joe and I had been dating about two weeks, when he took me over to "meet the parents". We had an instant connection, Kay and I. She loves kids, reading books, and shopping. Me, too! She loves Joe. Me, too! And now, she loves my kids. Me, too! And scrapbooking and cardmaking and gardening and Tennessee...We have so much in common. We live minutes away from each other. We love Cracker Barrel breakfast (her favorite: one pecan pancake with light syrup, a side of bacon, coffee, and water with lemon). Archivers and Hobby Lobby and Kohl's are our favorite stores. We can shop 'til we drop, and be laughing the whole time. I just love this woman!

Before we got married, Kay told Joe that if we ever argued, he should know that she would be taking my side, because she knew how he was :) And she was telling the truth. Kay has always been a good listener and a strong advocate for me...if I'm mad, she's mad with me. If I'm happy, ditto. We both lost our dads within months of each other, and we never had to explain to each other what we were feeling...we just knew.

God knew what I needed when He blessed me with Kay as a mother-in-law. My life has been so much easier with her in it. I hope we have many more years together to enjoy each other's company. As it is, I try to let her know how much I appreciate and love her every day. Kay, this one's for you!

A really great day...

Although it was stormy and a bit chilly, yesterday was my best Mother's Day yet! I got beautiful handmade cards from Elijah, Isabel, Joe and Kay (my mother-in-law); lots of flowers to plant; dinner out on Saturday night, along with a shopping trip to Ikea to get more organization items for my scrapbook room; and a yummy grilled-out dinner after church. Then I got to do two of my favorite things: shop with Kay and Isabel, and workout with Becky (had to burn off all those calories!). All in all, a great day. Here are some of my favorite pics. I'm saving the one of Kay and me for a different post.


Elijah, almost ten years old. My firstborn, my "parenting experiment", smart, funny, very athletic and awesome at video games and the computer. Makes friends easily, loves his mom and Jesus, too.



Isabel, eight years old. My only daughter, my secondborn, my "millenium baby". She was due on December 31, 1999, the year of Y2K. Thankfully, she came 10 days early. Beautiful, intelligent, compassionate, so mature for her age it's scary, artistic, a great friend and an even better sister and daughter. Where would our family be without her?

Gabriel, three years old. The baby of the family, our "bonus baby", born to us even though we thought we were done with babies. So handsome, energetic, the jokester. Loves Hot Wheels, our puppy, playing outside with Daddy; especially loves to be with Elijah and Isabel. Currently in love with anything dinosaurs: books, figures, flashcards, movies. I love his bedtime prayer: "Dear Jesus, I wuv you, amen".

How I ever deserved these amazing children, I don't know, but I count my blessings every day. I wouldn't be the mom I am today without the help of so many people, though. God, my husband, my mom, my dad, my sisters, my mother-in-law, and my friends. So much love given to me in my lifetime, that I have plenty to shower on my babies.

Wow, feeling sentimental today...guess that's what Mother's Day is all about!

Hope everyone else had a great Mother's Day, too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, all! Trying to find the perfect picture for this post was next to impossible...all my photos from when I first became a mother ten years ago are from my 35mm camera, and I don't have a scanner to convert them to digital. So, I picked one of my favorites from last fall, taken at Schappacher's Farm in Mason on my 34th birthday. We had a great day together, me and my babies and Joe, and I love looking back on that afternoon with a smile. Three children, all born healthy, happy, and with a kind heart and spirit...I could not ask for more.




Now for some Mother's Day humor...



You Know You're a Mother When ...

You count the sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make sure they're equal.
You have time to shave only one leg at a time.
You hide in the bathroom to be alone.
Your kid throws-up and you catch it.
Someone else's kid throws up at a party. You keep eating.
As you cling to the high moral ground on toy weapons; your child chews his toast into the shape of a gun.
You hope ketchup is a vegetable, since it's the only one your child eats.
You find yourself cutting your husband's sandwiches into cute shapes.
You hear your mother's voice coming out of your mouth when you say, "NOT in your good clothes!"
You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you.
You donate to charities in the hope that your child won't get that disease.
You hire a sitter because you haven't been out with your husband in ages, then spend half the night checking on the kids.
You use your own saliva to clean your child's face.
You say at least once a day, "I'm not cut out for this job", but you know you wouldn't trade it for anything".



Have a great day!

P.S. I love you, Mom!

Laughing and Crying...

Wish I could make this photo bigger, but you get the gist. I don't know whether to laugh at the joke, or cry because it's practically true. The price of a gallon of gas is expected to hit $4.00 today, and the thought just makes me sick. Already I have adjusted my life to accomodate this insane expense; I no longer visit my friends in Indiana and Kentucky, I work a 16-hour shift so I can squeeze more hours in with less driving down to Cincinnati, I have to budget my money well to afford to fill up my van in order to get to work and around town...it's great to be a little conservative, but this is just too much. What on earth can we do? I can't ride my bike 30 miles one way to Cincinnati, and I love Christ Hospital too much to work anywhere else. We're not even planning anymore vacations this year, mainly because it will just cost too much to get anywhere! I hate that!

Can you hear this cheerful Beatles song, "Drive my Car", which was released in 1966, when the price of gas was $0.32 per gallon? I think I'm going to PARK my car for awhile, and figure out a way to harness Gabe's energy and transform it into a source of fuel :) Wouldn't that be a great invention?!

Off to bed I go...clearly I am very tired and cranky. Happy Freakin' High Priced-Gas Friday!

Tiny Dancer

Well, maybe not so tiny after all. How does the time go so slow when you're a kid, but then you have kids of your own, and bam! time is flying by like a freight train?! I can distinctly remember the day Isabel was born, watching her take her first steps (at 9 months old!), taking her to preschool and watching her run away from me over to her teacher, without so much as a glance backward. Now here she is, at the end of second grade, and so beautiful she takes my breath away. I think that's why I take so many pictures...how else will I really be able to hold onto all those little moments that disappear before you even blink?

Isabel started taking Jazz dance lessons in kindergarten, at our local dance studio "Dancekids". She took last year off to do gymnastics, then decided to return to dance this school year. Her instructor, Miss Denise, is wonderful, and Isabel adores her. They have been working hard since September, learning their recital number. They will be doing a "lyrical" dance to this song from "Pocahontas", Vanessa Williams' "Colors of the Wind". The recital is in June, and I can't wait to see Isabel up on stage. No stage fright at all in this girl...she just gets up there and does what she has practiced for the past 9 months. She has such poise and maturity for her 8 years; I think God has big plans for her life. She is compassionate, kind, funny, extremely intelligent...can you tell I'm her mother? Just a little biased. If I can figure out how to post a video, I'll try to post one of her dance later next month. Have a great day, and if you can figure out how to slow down the time train, please let me know!

Birthplace of a scrapbook

My center of creativity has moved to Joe's old office, and is finally complete. I was so excited to move into a new scrapbook room, especially this one, with all these built-in shelves and countertops. Now everything I need is at my fingertips, and I love it! I used some ideas that I found on the internet (google "scrapbook room organization"), and the one I like the most is the pegboard. When Gabe walked in to check it out, he gasped in delight at all the stickers hanging from the pegs. Now the challenge will be to keep him out of all this stuff! For all you fellow Stamp Campers, no worries...I still have plenty of space for making cards in the gameroom area. Can't wait for you guys to see it!





Looking at these last few empty cubbies, I feel like that storage container commercial: "I need more stuff!" Actually, I plan on putting some of my favorite framed photos in those. Sure have come a long way from my one plastic totebox and the kitchen table, huh?

Gabe's favorite part: the sticker "store"!

So many supplies, so little time...