hulse

hulse

Friday, October 31, 2008

thought for the day



once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold.
— judith olney

Monday, October 27, 2008

oh dynamic!

this is what afton says when something doesn't go her way. as in..."no, you may not watch a movie in bed". "Oh, dy-nam-ic!" it's very funny, but doesn't sound very good the first time you hear it.
but the photo above is afton-the-sweetheart, in action. ella has been feeling yucky today (another bout of bronchitis) and afton hooked her up with a coloring table, a movie (that's what they are mindlessly staring at) and a drink. wait. is that a reese's peanut butter cup wrapper?

and p.s. i officially have bronchitis too. and you thought i was just being a lazy runner on saturday.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

what a weekend...

we were so excited for this weekend to get here because grandpa was coming friday night! we had a great time with him and love him so much!

i almost ran a 5k on saturday. here is a photo of our little group of running girls. it was on goat island, which is where you go to look at niagara falls on the american side. it's a lovely view, even with lots of rain (which there was!).
i only ran about half of it, due to my lack of lung function. i've had some sort of crazy gamboo, and have been coughing up a storm. i thought i'd be able to run, and did for 1 1/2 miles, but when i came around the corner and saw ryan, the girls and dad, i decided i was done.
here we are after (below). i felt almost as good as i look. (i think i look so much like my dad here) the other girls did a great job. so, tomorrow i'm headed to the dr for some help and then i'm trying another race in two weeks. hopefully it'll be a better experience!

aftie (the snow queen) had her first grown-up halloween party on saturday evening. so, we are really workin' the costume this year. she had a great time with a bunch of dressed up little girls at her friend's home. afton quickly figured out this little craft, that was given as a party favor, and hooked us all up tonite for a fun, family craft. we now have a little family of toilet paper roll pumpkins! our girl is such an organizer. the downside is that we were almost out of toilet paper, so i'll be running to sam's club tomorrow to restock.
in other news...we're supposed to have a foot of snow either tomorrow or tuesday. here we go again...


Sunday, October 19, 2008

what brings you peace?

i was feeling such peace this evening and was thinking of some of the things that help bring that quiet feeling...


first off...clean laundry. there's just nothing better than finding the clothes you want to wear nicely folded and in your drawer ready to go.
next...the girls have been wanting to do yoga before bed the last few nights. probably because they both got new clothes that they've decided should be yoga outfits. but it is a lovely feeling to stretch our bodies and find a moment to just be quiet and relax.
the best part of the evening routine is reading to the girls before bed. tonite we read...ooh, la la lottie, brown bear gets in shape, and a polly pocket book. ella loves to read about polly and her peeps!
and last, but certainly not least...my whole muscular structure releases it's tight grip when i see two little sweethearts sound asleep. aaaaahhhhhh...

Saturday, October 18, 2008

so much to say...

first things first...
yesterday was my brother-in-law's birthday. of course, i was a little wrapped up in my own little self and forgot to call. so, happy belated birthday chris!!! let me just tell you a little about this fun guy. first of all, chris is just a couple of months older than i, and so we "get" a lot of the same things, because we're close in age and heard the same music, watched the same movies, etc. so, he's my biggest competition while playing scene it or any other useless knowledge type games. chris is apparently a great musician, but i've never heard him play. he's a lot of fun to hang out with. he's a great husband to my sister, and great dad who really loves his girls. that's about all i know about him, because he hasn't been a part of our family very long. so i'll be writing much more about him next birthday hopefully! hope you had a great day chris!

next, ella's pre-k class went to the great pumpkin farm this week. the parents got to accompany their sweethearts and we had a great time. we did the hayride, picked a pumpkin from the field, saw a ridiculous puppet show involving chicken puppets, fed the goats (ella threw the food at them), and played on the little playground. all in all, a successful field trip.
next, we had a little lunch for this cute girl. she's havin' a baby, so we thought she needed a party. we had lots of friends, delicious food, darling gifts, and a super fun time! we love heather!!!!
then, ry and i went to the sabres (buffalo hockey) game last night. we love going to the games. they are sooooo fun. action packed! last night was particularly fun because we witnessed some wicked-awesome fights! also, the sabres beat vancouver.
also, if you think i'm wearing a potato-sack for a sweater, i'm not. but it sure looks like it.
also, for your information...my husband and two darling little princesses are in the attic at this very moment. that certainly is unconventional, you may be thinking. i concur. although it doesn't really matter what i think, because they all ignore me and do whatever they want anyway. ryan's putting canned lights in aftie's room. yay for that, but boo-boo on my princesses in the attic.

Monday, October 13, 2008

holiday weekend

the girls have been off school since thursday. we've been playing almost everyday. here are the highlights.
first off, here's ella before we left for the children's museum. i wish i had gotten a better picture of her with her wheeled suitcase packed. she seriously looked like great aunt edna ready to depart for her winter in florida! the hat, the matching warm-up suit, the comfortable shoes, and don't forget the rolling suitcase... i tried so hard not to laugh.
on saturday we spent most of the day in the car waiting in traffic to get to the fall festival in ellicottville (wny ski country). we made our way out to the pumpkin farm with the rest of the city folk to expose our children to farm life. the girls both rode a horse, with the bike helmets safely buckled. i doubt anyone in real farm life wears a bike helmet to ride horses. seriously.
here's ella...(also, notice it's still shorts weather here!!!!!!!)
tonite, we carved our gigantic pumpkins. the girls wanted double-faced pumpkins. so, each pumpkin has a face on the front and one on the back. we're very creative.
we also did the following:
grown-up night out (friday night) to lazertron. we did go-karts, a crazy game involving slow-moving, hard to control bumper cars and a ball. then we ended the night in a sweaty game of lazer tag. it was seriously a fun night. this was my friend kari's surprise birthday party planned by her husband. (sounds like a boy's idea of a super-fun party, don't ya think?)

the girls and i shopped for new shoes. aftie ended up with black patents, and tall brown boots. ella scored a brown patent pair of mary janes. very cute.

the girls and i also hit the farmer's market this afternoon and picked up a gigantic bag of apples. ryan laughed and said, "what? are you making applesauce or something?". no, but i'm gonna make something...just you wait.

also, have you heard of scentsy candles/warmers,etc? my friend christi is going to be selling them. she's in arizona, but i have not even heard of them. they sound lovely though and wondered if any of you kids have them?

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

a big happy birthday to you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE 2ND LADY FROM THE LEFT!




















today is ryan's mom's birthday! we hope she has a wonderful day. she is one cute girl, don't you think? she has the best laugh and biggest smile! and did i mention her heart? she has the biggest heart!
ryan's mom is such a loving, kind, thoughtful, gentle, sensitive person. really, she shows such love to everyone, but especially her family. she is so accepting of all of us "new" children (in laws) and shows us that we are just as loved as the children we married.
she's an amazing grandmother and can sit and play with the kids for hours. she is so much fun and always gets the kids going on a project. i'll never forget the first time we left afton with her while ryan and i left town...when we returned i found that she had bought scissors for afton and had taught her to use them. i don't think afton was quite 2 years old. i must have looked a tiny bit shocked, because jan assured me afton had done a great job and had been very careful, etc. but she taught me a good lesson...let your kids try new things.
afton definitely has the hulse project gene, as you have seen shown on this blog many times! i think it all started with this crazy lady!
jan also loves to come up with all kinds of reasons for us to get together. she also bribes us with airline tickets to get us together. let's just say that we're easily bribed, because we almost always agree to meet up.
besides all of these great things, she is an amazing mother-in-law. she has shown me so much love and helped me so many times when i really needed it. she is wonderful and i love her.
we hope you have a great birthday!!!!!

photo download


when i downloaded the camera, these are the pictures i found. sometimes i'm surprised by the photos that have been taken. sometimes, i forget afton has used the camera!

the pink puppy is named "pink poodle".



next up... is "spots"

now, you see my amazingly delicious cinnamon rolls from conference weekend. this is my first successful attempt! there have been many other attempts, but most have ended in failure. i'm putting the recipe on my recipe blog. apparently they are low-fat cinnamon rolls.


last, but certainly not least is a picture of two hard-working little pre-school sweethearts. today these two have been working on a stamping project. i taught them to stamp an image and color it in with chalk. they thought it was a great project! they are sooooo darling and enjoy each other's company before, during and after pre-school. (mostly singing barbie songs, pretending to be characters from barbie movies, etc) also, please notice the hairstyles...they both have braids just like "leanna" from barbie and the diamond castle movie.

Friday, October 3, 2008

a tip for you

whenever i feel a sore throat or cold coming on, i drink lots of herbal tea with honey and i run. the last few times i've started to feel sick and i've followed this regimen, guess what? no sickness! try it, you'll see.