I really need to remember the camera

I was just finishing up Lasagna and Elaine came into the kitchen....she had put on her own make-up. I don't even know that I can describe how she looked. Dark purple eye shadow from lash-line to brow. It wasn't really dark when I wore it, but on her it looked like the kind that would be the dark purple - the kind that you would have used as an accent color or only on the lash line.....I don't even remember it looking that dark in the package. I didn't have any old blush to give them to play with so she used bronzing powder for the blush....they were some tan looking checks! She is a natural pale girl and she she had some spanish cheeks. Next came the bright BRIGHT pink lips. Done perfectly. As a matter of fact everything was placed perfect....but heart just broke at what she said next......"Mom, now do I look pretty enough for the missionaries?" We are having the Elders from church over for dinner tonight. How do explain to a seven year old that you do not need to like a Broadway Star to be pretty. I grabbed a couple of wipes and took her in the bathroom and explained that the best way for a seven year old to show how pretty she can be is to let us see what color her cheeks really are, and what shade of pretty pink her lips are without lipstick and whatever else I could think of. Then I took all the makeup off from one side of her face and talked about how pretty each thing was compared to the other side because we could see it and with all of that makeup on we couldn't see it before. When we were done we had some more meaningful conversation and as I sit here I wonder if it sank in? I sure hope so.

As I was done with Elaine I went into the kitchen to put dinner in the oven. Izzy was standing at the counter on a folding chair with her head down and I noticed she has Parmesan cheese all over the upper left side of her shirt. I asked her "Izzy what are you eating?" and she pointed to the bottle of Parmesan cheese as she lifted her head. THEN I saw the huge clown smile across her face made from cheese and her puffy chipmunk checks full of cheese and she also had cheese in her hair-both sides. I think she must have pulled the side of the can that doesn't have just the holes open and dumped as much as she could into her mouth! Cheese all over her, the chair, and the floor. I can't imagine that tasting good? Now that I have dinner is in the oven both of the girls are cleaned up and the kitchen has been swept I better go make the salad! I am sure that I will find another mess when I go back into the other room!

Another Happy Happy DAY!

Tyler (my younger brother) gets to come home in July from Iraq!!!!!!! I know short blog, but I had to share the info.

Lots and lots of favorites

Today I was sitting at the computer looking at the pictures that I have saved on the computer. Here are my favorites! I might only be able to posts them in multiple posts ....

Such a goof.

She feel asleep like this on the couch....she must get it from my side of the family-we can sleep anywhere in some really weird positions....

...more pics...

This is just another one of those pics where I love the expression. If anyone reading this knows Missy Dunkin (Osbon) this is a total Missy expression.

This has always just been one of my favorites-it is just a cute pic.

This is a pic of Elaine either before or after we took her to her first Purdue game. She loved it. We had season tickets that year and the cheerleaders are right in front of that section and they came up and got Elaine and took her down on the field with them. She loved it, she even tried to dance along with them. Too bad we didn't bring the camera to the game!

Izzy insisted that Michelle take a picture of her feet-and I love feet pictures....well I love cute feet pictures.

more pics...

Elaine was a Bears Cheerleader for Halloween one year and Drew of course was a Bears football player.

Inside the freezer this time.

This is the typical spot for Elaine's cat Seven-Eight-Nine.

I just love Drews blue eyes in the pic.

This pic was taken the day after I had Izzy and we were still in the hospital. Drew climbed up on the bed and took her out of my arms. In doing he didn't turn her around just had her kind of laying on top of him. It took us awhile to convince him that we needed to turn her over and we could take a picture. He was so excited to be holding her. I think this is a great expression or emotion on his face.

last ones...

...

I just liked this one because he had such a cute look on his face. This was an Easter picture, not sure which Easter-but still Easter.

I love the pic of Izzy and the Doc that delivered her just because you can really see what chubby checks she had.

Drew was always inside of something.

Elaine and Izzy both had there hair up for a change on the same day, and what cute faces.

This must have been one of the few times that Elaine had her hair up in piggies when we lived in MI. She didn't do it often. As soon as it would dry she would pull the piggies and have this funky bump thing in her hair and it would drive nuts.

Dissapointed in the Idol results? Huh, what?

I know that it is silly of me, but I loved DAVID COOK and I am excited that he was the winner. Last Tuesday night I went to a Tastefully Simple party and it was a joke that we all had to eat in hurry so that we could catch American Idol. This was a group of Mormon women, all us but the demonstrator. We were all hoping that Cook would win, except for the demonstrator. Isn't that weird that everyone Mormon there was going for Cook? I keep hearing that people are disappointed in the results....huh? I don't get it. I will admit that David Archuleta was a great singer, but he was not a great performer. He will sell records but not nearly as many as David Cook. I would love to see Archuleta produce Church music. I think that he would be very suited for it. Maybe it was just that Cook sang more of what I like in music. So now that I went off my American Idol rant give me your opinion on who you wanted to win and why.

One of those days....I need chocolate....lots and lots of chocolate

I am having one of those days....you know the kind were nothing really too bad happens but just little things drive you nuts....yup one of those days. It started off great. I woke from having a great dream about David Cook-the only detail I will tell is that he is a really nice guy and very respectful. Get your mind out of the gutter too. Once my great dream feeling wore off I realized that I really wasn't feeling the greatest. I managed to do a few loads of laundry and get some dishes done, but basically stopped after that. I laid down on the couch for the rest of day. Maybe that is why Izzy got restless right after dinner. She decided to share some of her art work with us.....on the wall. Four circles right above the couch and below the painting. I tried to clean the wall, it didn't work. My rubbing just made the picture smear. So we are going to have repaint the wall....funny thing I had the painter use expensive washable paint. He got a discount but before his discount it was $45 a gallon. Too bad the walls are so textured, I think that is why it didn't come off. So after discovering the wall I turned and discovered the floor......

I have a friend Elizabeth, she is from Canada. She had a great day with some girlfriends awhile ago and called it a growing day. I found it funny. I think days like today are growing days for me....I will survive. I hear that when your children are grown, days like today make you laugh-will someone please laugh at this so that I don't cry....





These two pictures are Izzy's hand artwork on the wall....



See how part of this one if blurry-we are going to have to paint. This crayon isn't coming off of washable paint. YUP, not budging.



The floor after I discovered it before I cleaned it.... red, black, green and purple



The cleaner that I used to clean it. Great stuff, get it at Target.




The floor after it was cleaned.









I must say I really really love this cleaner. I want to go greener on things, but I don't care what this cleaner has in it.....I will use it. You should too-it is GREAT!!! Thanks for getting it the first time Mom.

I have had one other experience like this.....I was going to post a pic but I can't seem to find. If I come across it sometime I will post it. Drew painted the couch, the floor and the speakers in the living room before anyone else woke up. 12 colors on the couch-just dumped the entire bottle of 12 different colors right onto the couch. Good thing I always buy washable paint-so worth the extra money.....well normally it is.

Special Olympics

Drew was invited to participate in a Special Olympics program last Saturday. We went and it was confusing and not at all what I thought that it was going to be, but he had a great time and was even more excited when we arrived and he found his friend Carter.

On another note, my cousin Michelle and I have decided to have a "family reunion" we are going to make invitation and everything. I am actually really excited, I hope that people from CA come. We are giving plenty of notice so that they can fly or drive, and even make sure that they can get time off from work.

The summer is filling up fast....I love having a busy summer. Kris's family wants to take family pictures and has been trying to do so for a long time-since before Christmas. It would be nice to see everyone-hope it works out.

Name Update

I gave Kris the list of names on the way out to dinner tonight......
Addison was okay
Alyssa is a no
Olivia is a no, and not just a no but a heck no
Ashton was okay
Allison was a no
Aleaha was a no
Ashley was a NO
Avery was okay
Ilene was no
Ireland was a no (this one is really growing on me quickly)

Funny thing, Missy liked the same names as Kris.

All of the boys were no's well.....
Evan, Olson, and Austin are maybes-if he was drunk. AND since we know that isn't going to happen, I guess we have to have a girl!!! Or do some quick thinking.

Part of our conversation in the car was me insisting that we start to talk about names and Kris saying "Call 1-800-tiffany......". I think Tiff and I will have some fun picking out names....what do think Tiff?

Names

I just can't help it I have to talk about names and Kris really is getting better, but give me some help. Here what I have come up with for today. I do like them, but I am sure that I will add to and cross off from this list. Hey at least I have the list now instead of just keeping them in my head!

Boy Names
Allen
Ashton (growing on me more and more)
Austin
Evan (love it, and have for awhile, I don't think is too fond of this one)
Olson
Isaac
Adam
Aaron
Alec
Ivan

Girl Names
Addison
Alyssa
Olivia (Kris really does hate this one)
Ashton
Allison
Aleaha (not sure of the spelling)
Ashley (so so)
Avery (so so)
Ilene (not so much anymore)
Ireland

So this list has not been shown to Kris yet, but I am sure that most of them will be scratched! He is so picky.....and then of course you have to have middle name that sounds good with the first name and goes with Brletich.

Thanks for your help-looking forward to getting some additional ideas or just place dislikes on opinions. Really I do want them, that is your opinions!

I miss Sundays and Garlic Chicken

I miss Sundays. Just that. (I am in a bad mood so forgive me if the sounds like I am complaining...I am). I used to love Sundays, they were my favorite day of the week. As family we would get up and get ready for church, come home and have some type of quick lunch and then some would take naps it would kind of be lazy afternoon. It didn't always happen but I would try to read the next week lessons for church, and we would always have a big meal. I loved having people come over in the afternoon to enjoy the slow pace of the day and each others company. It was the perfect day to have the missionaries over. Just a slow, reverent, relaxing day. A great way to start the rest of the week off. The week days are always so hurried. I really miss my Sundays. You see Kris works Sunday night....it is awful. We come home from church and he goes to bed. Without someone to share the family time and relaxations of a Sunday they are just no fun anymore. The kids run wild (why don't they relax?). There is no Daddy or Mommy time while the other one is cooking. I just feel disconnected without a good Sunday. Yes we do get them every now and then when Kris takes a Sunday night off but still it is not the same as having them on a regular basis and knowing that you will have that time with everyone.

Since I love food so much and Missy asked me to post a few recipes here is one of my favorite Sunday Dinner dishes. Be warned it has the nickname Evil Chicken-it is really bad for you.....not for those on a diet.

Garlic Chicken
4-6 skinless boneless chicken breast
1/2 cup butter
2 cloves garlic-minced
1/2 cup Italian Bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 shredded Parmesan cheese (yes you can use the grated stuff but it really is so much better with fresh shredded cheese)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Melt butter and garlic in sauce pan. Combine the rest of the ingredients in large bowl. Dip chicken in butter mixtuer then in crumb mixture. Place chicken in baking dish. Drizzle all remaining butter mixture over top and then remaining crumb mixture over chicken. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It come out cruchy on the outside and the chicken and moist. If you happen to try it, let me know what you think.

Waddle waddle, HUGE belly!!

Some people have been asking for a new pic of the HUGE belly. Here it is....Do I look like I am only 17 weeks along? Not the greatest pic, but I did it myself and in a hurry. I feel like I am starting to waddle too!

Kris and some of us

These pics were taken at a wedding recipetion that Judy has for us in Indiana. We got married on March 3, 2000 in the California and this was taken I believe on June 9th. Here are a few things about Kris and us. I found the questions on another blog. Hope you enjoy. AH-we looked so young, it is hard to believe that 8 years adds that much wisdom to a face....and hair line.

What's his name? Kristopher Ewald Brletich. He is the only guy I know with the name Chris that starts with a "K". Most the guys that I dated had the name Chris. My dad even once teased me that I was going to marry a Chris (or Kris).

How old is he? 32. I am really bad about ages I actually had to think about this one for a minute. Once he hit 30 I forgot after that, I really thought that he was only 31.

Who said I love you first? I am sure it was him.....

Who is taller? Hahahahaha....he is a good foot taller than me.

Who is smarter? Hum??? He is very smart he knows so much about so many things, at times he chooses to use these words that I just don't get and I even have to ask "what do mean?" I call him book smart and I am the other smart. So I guess it depends on what kindof smart you are talking about. It is really probley still him-I have no desire to get a masters or a PhD EVER~!

Who does the laundry? I wash it and fold it and he puts it away. When we were on the way from our Honeymoon we started talking about household stuff and now I can't believe I said it but I did say "Under no circumstances should you ever do laundry...." At the time my thoughts were that he was a guy and just tossed stuff into the wash and I had dress clothes for work that I didn't want anything to happen them. Every now and then he will bring that up as a joke, but I am very thankful that he does help out with the washing part every now and then.

Who pays the bills? Bill paying has actually gone back and forth between us. I was the first billpayer and then he took over when I just got tired of it, and he has been doing it for some time and now it is coming back to me. I spend the money so I should know how much is there right?

Who mows the lawn? He does for sure. I don't even know how to start the mower. That sounds really bad, I do know the concept of the start but we have a tricky mower. Often times we will see one of the neighbor ladies mowing their lawn and we also make a joke out of it -they are make me look like a bad wife!

Who cooks dinner? BAD WIFE AGAIN!!! He has been doing it since I have been pregnant this time around. I just can't cook meat, the thought even grosses me out. I have done a few things but only things that I can do in the oven, I just really can't see or smell it cooking on the stove. Before I got pregnant he cooked on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I loved it. Even though it normally ended up happening on more than just those days.

Who drives when you are together? I do, just because I get really car sick and seems to the one HUGE thing that helps. I am tring to remember if I drove myself to hospital when we had Izzy-I think that I did. BUT I was induced so I wasn't drivng while in labor-I didn't drive home.

Who is more stubborn? Me for sure! Well now that I think about it, maybe it is that he just picks his battles because he can be pretty stubborn too but I just seem to show it more.

Who kissed who first? He did.

Who has more siblings? I have just one brother and he has this crazy mix of things going on. Trying to explain it to an outsider is confusing for that person.

Izzy the comedian

Izzy is just cracking me up today. We have only been up for about an hour and she has already had me laughing twice. The first one, I was trying to convince her to go and take a shower and was explaining that we had a lot to do......take a shower, make cookies, make Lasagna, and that Michelle, Aunt Teddy and Aunt Sandy were coming for lunch. She quickly replied "I want Uncle Car-wel". Not only did I find how she pronounced Carl funny, but I didn't know that she was as fond of him as she is. The second funny....she convinced me that we should make the cookies before we took a shower....they dough was done and I was scooping it onto the cookie sheet, she yells out "Mom you better hurry before Daddy eats those!". She knows her father oh too well. He is always sneaking (sometimes just taking) the dough off the sheet so that whoever is making the cookies has to keep putting another scoop on the same spot. I like regular chocolate chip cookie (with pecans) dough as much as the next person but I don't like the Monster Cookie Dough that I was making.

Our visitors

I was so excited all week. We had two different visitors on Friday. The first ones that I saw were some from friends from Paw Paw MI. Tammy with her daughter Abbie and son Cameron, and Billi Jo (who is also Tammy's sister) with her daughter Chasity (I am am sorry if I spelt that wrong Chas). These are really some of my favorite people in the whole world, I was so happy that I got to see them...even if it was for just a short time. I will also get to see them next week too. BJ and Chas are stopping by for lunch on Monday and the rest of the crew will be for cookies on Friday.

The next visitor didn't come for me, but I am still really happy about seeing her. Now that I think about it, neither did the first visitors. I have mentioned my cousin Michelle in previous blogs.....her mom Teddy (who is my aunt, just for those that don't know) came out and surprised to Michelle and Grandma! It was so fun. My Aunt Sandy has known about it for awhile and we all met at a restaurant to surprise Michelle-it was GREAT!!! Of course I forgot my camera but hopeful one of the more thoughtful people in the family that did will send me pics so that I can post them. It really was great-tears and all....

In a blog that Missy (another friend from MI) wrote she asked what peoples favorite things are....I don't think that I can be as on top of it as she is but I hope to post a few favoite every now and again.....I do know that on the top of that list would be friends and family!! I think right below that would have to be food....I love to eat. So of course when you have the opportuntiy to combine friends, family and food-I am so so so SO happy to do so. Any one feel like Red Lobster? I really need a crab fix.....in a bad way. Nothing like those pregnancy cravings...

Oh Happy Day, Happy Day

I just had my 16 week OB check up. For about the past two weeks I have been wanting and waiting to feel the baby move. With it being baby #4 I was starting to get kind of freaked out. I still haven't felt it. I was just waiting to hear the heartbeat just so I would know. My mind also keeps taking me back to the ultrasound that I had when I was 8 weeks along....I don't remember seeing legs. Kris assures me that there were nubs. I have these random thoughts that maybe I am not feeling the baby kick because it has no legs....I know that sound really weird, but I really do have a bunch of weird thought when I am preggy. The first thing the doc asked me today was "So have you been feeling the baby move?". He looked a little concerned when I told him "No" and he saw the look in the my eyes. Good News-strong heartbeat!!! Such a sense of relief. If the movement doesn't pick up he will begin to monitor things closer, with more ultrasounds and visits. I am trying to be okay with it, but I keep seeing $$$. Which of course is the grand sceme of things isn't the important thing.
People who know me keep teasing me....."Are you sure that there aren't two in there?". I am so big! The doc noticed it to, he did his measuring thing and sure enough I am measuring big-I don't know how big but really big was the phrase he used. I meant to ask how big, and to try and get a number but I was so wrapped up in the fact that I heard a strong heartbeat. My next visit is another ultrasound...and I can't wait to find out what it is! I promis to post it.

On a side note, we are have two groups of special visitors today. I am very excited to see both groups. I will have to fill you in on our visit on another blog....it is a surprise surprise type thing and I can't give it away yet.

Oh what a happy day!!

Random Random Random things

What is in a name?
Being pregnant I like to talk about names. It consumes me at times. With all three of the other kids I kept a name list inside of my pregnancy book that I would read. Every now and then I would read through it and cross some names off and then even add some names at other times. I am obsessed with baby names. Boy names are much harder for Kris and I to come up with. We had Elaine and the Drew which is really Andrew and after that we just decided that we might as well stick with names began with vowels. So we have A, E, and I the next one would be an O. It seems that an O name would really be much easier to come up with than a U name, don't you think? BUT O names are still really hard to come up with. I like Oliver, Kris hates it. I also like Olivia and it is a no-go for Kris too. One night he did come up with Olin. At first I liked it, but the more that I think of it the less that I like it. For some reason we seem to be concentrating on boy names (that is when Kris is gives into my name issues and is willing to talk about them). So I am once again on my name kick (only this time I don't have a list). I want to talk about names this time. I bring this up all time with Kris asking question or commenting about names that I like or don't like. He doesn't want to talk about it.....of course as you can guess for someone who is obsessed with names right now, it is driving me nuts. I have an ultrasound on June 5th. So Kris believes that we can start discussing names on the evening on June 5th, but that we will not seriously start the BIG debate until sometime in August. HUH? This is weird to me, knowing that we will only have a short time to decide these things makes my stomach turn. Another odd thought that I had....there really are so many other names that I think more than anything that starts with an O, but one night I had dream that we had a boy and didn't name him something that started with a vowel and he felt left out. Not only did he not have a vowel name, but he didn't come in the same pattern that other ones....they are all about 2 years apart. This one will be about 3 1/2 years behind Izzy. I know maybe it was one of those crazy pregy dreams. So if anyone has any name suggestions I would really love to hear them...... I am even thinking that we might not have to go with an O name. I really like Evan and it was one of my Grandfathers middle names.

Drew



Drew started baseball this week, and he is loving it...

This is Drew right before we headed to his first baseball practice.

Notice the pink glove-we couldn't find his so he had to use Elaine's....good thing they don't care at this age.




Drew loves any kind of sports. Basketball ended in March, and he loved that too. The funny thing about him and sports is that he get so excited about being able to participate in it that he ends up tripping himself up, it was great watching him try to learn to run and dribble at the same time.

Onto another Drew thing. He is in a special-ed type preschool, another thing that he seems to love. He started in April of 07. He gets to move onto to Kindergarten this coming fall. Part of the school program is that every Tuesday in April the kids from the preschool class that were moving onto Kindergarten got to go to visit and participate in the Kindergarten for the afternoon. He loved is first Tuesday, and when I went pick him up on the second day that he attended the teacher stopped to talk to me. Telling me that they did kindergarten math that day. When the preschoolers are in class they carry on just like the kindergarten class does every other day....the teacher explained how to do the math worksheet and Drew did it, no questions asked or anything. AND he was the first one done. The next time he went into Kindergarten the same thing happened, he loves math and has really taken to it. I guess he takes after Kris in this area. I am really excited for him...a wiz kid in math! It is such a big deal to me because at this time last year we were sitting around a table discussing his IEP (Individual Education Plan) with teachers, therapist, psychologist and other school staff and I asked if he would start kindergarten on time and they all looked at each other and then the psychologist look at me and said "You need to understand that is a significant delay". Leaving me to believe that he might never even be able to learn at the same level as other kids his age....WAY TO GO DREW!!!!





Izzy







One day when my cousin Michelle was staying with us and all of the other kids were in school Izzy wanted to dance and model. She was a crack up, twirling about and posing for Michelle to take pictures. I know that a few of you have seen these pics on Michelle's Myspace but I loved them and wanted to add them to the blog.

This picture just bring backs these little pains-she really is a girl and not a Tank. On one of the warm Sunday afternoons that we have had we let the kids out in the front yard to play. Izzy is our Tank, with this in might I really thought that there would be many skinned knees in her life, and that she would take it well. NOT SO. This is her first set of ever so slightly skinned knees. We ended up having to put wet paper towels on them-it was the only thing that she would have. She even walked around hunched over in order to hold them to her knees. At the end of day we came inside and we were all sitting in the living room and she fell asleep looking so sad......not the Tank that we thought she was.

Elaine

Elaines loves her cat Seven-Eight-Nine-Scardy Cat. He is a weird cat, but lovable. He will only sit on her lap or cuddle with her. If someone has a blanket he will lay onto of the blanket but only with her will he cuddle. I just realized that with Elaine being the only one that is in school all day long that I don't have as many pictures of her as I would like....I will have to get on that. The next picture was taken on Easter Sunday before church-she is trying to grow out her bangs. I still love the fact that she hasn't grown out of her elfish looks.

Final Random Thought I LOVE MY PAMPERED CHEF PANS!!!

I know that this is a really gross picture....but it does have a great point! Kris made Spaghetti-this was the sauce. Gross, I know but this is what it looked like after it sat on the stove all night with the stove still on...yes still on. On simmer, and the stove still being on is another story. The sauce was really good before this happened, which is why there is only this much left of it. So to my point......when I lifted the spatula out of the pan most everything came out.....the pan almost looked clean. Not much scrubbing to do or anything......it was worthy every fat penny that I paid for it!!!