Ingersoll's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Can someone send a little luck our way? I thought bad things were supposed to happen in 3's, but we've had a few more "Unfortunate Events" than that. All of which happened in a 2 week time period. And remember how my last post was about the world's itchiest eye? Watch how the theme continues.

It all started with my car being hit in the Target parking lot while I spent way too much time and money in the dollar section :). Luckily it wasn't a hit and run (had a few of those here in Cleveland). Got my car back from the shop and that same night around 10:30 I heard a strange crunching noise outside. Our neighbor was backing out of her drive way and hit Andy's parked car. The next day I stepped on a bee and had a bad reaction. My foot swelled up HUGE and I couldn't walk on it for days, and it ITCHED LIKE CRAZY!!!! The day after that we headed to Georgia to spend some time with my family at a Lake house. It was a lot of fun but the unfortunate events continued. I counted 30 bug/mosquito bites on my arms and legs...itchy, itchy , itchy. Then, in a 2 hour time frame Andy fell wakeboarding and got a bad concussion, Avery forgot she didn't have her life jacket on and jumped off the dock into the lake and almost drowned (SO SCARY!!!! Every time I closed my eyes for the next few days the scene replayed in my head. not fun), and I walked into the laundry room where a Costco size clear liquid laundry detergent bottle had spilled all over the floor and slipped and fell really hard (don't forget I'm almost 8 months prego). It hurt! As if that is not enough, on the day we were leaving the lake house I stepped in an ant hill and got bit 25 times on one foot and about 5 on the other foot. They look something like this

Don't be dissapointed but, this is not my sexy hairy leg. but can you see how the bites blister? Not pretty. It has been 2 weeks and they STILL itch! Between the bee sting, bug bites, and ant bites, I have gone through an entire tube of hyrocortisone cream. I am so tired of itching all the time!!!

Despite our misfortune, I know it could be worse, and all in all we are doing well :) Here are some of my favorite pics from the lake house, most of which were not taken by me which was really nice for a change!

My sister took Avery out for a tube ride 

Andy before the concussion

The girlies

Andy and Avery got to go to a Braves game with my BIL Kent and 2 of his girls. They had a blast

Some of the cousins hanging out on the "Hippo Rhino" as Drew called it

This is Drew's "life's not fair" pose. We see it quite bit these days :)

Drew LOVED the "Hippo Rhino" 

Me and my baby girl

Hope you are all having a relaxing and less eventful summer than we are!!

PINK USED TO BE MY FAVORITE COLOR

Last week I had the world's itchiest eye ever. It was SO intense and driving me nuts. I thought it was allergies but couldn't figure out why it was affecting just one eye. On Saturday night I was talking to my mom on the phone and my eye was itching so bad I randomly said "Mom, what would make my eye itch really bad for 3 days straight." She said it was probably Pink Eye. But, my eye wasn't really red. I went to bed and looked it up on the internet on Sunday morning. Sure enough, you can have pink eye with out the redness. SO RANDOM! How the heck did I get Pink eye??? It spread to my other eye too, and we were worried that the kids might have it and be contagious, so we decided we better stay home from church. :(  We went to the Holden Arboretum instead and took a little family stroll. It was Beautiful! If you are in Cleveland and haven't been there yet, you should go! (if you have a pass to the botanical gardens, it is free)

Here is a picture of Avery and Andy in front of Blueberry Pond

Calling all Creative Blog-maker/Digi-scrapper type People

I wanted to make my pictures bigger (which I did thanks to Staci and Andrea), so I tried out a new Blogger template. But, I'm not really feelin' it. I can't decide what to do to make it cute. Anyone have any ideas, or have some free time and want to make me a header?? :) I promise I'll pay you back some how.

Cousins!

My Brother Reed and his cute family came to stay with us over the weekend. They did the Church history tour on Friday and then on Saturday we all went to Amish Country. It was POURING rain on the way down and it ended up taking us 3 hours to get there. So, all we had time to do before heading back was eat and take a buggy ride. It was still a lot of fun and the kids had a blast with their cousins!

Cleveland Indians

Avery just finished up her T-ball season and she had such a great time! We were really worried because she cried at every practice, but once the games started she was SO excited! She is still a total girlie girl, but she did an awesome job and we are so proud of her!

Avery had been waiting for this moment all season. Each game, the last batter gets automatic "home-runs".  At the end of the game the coach gives the game ball to the player who hit the most home-runs (a.k.a the last batter). After every game she would tell me that she was never going to get the game ball. Finally at the last game she was MVP and got the game ball!!

The guy sitting next to us let Drew listen to a few tunes during the game. He thought it was pretty cool

T-ball buddies Avery and Talmage. Avery would not step foot on the field unless Talmage was there. I'm glad they had so much fun together

Swing batter batter batter

Baseball ready

The pre-game pep talk

fOuRTh oF JuLy fuN

I hope you all had a great Independence Day! Here are a few random pictures from our weekend. We went camping with some friends and then watched the fireworks in Mentor. Good times.

4th of July Cuties Bailey and Avery

My Mom made Avery this adorable skirt and she loved it so much she wore it for 3 days straight!

The Sweetest Things

Avery loves to play on the church website version of THE FRIEND magazine. It has games, scripture stories, coloring pages, etc. and it plays primary songs while they play the games. It is so great, you have to check it out. Anyways, Yesterday she was putting together one of the puzzles and asked me about the picture. I told her how some bad guys were trying to burn the printing press where they were making the Book of Commandments and how the 2 girls in the picture knew the importance of the book and tried to save as many pages as they could before the bad guys burned it. She questioned why the bad guys where making bad choices. After we talked for a minute she left the room and came back in a little later with a huge smile on her face and she brought a really peaceful feeling with her. 

    She said 'Mom, you are going to love what I just did. I went in my room and knelt down and   asked Heavenly Father to help the bad guys not be bad any more. And I feel really happy         inside. I want to kneel and say my prayers all the time." 

This is the first time (that I know of ) she has said a personal prayer. I could tell that she had felt the spirit and It was such a "happy mommy moment" to be able to explain to her how the spirit makes us feel happy inside.  I am so thankful for the gospel in our lives and for a loving Heavenly Father who allows all his children, young and old, to feel of His love on a daily basis!!

Menu Planning

I so wish that I was more organized. I try to be, but is does not come naturally to me at all! With baby #3 on the way, I thought I should try a little harder before we end up in total chaos. As of right now, I go to the Grocery store about 3 times a week. Mostly because the kids love it and it gives us something to do. I don't mind, but there is no way I am going to be able to take 3 kids to the store several times a week. So, I am going to try out Menu planning which should cut down on my grocery store trips. This is my ghetto attempt at a monthly calendar (thanks for the idea Kathryn!). I'm sure there are a hundred ways to make it cuter, but at least I got it done :) 

In case any one is interested, it is made of plastic 3 ring binder business card holders. You just cut off the edges and tape them on to some scrapbook paper. I just happened to have some old business cards laying around that I don't use anymore, so I wrote down a bunch of meals on the cards. It probably would have looked cuter if I typed them all out. Each month you simply look through your stack of meals and slide them in the calendar and hang it up on the fridge. And, they are easy to move around if your plans change! Lets hope it works!

What do YOU do to make menu planning and shopping a little easier?

Potty Training

We are potty training this little guy right now, and it is definitely not my favorite thing. He was doing really well, but now he seems to be a little bored with it, and he doesn't want to try any more. I set the timer to go off every 20 minutes, and he gets a sticker after he goes. Any suggestions/potty training tips from all you experts out there?

Andy had a few weeks off in May, so we headed out west for a little R and R. We had so much fun and crammed as many activities as we could into the trip. We stayed in Utah for 2 weeks and then Andy had to fly back to Cleveland to start up school again, as a FOURTH YEAR. WAHOO!! Then the kids and I made a quick trip to California for my Mom's 60th birthday bash. Here are some pics from the trip.

Andrew LOVED mowing the lawn with his Uncles

Avery and her cousin Rae at Thanksgiving point

Drew decided that he Loves animals. He can't get enough of them and Has to kiss them all. 

So Cute!

Cotton Candy at the Hogle Zoo

The Petting Zoo in California has a big pen full of rabbits and guinea pigs that the kids can hold

Happy Memorial Day!

A- you're adorable

B-you're so beautiful
C-your a cutie full of Charm

Long Time No See

I would like to apologize for being such a lame blogger. This year got off to a slow start and I think I lost all 2 of my readers. will you forgive me? I've been in a blogging funk, but I ordered 2 blog books from blurb and I absolutely love them. They have inspired me to try to be better at recording all the memories of my kids' childhood here on the blog. They really do grow up way too fast. I remember when Drew was born, and how my sweet little princess grew up overnight. From baby to big girl just like that. It is bitter sweet to think of it happening again with both Avery and Andrew when the new baby arrives. I feel like they are slipping through my fingers and I need to stop complaining about all the things that drive me crazy and just embrace and enjoy the here and now. Someday I will actually miss Drew's incessant questioning of EVERYTHING and how Avery cannot sleep without cuddling right next to me.
Anyways, this next week I am going to add a few updates on what we did over the last month. I know you can't wait :)

And here is a Sneak Peek for Sara. I Had so much fun taking pictures of Rae and Charlotte. THey are such dolls! It is a good thing I don't live in Utah because I would spend all my time taking pictures at all the amazing locations out there. So many old run down barns, tractors, mountains, open fields, etc. A photographer's dream!

I usually like black and white, but the color is just too amazing in these. Your girls have the most beautiful eyes. So I went for a vintage look here on a few just for fun. I hope you like them! I'll try to get them in the mail by the end of next week Sara :)

The verdict is in!

I am a dork (okay, that verdict was in a long time ago)! I have loved this bedding for a long time. So, when I found out I was pregnant, I decided to buy it just in case I had a girl. I didn't want it to sell out, and if it was a boy, I would just return it, no harm done. I also went to Janie and Jack and found the most adorable $80 Christmas dress on clearance for $18, and I had to buy it...just in case.



Well, the verdict is in. The bedding and dress get to stay!!!! We are so excited to have another sweet little girl in our family. Most of us are excited anyways. Avery and Andrew have been arguing over having a baby sister or a baby brother for weeks. When the ultrasound tech said it was a girl, Drew immediately started to pout and say "No! Its a brother, not a sister. I want a baby brother." I'm not sure if he is really sad about it being a sister, or if he is just sad that he lost the argument :)

Say Hello to the newest Ingersoll Baby girl!