7 years?!

7 Things I love about my husband

1. He always gets the door for me
2. He's very supportive
3. He's a great dad
4. He's very knowledgeable
5. He's a big kid (he bought Spencer a Lego castle and spent
Christmas day putting it together...without Spencer)
6. He never yells at me
7. He loves me even when I'm a giant ditz who forgets our anniversary!

I can't believe I did that! I actually forgot that today was the day.
I didn't mean too. I honestly have not had a brain lately. But he
just rolled his eyes and laughed at me. It's strange to me how quickly
life is. It really wasn't all that long ago that I wore that dress. (by the
way that will never happen again!) I look back on that time in my life
and I really had no clue what I was doing...the only thing I knew was
that James was my best friend and I wanted to be with him. I'm so
grateful to be married to such a wonderful person. Mushy much? Yah
I guess so. I suppose I'm entitled to be a little mushy sometimes though.

What a very merry Christmas!

Wow...Christmas is already over?! We sure did have a great one
this year. Of course there was the standard snowflake extravaganza,
the fishing for babies with popcorn garland, the kid gifts with a
husband's special touch, and the horrible mess that accompanies such
festivities. I loved every minute of it and was slightly saddened to see
the day end. I hope that all of you had a wonderful day as well.

Markers and kisses

So...as I was sitting at the computer this morning
my darling son came and wanted to cuddle a little.
My thought was, "wow he's being so sweet". Pretty
soon he kissed me on the cheek and started tickling
my neck. Little did I know that he wasn't being all
that sweet.




Yah, he had a marker. I guess that's what I get for
being on the computer. Thank heavens for Crayola
and their marvelous washables!

Etsy...I love you!

Well, Etsy has done it again! I was able to sell this 

little number over the weekend and I'm so darn excited! 

Wahoo. I was afraid that maybe I'd have to end up using

it as a stocking stuffer or something. Anyway, thanks for

letting me share my fun news!

Six years of fun....and a little drama

My baby is not a baby anymore! Yesterday was
number six for Evelyn. I can't believe how quickly
this little girl of mine has grown up!! It amazes me
really.

Ev has had quite a year. She's been in kindergarten
a whole 5 months now! She's learned how to tie her
shoes, read small words, count to 100, cross her eyes,
and write words by sounding them out (like "sata clos"
aka: Santa Claus) She also has got to be one of the most
thoughtful little girls I've ever known. She's always doing
something for someone. Just this morning she gave
Spencer the blue cup instead of choosing it for herself.
Yah, maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal but when
you're 6 and your favorite color is blue it sort of is. I know
I'm bragging on her a bit but I'm just so darn proud of that
girl and I'm so grateful that I get to have her!

Thankful for a crazy family!

Thanksgiving this year was quite an event. Isn't is always

though? Massive baking, crazy children, forever long car

rides, black Friday shopping, crazy brothers, park trips 

involving scary old men digging through trash cans. Good

times. Oh and in case you're wondering, my husband is 

squirting whipped cream into the baby's hand. I guess 

that's what happens when dad gets a hold of the fluff!

All in all we had a pretty swell time. I suppose I'm pretty

thankful for my crazy family.

A good ol' housewife and proud of it!

For some reason, I've had a terrible time thinking up

some subject to blog about. I think I'm either having a 

bout with writers' block or my life has gone mundane on 

me. Being as how I'm not really a writer, I'm afraid it's the 

latter. 

    With four babies to take care of I'm not really all 

that...uh...non busy? I mean I get up at 5  so that I can 

get ready before the little children invade. Then of course 

I have the task of readying all the little ones for the day. 

At 8:05 (or 8:20 whatever) it's off to school for Ev. We then 

proceed to the church to do some "wish we were in shape" 

aerobics, Tae bo, Pilates, or as of late a horrible step work out

 (90's spandex, high tops and all!) After a lovely workout we

all pile in to our vehicle and head home. It is now 10 o'clock

and you know what that means....snack time yay! Then it's 

chores, story time, tv time (don't judge!), and play time. 

There's more of course but I think you probably get the idea. 

I do this every day and you know what? How fantastic is 

that?! 

    I really am so grateful for my mundane wonderful 

life. There are alot of people out there that think that in 

order to be successful you have to have a PhD in physics, make

a hundred million dollars, and drive a super fancy car. I guess

that's ok. But I have to believe that this busy (often times

repetitive) life I'm leading is going somewhere great! 

Sorry for the soap box thing...oh and I'm truly sorry if this

little post is completely convoluted and hard to follow. I did

get up at five you know! Give me a break.

Tricks or Treats

Halloween is seriously one of my favorite days of the year.

I think It's because I never really grew up and it's a little

more socially accepted to wear go go boots, fairy wings, or

fro wigs (yup, I've done 'em all). James was the

Halloween scrooge this year...I made him wear the skeleton 

shirt. Secretly I think that his inner child is suffering and 

needs to be set free. He disagrees. This year our ward 

Halloween party/trunk or treat was on Halloween so we 

opted to just do that and call it good. It was fun. The kids 

got to parade around the cultural hall showing off their fancy 

pants, then of course there were a million "awards" for the 

costumes. Caitlin won the "Queen of the Ball" award. 

Unfortunately there weren't enough awards for every kid. 

Evelyn shed a few secret tears over that. Then we did the 

whole begging for candy thing. It was great. Now I'm up to 

my eyeballs in wrappers. I think it's safe to say that the 

candy will be gone by Wednesday. Until then I'll just have to

strap down the kids so they don't hurt themselves. 

                   Cow Girl

           Crown less Princess

     Dorothy (I couldn't resist)

Scarecrow (couldn't have Dorothy with out this guy)

Amazing shot of all my Goblins...at the same time!!!

Little baby getalong

Not only am I a terrible blogger but I also am
kind of a creepy mom. This little baby turned
a year on the 2nd and I'm just now getting around
to telling ya'll about it. (how do you like my usage
of the popular Southerism?) At least I'm doing
it now, right? Right!
I cannot tell you what a joy it has been to have
Madelin be a part of our ever expanding family!
You know when I found out that James and I were
expecting 21 months ago I was completely knocked
off my rocker. It suffices me to say that I was a very
stressed, unhappy momma for awhile. Anyone that
had close contact with me at that time could testify.
But then an amazing thing occurred, I actually met her!
What a wonderful spirit she has brought into our lives.
I honestly can say that I can't imagine NOT having her
here. It's interesting that for 9 straight months you fret
and wonder what it'll be like to have the extra little
body in your home and then all of the sudden it's like
you were never really with out them at all.
Now she's all sorts of crazy busy! Hence the pics
down below. She picked up the whole walking thing
recently and will not be stopped! She also has
developed a temper to match her hair. It's incredible!
I never knew such a sweet looking baby could be so
insane with rage....it's kinda scary. Oh and she
mastered the cake thing. She's pretty much a pro at it.
She wore that cake down to the very last crumb!
Go figure.

Lovely Autumn

I'm in love with fall! Seriously, as soon as the temperature
drops and the leaves turn I'm all about pumpkins, apples,
cinnamon and Halloween costumes! I also seem to turn into
some sort of retro house wife. All of the sudden I have a
strange desire to can fruit and sew all of my children's clothes.
I also get a hankerin' to scrub my house from top to bottom with
a tooth brush. I often wonder if maybe I was born in the wrong
era but then I remind myself that I don't actually have that much
motivation...so I'm glad that I wasn't born back in the 20's. I'd be
such a disgrace!

Among other things, I really love to take my kids to the Fruit and
Berry Patch. Evelyn and Caitlin accompanied me this year. It's
always such a treat for us to go. I get to buy my apples in bushels
and they get free license to filthify themselves. It's great! I always
leave feeling slightly nostalgic. It's that "born in the wrong era
thing" again. Oh well.

Here we go!

Ok so for any of you interested the Fly Lady blog thingy
starts today! I'm sorry for my convoluted way of getting
the point across in that last post. Here's the deal. My lovely
auntie and I are starting a blog game. The incentive? Organizing
and keeping up with the mundane AND actually learning to enjoy
it! She and I will take turns posting tasks but we also are taking
part in participating. If you decide to join us in our quest just perform
each task and then leave a comment. It should be fun. There's a link
in my "Places to go". Hope to hear from all y'all!

Attention all Fly Babies

So most of you all are probably wondering, "What The?"

Let me explain...About a year and a half ago I read a 

little book called "Sink Reflections" by Marla Cilley. 

This is a must read for anyone that feels like they're being 

swallowed wholeby their house work. As for me I didn't 

need it one bit...hah joking. I have a startling confession to 

make....I struggle with prefectionism. Some of you may think, 

"wow what a cocky girl this Amanda is". Negative my friends.

 Perfectionism is kind of a bad thing. I found a list that proves

 that point. 

Perfectionism is:

• the irrational belief that you and/or your environment must

   be perfect

• the striving to be the best, to reach the ideal, and to never

   make a mistake

• an all pervasive attitude that whatever you attempt in life must 

  be done letter perfect with no deviation, mistakes, slip ups, or 

  inconsistencies

• a habit developed from youth that keeps you constantly alert 

  to the imperfections, failings, and weakness in yourself and 

  others

• a level of consciousness that keeps you ever vigilant to any 

  deviations from the norm, the guidelines, or the way things are

   ``supposed to be''

• the underlying motive present in the fear of failure and fear of 

  rejection, i.e., if I am not perfect I will fail and/or I will be

   rejected by others

• a reason why you may be fearful of success, i.e., if I achieve

   my goal, will I be able to continue, maintain that level of 

  achievement

• a rigid, moralistic outlook that does not allow for humanism

   or imperfection

• an inhibiting factor that keeps you from making a commitment

   to change habitual, unproductive behavior out of fear of not

   making the change ``good enough''

• the belief that no matter what you attempt it is never 

  ``good enough'' to meet your own or others' expectations

  
  

 So what do you think? I mean I'm not a clinical case or anything 

like that, but I have a tendancy of being unneccesarily hard on

myself....I also have a feeling that I'm not the only one and that

many of you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

  Now, what the heck does all that have to do with this charming 

book I spoke of? Well...the whole gist of the book is learning to deal

with this problem by organizing your life and learning how to love 

your self. Sounds good huh? 

  Sheesh, as if I hadn't already taken up enough space, now I'll 

get to the point of this post. My good friend (and aunt) are putting

together a blog game/ help center for fly babies (read the book and

you'll know). If you haven't read the book, no prob. Each day we'll 

post 1-2 tasks to perform. There will also be a weekly task. Kristi 

and I both thought this would be fun. It'll be great to have more 

than just us to share in the joy of....uh...cleaning? If any of you get a 

chance to read the book you should. It's very inspiring...at least it 

was for me.

  I'm gonna be done now. Love ya all and if you'd like to join us just

let me know.

Crazy Name Tag

1. Your rock star name (first pet, current car): Ebony Caravan

2. Your gangsta name (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Caramel Skimmer

3. Your Native American name (favorite color, favorite animal): Green Tiger

4. Your soap opera name (middle name, city where you were born): Williams Blackfoot

5. Your Star Wars name (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first name): Penam

6. Superhero name (2nd favorite colour, favorite drink): Pink Hot Chocolate 

7. NASCAR name (the first names of your grandfathers): David Lonny 

8. Stripper name (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): Polo Chocolate

9. TV weather anchor name (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Kaleikini Kalamazoo   

10. Spy name (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Autumn Gerbera 

11. Cartoon name: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now): Apple Tee

.12. Hippie name (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Muffin Dogwood

I tag any one that wants to participate!

Please don't tell me that's in her mouth!!

 I guess I'm having a bit of bloggers block.

I thought I would share a funny story...I hope like

crazy that this content doesn't offend anyone. But 

like I said, it's a funny story.

So, my baby is at the age where everything is in her

mouth. Lately, her favorite thing is a Littlest Pet Shop 

Frog that she carefully and lovingly places in her mouth.

It's a common occurance for her to crawl all over the 

house with that poor frog hanging out of her little gob!

We have tried really hard to keep the bathroom door 

closed for this very reason...I don't care how often a 

person cleans their bathroom...it's still a bathroom!

Dirty, dirty things happen in bathrooms and I just have

this thing with letting my baby, who tastes EVERYTHING,

crawl around on the bathroom floor. With that being said, the 

other day James & I walked into the bathroom to find her

with a box of tampons scattered across the the floor, one in 

each hand, and one in her mouth. She looked up at us like,

"what did you expect lady?" I couldn't help laughing my 

bottom off. It was just so disturbingly funny. Of course I 

ripped the stuff away from her before taking a picture. 

Oh well. You can picture it in your mind right? 

            

Why is it that kids have such an attraction to these personal, 

embarassing little devices? When my youngest brother was

really little he used to unwrap them and place them on each 

finger. Or some times we would find him with little pillows stuck

all over his scrawny body. I'm sure that you all can relate to this

strange phenomenon...if not, I apologize for this horrible post and

I'll try to post something a little more proper next time.

Etsy made my dreams come true!

Ok so the title of this post is completely and utterly full of cheese.
Oh well. I guess you'll just have to put up with me. So I've always
had this terrible habit of always wanting to try new hobbies. The
problem is that I never really stick with one. So I'm not that great
at any one thing. A lady at church once told me that she considers
herself a dabbler. I've decided that that's exactly what I am. I,
Amanda Pendley, am a dabbler.

Well A couple of months ago I started browsing Etsy. (Those of 

you who are not familiar with Etsy need to become aquainted 

because it is an awsome site!!) So I created a profile with the 

intent of selling some...uh..stuff. Unfortunately it took quite awhile 

to decide what to sell. I ended up settling on finger puppets. I'm also 

working on a doll pattern. So I'm mostly going to stick with toys.

It's been alot of fun and yesterday I made my first sale! Woohoo!!

So that's it. I'm officially an Etsy store owner and it's been so much
fun. I'm not nearly as seasoned as most of the folks on there. I mean
I only have one thing listed right now, but still.

A quarter of a century already?!

Wow, I guess today is my birthday. It's strange that I just keep getting older and older and yet somehow I never feel a day past 18. For some reason (don't ask me why) when I pictured the more mature me I thought I'd be...uh...more mature....or something like that. But nope! I'm still the same old me (haa..old.). I still don't like tomatoes or avacados. I still adore skittles, dum-dums, and gummi worms. And I still don't have a clue as to what I want to be when I grow up. Of course having a few babies has helped me age a little. Especially when the 5 year old can't even fathom all years it's taken to make up my life. Sheesh!! I did have somewhat of a panic attack when I realized that I'm now on the fast track to 30! I'm over it now, but it sure gave me

a fright. Well, on the sunny side, I had a great birthday. James took a day off (sort of) so that I could take a day off. It's really all I wanted. What a great guy to make all my hopes and dreams come true. And of course, what birthday would be complete without a little Office to tuck me in.

Ahh this is good!

A little bit of Family time

It's always amazing to me what just a little bit of
good old family time can do.
James and I have tried really hard to make sure
we have some sort of family night on Mondays. All too
often we slack in the planning and preparation end of it
and wind up popping a movie in and calling it good.
I suppose it's better than nothing.....but still.
Last night, however, DH (dear husband) and I decided
that it was time to shake things up a bit. So we loaded the
kids in the car and ventured out to the Fruit and Berry
Patch to pick us some blueberries.
When we got to the farm they told us that most of the
b.berries were gone but that we might still be able to find
some. It was pretty slim pickin's but you know it's a good
family home evening when things go awry. We set a goal of
getting at least enough berries for blueberry muffins. So
we searched and James kept telling the girls to keep their
"eyes peeled" to which they responded, "We're good at
peeling our eyes, huh dad." They actually did a great job.
Spencer of course was mostly a hindrance than a help.
I don't think we got home with any that he picked. Yah, they
pretty much all ended up in his mouth and so on and so forth.
It's too bad that he was picking all the red ones. sigh...Oh well.
Wow..I'm a little long winded today...for me that is. I guess
the point I started making was that besides all the crazy things
that my family does I'm really grateful to have them. And
spending time with them last night really was a joy, even though
we all ended up with a million and a half bug bites!

Just a few tears!

Well, we are officially a part of the public school
system! Evelyn had her first day last Thursday.
She was a little nervous before we left but was fine
once we got into her classroom. Actually, the day
before she had a sort of mini tantrum because I
wouldn't let her ride the bus on her first day.
(independent little stinker) There were a couple
of tears but it wasn't when you might have thought.
The tears actually sprang as I was picking her up
from school. I guess it finally sank in then.

I have to say that having a baby grow up
is a strenuous hardship on a mom! This is so
cliche but I'm going to say it anyway, it wasn't
that long ago that this little girl was in diapers!
Now she's a big girl that would really like to ride
the bus to school. Unfortunately for her, she has
a really uptight mom. It's a strange phenomenon
for me....all of the sudden I feel like I'm a grown-up.
More responsible, if you will. The weirdest part is
that I think I'm ok with it.

Oh just a side note...for all you moms that haven't
had the joy of sending a little one to school yet.
Don't worry too much about buying the most fabulous,
trendy clothes for them because chances are they'll just
want to wear the stuff you got on sale at Wal-mart.

A trip down memory lane

Ok...so my sis in law had this fun little thing on her blog and I thought it would be interesting to play. Hopefully you can think of something non-embarrassing...for my sake! However, if all of the things you think of happen to be strange and spastic, I'll understand. Have fun and enjoy.

Directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Name Eight

Eight Things I Have A Passion For:

1.The Gospel

2.My family

3.Art

4.Music/Singing

5.Sewing clothes

6. Baking

7.Reading

8.Trying new food



Eight Things I Would Like To Do Before I Die:


1. Go to Ireland and England

2. Make a "Baked Alaska"

3. Start a buisness sewing stuff....that's right, stuff!

4. Go to Washington DC

5. Learn how to reupholster....so that it actually looks good

6. Learn how to make my own sewing patterns

7. Do my family history

8. Write a song


Eight Things I Say A Lot:

1. "No!"

2. "OH NO SPENCER!!" ( we're potty training)

3. "Umm"

4. "Whatever" (I know...total valley girl, right?)

5. "Hooray" (again...potty training)

6. "That's true"

7. "That's awsome"

8.


Eight Books I Have Read Recently:

1. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

2. The Secret Life of Bees ( Sue Monk Kidd)

3. Alabama Moon (?)

4. She Walks These Hills (Sharyn Mccrumb)

5. Suprised by Joy ( C.S. Lewis)

6. Twilight series (Stephanie Meyer)

7. Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)

8. Currently reading, The Giver (Lois Lowery)


Eight Movies I Have Seen Eight Times:

1. Ever After

2. Oklahoma

3. My Fair Lady

4. Holes

5. Toy Story

6. The Best Two Years

7. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

8. Monsters Inc.


Eight Bloggers I’ll Tag

1. Amber

2. Marca

3. Laura

4. Marie

5. Kami

6. Amy

7. Nikki

8. Aubrey

The monster...that is to say my daughter.

I'm afraid there's a monster running amok at my
house! Of course she only pops up occasionally but
there nonetheless. See...above is the adorable Caitlin
we all know and love. Some of you may wonder, "why
in the world would her mother do such a thing to
that poor little girls' hair?" Now here is where the
monster comes into the story. Just a week ago I was
at choir practice and as I walk in the door I'm accosted
by all sorts of shouting and chaos. Quite normal I assure
you. One comment caught my ear however..."Honey, you
really need to keep the scissors up where the kids can't
reach them."HUH?!! Scissors?!!
That terrible little monster came into MY home
and terrorized poor Caitlin by cutting off her beautiful
golden locks 3 inches from her scalp! And on the Sabbath
no less!

I did what I could to tidy up the mess that was Caitlin's
hair. I also (surprisingly) managed to get a good shot
of the creature.

Now tell me that doesn't look like a mug shot!!
Hopefully we've seen the last of her!

A Caitlin Day

Today was my Caitee bug's birthday. The big...oh-4!
Yah right! 4 going on 20! Today I seriously had to stop and
think how old she was going to be. Sheesh..some mom
huh?! I blame that mostly on my beautiful, old soul of a
daughter. She's always saying things that normal 4 year
old girls should not be saying. (check out the right side of
this blog...almost all Caitlin)

Ok...let me cut to the chase. I didn't start this post to smear
it with sarcasm. I really just wanted to give my baby girl a
shout out. Here goes....ahem....so, when I was pregnant with her,
I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to love her as much as Ev.
(Of course this made me feel like a slime ball but I'm told it's a normal
feeling.)
I think Heavenly Father blesses moms with a large capacity of the stuff
(love, not slime...eesh you guys!!)
because not 5 minutes had gone by after giving birth before I was
utterly and completely in love with her!

She has been such a wonderful addition to our family...
What a darling girl she is. I'm so grateful to have
been entrusted with her and her old soul.


Happy birthday little lady...I love you so much!

My Family

Believe it or not, but these are my familys' first real
professional portraits! Sure, we've had family pictures
before...you know the kind...with the timer and the
make-shift tripod. Yah, we've had plenty of those! For
some reason none of those turned out quite right...hmm
I wonder why? We have a friend in our ward that just so
happens to be a photographer! A couple weeks ago he
took on our group...bless his heart! My children gave him
a run for his money! All in all I think we ended up with
some really nice shots though! Yay! Now I just need to
decide which ones to print out!