NOOOOoooooOOOOOO!!!

*gasp* i just got a phone call that just thrilled me to no end. in that phone call i was informed that someone in noemi's primary class on sunday has LICE! i don't know how close contact noemi had with them...but this is something i was hoping to NOT have to deal with. i have NO idea what to do, what to look for, how long it may take to be evident or ANYTHING. last time i had it was when i was in kindergarten or first grade and i had my hair cut boyishly short...people don't still do that do they??

if anyone has had experience or knows anyone who has...PLEASE let me know! i need all the information i can get...what are some preventative measures?? ANYTHING!

grr...my head hasn't stopped itching SINCE that call!

tis the season!

ok, so this christmas is particularly exciting this year (at least in my opinion)for our family. every year since troy and i have been married we have to pack up everything and head over to family's houses...depending on the year. don't get me wrong- i LOVE spending time with family especially during the holidays! i just have never enjoyed the whole prospect of having to pack kids, clothes, bedding and other travel essentials ALONG with presents especially ones that have to stay hidden...making sure certain things don't get squished or damaged in some way. and then UNpacking once we are at our destination and trying to keep things hidden in small quarters away from a bunch of eager and curious children's eyes. so THIS year we are actually staying home until christmas morning! it is time that we get to start our own traditions and such for our own growing family. i can't wait to have the kids wake up in their own beds and head out to the tree to see what santa had left! ahhhh...memories of childhood!

so...my question to you all is: what are some of your christmas traditions??

i want this time of the year to be enjoyable for our family and i want my kids to be able to look forward to more than just presents, music and decorations!

*Gobble Gobble*

we spent thanksgiving down in the valley with my family this year. it was an enjoyable time for us. i really love spending time with my family. while we were down there my sister amy had our brother-in-law, james, take some pictures for her senior pictures...i'll see if i can get some of those to show her off. BUT while she was getting HER pics taken, we took advantage of the fact and got james to take a family pic for us too! THANKS JAMES! you are fabulous! hey, he actually was the one who took our engagemet pictures too!




after that the girls had fun with some of her cousins and the ducks at Freestone Park.

i'm BAAAAACK!

sorry it has been so long since my last post! we have been quite busy! unfortunately, i cannot remember all that has gone on, but i'll do my best at hitting some of what has....

well, for those who don't know, we are in the process to become certified to be foster parents. we are almost through our training classes and we had our first home visit a few weeks ago. it was basically just a "getting to know you in your own element", but it sure lit a fire under me to get the house clean...except for those few problem, project areas..*cough*backroom*cough*office*cough* but they will be done before we are certified. i have also started babysitting again...just my neighbor, though. what a HUGE answer to prayers! there are gonna be some things we need to get before we get any foster children and i wasn't sure how we were gonna pay for it...like mattresses and bedding...necessities and such, but now we can get things bit by bit.

we have also have been working on potty training! and it is about time! bekah has been SOOOOooooOOOO resistant and it is nice that she is almost there. if it weren't for her fear about going #2...she'd be there EVEN at NIGHT!


other than that we have just been hangin' out, enjoying each other. hmmm...and maybe a book or two...yumm??!

quote of the day...

(as i was kissing my daughter goodnight)
Noemi: why are you cleaning the kitchen?? did daddy tell you too??

NICE! i DO clean i promise!

...oh cookie cookie cookie starts with C!

I miss scategories! I wanna play!! My sister sent forwarded this to me so who else want’s to play??

• Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...
• You must use real places, names, things...nothing made up!
Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

What is Your Name? Christina

4 Letter Word: crap
Vehicle: chevy cavalier
TV Show: CSI
Boy Name: Chad…I just saw an altell commercial
Girl Name: Clairese *spoken in the creepy Anthony Hopkins voice*
Drink: cream soda
Occupation: carpenter
Something You Wear: cardigan
Celebrity: Cesar Millan
Food: Chinese cuisine
Found in a Bathroom: cologne
Reason for Being Late: car collision
Cartoon Character: Charlie Brown
Something You Shout: COME ON…DRIVE YOUR CAR!!...um, yeah I’m a vocal driver :)

inspiration FROM inspiration??!

thank you heather for inspiring casey to clean her stove and post it her blog!! you BOTH have inspired ME!! my husband and stove thank you!! and who says i don't get anything done when i'm on the computer!! LOL!

now i challenge everyone who reads this to CLEAN YOUR STOVE!! :) and then leave a comment on my page so we can all see how many clean stoves we have inspired! VIVA CLEAN STOVES!!

hmm...i wonder what can we do about toilets now??? LOL

*pout* what if i don't wanna play?!

OKAY! amy tagged me. so i'll go ahead and do it...

JOBS I'VE HAD
1. daycare provider
2. book keeper
3. pharmacy tech
4. courtesy clerk at safeway...yay
(those are just since i have been married)

LOL and YES amy i do remember our telemarketing venture...I of course endured much longer...i actually liked it! am i sick or what??!

PLACES I'VE LIVED
1. Chino Valley, AZ
2. Prescott, AZ
3. Mesa, AZ

FOOD I LOVE
1. Tony Roma's ribs with the carolina honeys sauce...thank you troy, for that! you have ruined me for other ribs!
2. seafood
3. italian
4. chinese (but no flaming wok please *erp*)
5. ICECREAM!!!!!

WEBSITES I VISIT
hmmm...there really isn't much i really consistently go to...
1. my friends blogs! i LOVE being able to peek in on them...especially of the friends that i haven't seen in ages!
2. blogspot (LOL so i can work on my blog)
3. msn weather
4. ebay (just for funny)
5. lds.org

PLACES I'D RATHER BE
1. on the way to somewhere fun with my husband and girls
2. in a nice hot bubble bath with a fabulous book ...i have to clean my bathtub first *grumble*
3. in a sparkling clean home with a closet full of fabulous clothes all for me that actually FIT!

MOVIES I LOVE
1. Phantom of the Opera
2. Ever After
3. gone in 60 seconds ...what can i say, i apparently DO like pretty cars :)
4. all the "classics" from my childhood YAY charlie brown
hmm...there are SOO many i'll leave the list at that

SHOWS I WATCH
1. heroes (although this season isn't the same...the 1st was much better)
2. law and order svu
3. csi
4. survivor
5. csi miami...i LOVE to watch it to mock it! can we say hero complex??
(the first 4 are the ones that i eagerly await each week)


okay now i am not playing any more! *sits down with arms folded* i refuse to tag anyone! and you can't make me! *grin*

a weekend of firsts!

we had fun this weekend! on friday, samantha turned 6 months! YAY! i hadn't started her on solids yet and wanted troy to be here when i did, so saturday got to be the big day! ...even if daddy ended up taking a test online for one of his classes when the big first happened. :)

that afternoon we went SHOPPING! we love it when we ALL get to go! since this year is going to be our FIRST christmas at home, we thought it would be a good time to get our first full sized christmas tree...most likely it will be artificial. we took the opportunity to look at the trees that are actually out and on display in some stores to see what we like. *sigh* i don't know if we will EVER agree on what we both like! we also encouraged the girls to think of what they would like for christmas as we walked purposely through the toys, pricing what ideas we already had and getting other ideas. we had one specific purpose for one of the stores we went to: noemi and bekah got their first full sized standard pillows! they are so excited by them! they were using little half sized travel pillows before. they love their little pillows but they were getting old. they will still be perfect for taking on trips,though, so they didn't have to say goodbye to them.


when we got home we cleaned up the house and got ready for our friends darrell and dodie to come over for dinner. we had so much fun and after dinner all of us 'grown ups' played a fun card game that we have had for about 6 months (or has it been over a year?) that we hadn't played yet. it was a riot and darrell and dodie got to see a slightly competitive side that not many have seen. (i really wasn't that competitive...that's only when i play risk!) we ended up calling it good without finishing the game because how long it was going and we all had teaching obligations for church in the morning.

*sigh* i love the weekend when we get to hang out as a family! our girls love their daddy and miss him during the week...between work, school, and church they don't get to see as much of him. it's worth it though, school will be done soon enough and i am glad that troy is going and furthering his education. i love you honey! i know it is hard, but thank you for all your hard work! what a wonderful family i have!!

STILL??!

*smile* ah! i just read my last post about our septic woes. silly me, i was so sure it would be taken care of the next day! hahahaha!! that was SO not what happened. so, ya, tuesday late afternoon showed the first symptoms of a problem which rendered me stinky and unable to shower. i bet i was SUPER appealing when troy got home! LOL
i called our septic maintenance company of choice, and all was set for wednesday morning. i waited eagerly so i could shower and do more laundry so my husband had clean clothes to wear on thursday. UNFORTUNATELY, troy told me that they won't be able to come because the treatment plant wasn't functioning...what? they didn't want a truck full of sewage in their truck all day?? wimps! :) but they came out to help us locate our septic so we could dig it up and not have to fork out MORE $$ for them to do it. we rented a bobcat to help us do the job...29 inches down is a LOT to dig out by hand in our cement-like clay/dirt. i snickered at the bobcat! it looked SO funny as compared to the backhoes we've used in our yard...like it was a child's version! ANYWAY, back they come first thing thursday morning to get the job done. he opened up the septic and found that the problem was a clogged filter...they have filters in septic systems?? and the septic could probably go for another 1 to 3 years before pumping. well it's already uncovered, so to save us the impending hassle for NEXT time, we told him to go ahead and still pump. so he gets ready to start pumping and what else should go wrong...HIS TRUCK BROKE! AAAARRRGH! ever feel like the forces of the universe are against you?! (or how ever the phrase goes) but the filter was cleaned and the septic was usable...just stinkily uncovered...sorry neighbors! so finally FRIDAY he was back with a DIFFERENT truck and pumped it...THE END! FINALLY!

Water, anyone??

Aaaaaaaah the joys of life!! It’s AMAZING the everyday things you take for granted. For instance: you all know how hard life is when you don’t have water…but have you really thought about where it goes when it goes down the drain? In our situation, it’s the septic tank. Yep, you guessed it! We get to experience life like we almost don’t have one. I rudely found out yesterday afternoon that our septic was VERY unhappy with it’s current functioning condition. I had been doing some household cleaning and some laundry and it had started getting late in the afternoon and I hadn’t yet showered because I had scrubbed the shower floor and wanted to leave the cleaner on as long as possible to disinfect it. So when I got around to showering I rinsed the floor REALLY well and hopped in. I was JUST about to grab the shampoo when I heard the toilet making a strange glugging noise. And just then the shower started filling up with water THROUGH the drain. NOOOOOO! And I JUST cleaned it. 

It turns out our septic needs pumping. It may just be a partial clog…but it’s time for a pumping anyway…what a way to burn $300! The GOOD thing is, once the water went back down we still have partial usage…we can still use the toilet and wash our hands but much more than that gets scary. So no laundry, showers, or dishes until TOMORROW! Thank goodness for friends nearby with showers and laundry rooms!

Here’s to the little things in life!

TIME...*sung as hootie andthe blowfish's song*

wow! does time fly!! i just downloaded a bunch of pictures from my camera that have been WAITING there for some time. i got caught up looking at the other pictures on our computer and it really hit me how much has happened in just this last year! there have been two weddings of my siblings, 4 babies born (counting both troy's and my family) (also including our own addition), noemi started kindergarten and troy started up classes again too, we bought an SUV, sold our little sedan *i miss the gas milage*, siblings moving away from home...and SOOOoooOOO much more!

even the past 6 months have flown by!! i can't believe daughter #3 is gonna be 6 months old THIS WEEK! didn't we just bring her home from the hospital a few weeks ago??


hmmm! i guess not! cute little thang!!

here it is!

hey! it is HERE!! here is my family blog! now i can keep you all updated on all that is excitingin our little Pettit world! YAAAAAAAY! i hope you enjoy!!