Princess Abbykins

B is for......

In keeping with the "letter of the week" thing, I need to do "B". Here are a list of all things "B":

• Brenda, my youngest sister. She's quite a gal. She's smart, funny, honest, caring, loyal and generous (among many other things!). She's pregnant with baby #4 and feeling kind of icky....send some "feel better" vibes her way, she could use them!
• Baby, there will be another one in September....keeping fingers crossed that she has a boy this time!
• Breanne, my niece who is going to be a big sister again!
• Boobies, a topic that has come up recently....have you given yourself a breast exam recently? No? Well get to it! It's important.
• Binkie, Devyn gave hers up in December...what a big girl!
• Basket, I have 4 full baskets of laundry that need to be folded.....I am procrastinating.
• Baseball, sign-ups for Nate are tomorrow......can't forget those! And Baseball season is just around the corner! Go SOX!!
• Book, I was finally able to procure a book I had been looking for for years! 'Simply Socks' by Anna Zilboorg.
• Brady, Tom Brady....the best Quarterback ever! Go Pats!
• Bike, Nate's bike was stolen.....again. Last time he found it in the bushes at the Middle School.....this time it is nowhere to be found. That is the LAST bike I will ever buy him. He's on his own now, since I had been telling him since Christmas to move it into the basement.

I know, I am lame....and my camera is still broken so no pictures today. Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

I kind of got the ok to announce this......

My sister, Brenda, is having another baby! It's very early on, so really we should still be keeping it a secret.....but if you know me (and her), that's easier said than done. So here we go again. I am so excited for her.

We are really needing another boy in the family. The last 5 children born have all been girls (Hannah, Breanne, Devyn, Abby, Kaylee)...so it's about time we got a boy. What do you say Bren, can we have a boy this time?

Ah, who the heck am I kidding, I'll be happy with another niece (although, the youngest males in this family are Michael and Tommy....they are both 9 1/2!!!).

So there you have it....and I am quite proud of myself...I kept it a secret for 4 whole days!!

A is for Auntie

Out there in blog land there is a letter thing going on. Every 2 weeks you do a blog post for that letter (we are going in order). This week it's the letter "A". And in our family "A" stands for Abby....... I post about Abby all the time so I wanted to change it up a bit.

So this week, "A" is for Auntie. It's a title I take very seriously. I have been an Auntie many times over, I have 14 nieces and nephews (Krystal, Mark Jr., Jackie, Nicole, Timothy, Matthew, Joseph, Rebecca, Maria, Michael, Hannah, Breanne, Devyn, Kaylee.......then my 4, Jamie, Nate, Tommy and Abby make 18 kids between us and maybe someday I might have another niece or nephew.....you just never know).

I like being an Auntie, I like being called Auntie and love all my nieces and nephews. I like when I call my sister Melissa and one of the kids answers and they say, "Hi Auntie". It's fun trying to guess who it is (there are six kids over there....well, five now...one is married). But each and every time they say it it is said with love and happiness. It makes me feel nice.

I like it when Devyn calls me "Aunts", she is a little stinker and has the quirky names for people (her dad is Dennis Michaelman). She kind of says it like, "Hey aunts, waz up?"......she is 4 years old....it's hilarious.

Breanne is learning how to spell her middle name and is finally making the connection that she was given my name (Michelle) as her middle name. I think she is pleased and I am honored. She is the best person ever to share a name with.

So "A" is for Auntie......I hope I get to have another niece or nephew soon....that would be awesome!

Losing it

Crazy I tell you. It's been over 2 weeks since we had a vehicle and I think it's really getting to me.

I am hiding in my bedroom right now, with my laptop, a can of Pepsi and some Wint O Green Lifesavers. "type, type, type, sip, sip, crunch, sip, crunch, crunch, type, type". I was hoping for some peace and quiet but, well, I have 4 kids and a husband ( a husband who all of a sudden forgot how to "parent" his children). I haven't had but 3 or 4 minutes of steady quiet since I (ran in here screaming my head off) came in here. First it was the usual, "Mom/Honey what are you doing in here?". Then it was, "Mom can I have/do ______?". Then, "Honey where is/what is/how is _______?". And of course I was needed to wipe a butt (Abby is only 3 and still learning), take a slippery, bubble bath covered little girl out of the tub, clean up spilled soda/juice/water and hug and kiss everyone at least once. I think they think I have slipped over the edge and they figured they would get one last "lovin'" in, since it's likely I'll be hitchhiking my way out of town tomorrow (if my truck isn't fixed by then).

I went to the Mall with my sister yesterday (and 6 of our kids....Jamie wasn't with us). It was meant to sooth my soul and get us out of the house except it felt more like work to me (Abby is a full-time job sometimes). The highlight of my day (score at Old Navy, all clearance stuff was marked 50% off!) was watching Poopaylee "run". She makes all the right motions, swinging her arms and moving her feet.....but she is about as fast as a snail. And her little butt butt wiggles and she makes a real serious, "I'm running full steam ahead" face....oh she is sooo friggin' cute!!! And she was so happy to take Abby's old toys home....Fisher Price people last for ever!

Ahhhh, it's been quiet now for awhile. Maybe I'll just rest my eyes for a few minutes........

A little comparison, shall we?

My Nieces, Feb. 2007

My Nieces, June 2007

My Nieces, January 2008

Kaylee Poopaylee

My cute 19 month old niece Kaylee.

Superstar!!

This was taken a couple days before Christmas. When Abby sees a camera she goes into "superstar" mode!

Abigail, the noisy girl

Contrary to these pictures, Abby is quite noisy. Her personal "volume" has gotten louder recently. I attribute it to the fact that, to be heard around here, she basically has to yell and scream! With 4 kids, 3 of them being teens (or almost teens......is that "tween") and boys, they tend to be loud and obnoxious.

The other day she fell asleep on Billy's lap (cutest thing ever, she fits in the crook of his arm so snugly!). He needed to get up to make dinner (no, he doesn't usually make dinner but this night he was making pigs in a blanket and wanted to experiment with cheese.....who am I to argue?) so he sat her on me. She kind of woke up, with a little help from me (it was 5:30.....she needed to get up or she would never have gone to sleep later that night). So she gets down on the floor and I went into the kitchen to help Billy with the crescent rolls (you need a degree in "rolling crescent" rolls, I swear.......Jamie taught me...he learned in Culinary Arts at the VoTech). I came back in to see her passed out up against the foot rest! We let her sleep for a few more minutes...partly because it took me ten minutes to get my Stupid Camera (it's official name) to work and I didn't want to miss this moment.

Isn't she such a munchkin face? I took this the day Louise came over with homemade sugar cookies. Um, they were THE BEST cookies I ever had (and saw....).

Now it's no secret that I am lacking in the cooking/baking area. But one thing I can (or thought I could) make are cookies. I can bake chocolate chip cookies and my peanut butter ones aren't too shabby either. But these sugar cookies and ginger bread cookies were baked to perfection! Literally, perfect. It helps that she is talented with the whole cooking thing and she has a great cookie sheet (note to self, ask Louise again what pan it is so I can get one too) and between her and her kids, the creativity just "oozed" it's way onto to these cookies. One talented family those guys are!