Mommy's Lost Her Mind

The marriage thing

2012-01-30T08:20:00.000-06:00

This weekend my husband and I had a fight. I'm sure you're thinking 'big deal, all husbands and wives fight', but for me it kind of is a big deal. We've been married for twelve years now and I can probably count on one hand the number of times we've had a fight. Oh, and just to clarify, by fight I mean argument. Nothing physical. It was kind of a dumb argument in retrospect, but at the time it didn't feel like it.

As most of you know the past several months I've been watching what I eat and exercising regularly so I can get in shape. Well my husband has been doing the same thing to an extent. For him it's mostly been cutting back on what he eats, he rarely exercises. Apparently he's lost a few pounds and guess what? I didn't notice. Basically he fussed at me because I don't pay him enough attention and I got mad because he was being mean. I know, we sound like a couple of two year olds right?
Afterwards I was thinking about it and came to the conclusion that umm, he's probably right. When it comes to my kids I notice everything. If they get a bruise or scratch I notice. If they come home from school with a stain on their shirt or with their hair messed up I notice. If they don't eat all of their breakfast I notice. However with my husband unless it's a huge thing I don't notice. I kind of want to blame it on being a mom and just not having the time or attention span after dealing with my kids, but really for me that's a cop out. I'm just being lazy.
So I'm going to try to make more of an effort to be attentive. Because when you think about it if I don't pay attention to him then he could always turn around and do the same thing to me and I definitely don't want that. Do any of you have this same issue? If so how have you dealt with it?

Star infatuation

2012-01-26T08:11:00.000-06:00

About a year or so ago I bought the girls this little boy doll from the North American Bear company. They were all three delighted because up until this point they had never had a boy doll. They named him Jack. Cute, isn't he?

Whenever they are playing dolls it never fails Jack is the mischievous one that everything gets blamed on.

Which brings me to today's post. Last year when the song "On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull came out Sophie fell in love. She sang the song constantly and even told me that she couldn't wait to start kindergarten because she wanted to make friends with a boy so he could sing Pitbull's part of the song. Can you just imagine the eye rolling I'm doing here? I thought her 'love' would be short lived but as usual I was wrong. We were in Target once and she started yelling, "Mom, look it's Pitbull!" Naturally everyone started staring at us, but yet she insisted that he was in our Target and she would prove it to me by showing him to me. Oookkkaaayyy. So we walk around the corner and there he is. The man that was most definitely NOT Pitbull. She saw him and said, "There he...oh, wait that's not him." I then explained to her that not all bald, dark complected men were Pitbull which in turn got me an eye roll and a big 'duh'. Then a few weeks ago the girls were dancing and Sophie did a handstand while leaning against the bed and spun herself around. She was so proud of herself and said, "Look mom, this is so cool. When I grow up I'm gonna be in a Pitbull video." What can I say? The girls got big dreams.

I haven't heard much talk about her fantasy boyfriend lately so I thought maybe she had moved on. Until last night. I was reading to the girls at bedtime when I noticed that Jack was in the doll crib smack in the middle of all the other dolls. I asked Sophie what the deal was and her response. "Oh, that's Jack-bull and all his girlfriends."

If this is what age six is like I am really scared to see what the teenage years are going to be like.

Note to self

2012-01-25T12:28:00.001-06:00

Because I'm getting to the point in my life where I need to remind myself of these things.

Never clean the kitchen with bleach when wearing a black shirt. Especially your new, most favorite in the world black shirt.
Layers are never a good idea. Also, if you find a good hairdresser stick with him/her.
Do not send husband to the store for more than two items at a time. Why? Because for every item you send him after he will call you at least twice to ask about said item. E.g- Hi honey, what size box of cheerios did you want me to buy? The big box? Okay talk to you later. Three seconds later.... Hi honey, me again. What is a good price on cheerios? Okay talk to you later. Two seconds later.... Hi honey, do you think I should go to Walmart for the cheerios or do you think they're cheaper at Target?
Items only cook in the oven if you remember to turn it on first.
Wearing a v neck tee while riding your bike=epic fail. Unless you're the pervy old guy out walking your dog that gets to watch said bike rider, in that case you're golden.
If your child forgets to take something to school it is automatically your fault. Doesn't matter if you were never told that the child needed to bring the item. It is still your fault.
Walmart is never a good idea for someone with anxiety. Ever.
Never, ever complain about any kind of noun (person, place or thing) on facebook. No matter how small your friends list is someones cousins, brothers, dogs girlfriend is going to find out and be offended.
And last but not least when you are already really, really getting burned out with volunteering never, ever open your mouth and say, "Oh, just call me anytime." Because guess what? They will.

Sometimes homemade really is best

2012-01-17T09:24:00.000-06:00

Every year at Christmas my mom tends to go overboard on the gift buying. I mean really overboard. For years I've been telling her to scale back and she just ignores me. Usually when we leave my parents house my kids come away with more gifts than they had under the tree at home. Well now that she and my dad are retired and money is tight she finally listened to me (parents can be so hard headed can't they?).
Unlike me my mom tends to have a little bit of talent when it comes to making things so I asked her if instead of buying the kids a bunch of stuff if she would make them some things. She never really gave me an answer so I thought that once again she was ignoring me. She proved me wrong. Not only did she make the kids things for Christmas, but she also made some things for Sophie and Kylie's birthdays. Since I always share my diy/crafting disasters I thought I would share some of my moms success'.
For Sophie's birthday she made a doll crib. I'm not positive, but I think she got the plans from Ana White. This thing is really heavy and solid so I don't have to worry about the kids overloading it and it breaking.

For Christmas she made the girls a ton of doll clothes and this little rack to hang them on.

The little containers on the bottom are from Targets dollar spot and hold shoes, socks, etc. On the ends are hooks for doll back packs, purses, hats, etc. The rack currently has two boxes (24ct.) of hangers from American girl and some from pottery barn kids and could probably hold a few more. She also made a doll bed and bedding. The bedding plans are from Ana White and the bedding she made from a duvet cover from Bombay kids that I bought to make stuff for Kylie's room (but obviously never did).

Now that I'm looking at the picture it's driving me crazy that the bedding is so crooked. Ugh. She also made Kylie a bolster for her bed with the left over fabric.

Audrey's birthday is coming up in March and I'm already thinking up a wish list to give her!

Parental faux pas we should all try to avoid

2012-01-12T14:53:00.000-06:00

Earlier today I went to the kids school for their honors program (don't worry this isn't going to be a brag post). I'm at the school a good bit in a volunteer capacity, but I have to say every single time I go to one of the programs I always leave shaking my head. Not because of the kids mind you, but because of some of the parents. It truly never fails to amaze me what is considered acceptable dress and behaviour by some people. Believe me if you're a parent then your kid is most likely already embarrassed by your mere presence, you really don't need to add to it. So please allow me to present my own personal list of do's and don'ts:

Take a shower before you show up at your childs school. Please. I understand if you have a very physical job and you took some time off to run up to the school to see your kid and can't help that you have a bit of body odor. However, if you are a mom that stays at home with no younger children to chase after then it kind of becomes unacceptable.
When the teacher asks for parents to hold their applause until all the childrens names have been called out that generally includes other noises as well. Wolf whistles and screaming "All right Jessie!" are kind of annoying.
Midriff tops are not really appropriate for elementary school. If I want to see a puffy, pale belly covered in stretch marks I'll just look in the mirror as I'm getting dressed. Trust me I don't need to see yours.
If you have a tattoo that you think might embarrass your kid then consider covering it up. I'm sure when you got Big Boob Betty tattooed on your forearm it probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but your first grade daughter might disagree when all her friends are giggling about it.
Your sweatpants and flip flops look about as good in January as your daisy dukes and uggs did back in August.
If you are coughing up a lung you have my sympathy, but please cover your mouth. Or at least don't sit by me. I really don't want your tuberculosis I promise.
If you walk by me and I can still smell your perfume or cologne when you are on the other side of the gym then that might be a sign that you are wearing too much.
When you get up to take little precious' picture please be considerate of those you are standing in front of. I really don't enjoy having your butt 1/2 an inch from my face. Also, I would kind of like to get a picture of my own child.
If you are sitting next to me and your best friend is on my other side and you want to talk during the program ask me to change seats with one of you. Having you talk over me is just kind of rude.
If you can't turn your cell phone off at least put it on silent. Sure your ring tone is cute, but it gets kind of old after awhile.

The ugliest doll in the world

2012-01-10T08:07:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I bought Audrey a new book series called Frankly Frannie. Apparently there is some mention in the books about a character making sock dolls and selling them. So Audrey of course decided that she just had to make a sock doll. I didn't even know what a sock doll was, but the Frankly Frannie website was kind enough (insert sarcasm right here) as to post a link to a site that shows you how to make one. I took a peek at the site and begged her to just let me buy her a doll. Nope, she wanted to make one herself. Great. I told her we would try to make one, but not to get her hopes up too much. She and Sophie both ran to their room and grabbed a huge handful of socks. Not even cute socks, but stained up, grubby socks with lots of pilling on them. I cut the first piece just as the directions stated and told them to fill it with stuffing which they did and then I sewed it up. Hmm, not too hard I thought. Then came the arms. Again, I followed the directions to a T. That's odd I thought, why are the arms so out of proportion? Then came the legs. By this time the girls and I were about to cry we were laughing so hard at how dumb these 'dolls' looked. I didn't even bother with the hair or face at this point. I just told the girls to finish it up themselves. And they did. With creepy results.

Yep, we've got some mad craft making skills in this house.

Turning ten

2012-01-09T08:13:00.000-06:00

This weekend marked a huge milestone in our home.

Kylie turned ten.

Her actual birthday was on Saturday and she requested that I take her to her favorite restaurant. I told the waiter that it was her birthday so he and the other wait staff brought out a dessert for her and sang. And then much to her shock put a spoonful of whipped cream on her face. The look on her face was priceless.

Afterward we went and shopped a little (I might or might not have bought myself a little sumthin-sumthin). Since my husband works Saturdays we waited until Sunday to do the whole cake/ice cream/presents thing.

Kylie has the little stuffed dog Coconut from American girl and she just adores it so naturally that was what she wanted on her cake.


Cake made by granny

Since she didn't ask for anything for her birthday I was a little stumped on what to get her. Judging by the look on her face I think I might have done okay.

Afterwards we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with new toys and then went bike riding through the neighborhood.

I think year ten is going to be a great one.

I'm having a party

2012-01-05T07:58:00.000-06:00

Hey guys! Just wanted to let all of you know that I have finally decided to host a scentsy party. Normally I try to run as fast as I can when I hear about home parties of any kind, but scentsy is a product I love to buy anyway so I thought I would give it a go. If any of you are interested in placing an order just click on the link for Lana's party to shop and I would greatly appreciate it.

If you don't know what scentsy is, it is a safe, wickless alternative to candles. It comes in cubes that you warm in an electric warmer and makes your house smell fabulous. The great thing about the warmers is that they are different from many of the traditional electric tart warmers in that they use a light bulb to slowly warm the wax. Using the light bulb to heat causes it to heat evenly and at a safer temperature. If you have any questions or want to know more just leave a comment or email me at lana_h16@yahoo.com. Thanks!

The fastest two weeks ever

2012-01-03T13:24:00.000-06:00

My children like most other school age children in the U.S returned to school today. Being the schedule oriented, neat freak I am I kind of thought I would be happy to see them off this morning.

Prior to today I had fantasies of a nice clean house, no arguing, and no requests for chocolate milk every ten minutes.

I even entertained the notion of going shopping on my own and perhaps eating lunch somewhere that doesn't offer cheap toys with your meal.

So can someone tell me why on earth I'm sitting here about to cry because I miss them so much!?! God, I'm a sap.

Strange things are going on around here

2011-12-30T11:07:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday. Ours was great, but so incredibly busy. It seems like everytime I sat down to start blogging about some of the fun activities we did it was time to go do something else. Things are finally starting to settle down a bit so I'm hoping to ease back into my old routine again. Fingers crossed.
Anyway, a few months ago I posted about my kids ghost hunting expedition. I thought their little exploit was kind of funny, but I swear I'm beginning to wonder if the little monkeys may have been onto something. We've had a few odd incidents around here lately that have me scratching my head.
First we have the missing items. We've always had things go missing around here, I think that's pretty common in most families. Lately though it's just been happening at an insane rate. I'm one of those 'a place for everything, everything in it's place' type people so it's been killing me. This has been annoying, but not too terribly freaky.
Weird thing number two though? Yeah, it's freaky. The kids all got simple point and shoot cameras for Christmas. Like most kids they have been taking pictures of random, weird stuff. I was looking at Kylie's pictures and ran across this one:

A picture of the kids coats, big deal right? Uh, yeah it kind of is. These are the kids coats from last year and are not the ones Kylie took a picture of. The one on the far left is Kylie's and is hanging in the back of her closet. The two smaller ones on the right are folded up on a shelf in the laundry room waiting for me to donate them. Now, how did they end up in the picture? I know the kids didn't switch them out because I was in the room when the picture was taken! This is a picture that I took of the coats that are hanging up right now:

Obviously they are completely different. Oh, and just for the heck of it here's a picture I found on my blog of the old coats (no clue why I had a picture of them) from last year:

See how the coats are in the exact same position? These were taken months apart and with different cameras by different people. FREAKY!

And for weird happening number three. I finally got a new cell phone. Nothing fancy (I promise I'm probably still a good 5-10 years behind you guys on electronics). Last night I was sitting in bed reading a book and Sophie crawled into bed next to me, everyone else in the house was in their bed asleep. I heard a noise and Sophie turned to me and said, "mom, your phone is ringing. Before I got to it, it stopped and then started ringing again. When I got it out of my purse it had already quit ringing so I checked to see who called. Umm, the number both times was (cue twilight music) from my house! Seriously the freakiest thing ever! So there you have it. Weird things going on aplenty.

Six

2011-12-23T00:39:00.000-06:00

Today my baby is six years old. Where on earth has the time gone?

The 100 workout- a small update

2011-12-16T08:15:00.000-06:00

Back in August I posted about the 100 workout. I was wanting to get into shape and this little exercise plan seemed to come along at just the right time. In case you don't know what the 100 workout is, it's basically a calisthenics plan.

Looks pretty easy right? Umm, not so much. I can't speak for everyone, but I have to say it kicked my butt. The first time I did it I accidentally left out the second set of 60 jumping jacks and almost cried when I realized it. I was out of breath and honestly thought I was going to die. I did change the plan up a bit. Instead of running I ride my bike. I tried running a few years ago and developed a knee inflammation that took me months to get over so I'm a little scared of running now. Hopefully if I lose some more weight I'll get up the courage to give it another go and we'll see what a difference it makes.
Now for the question I'm sure is on your mind, how much weight have I lost? The answer is I have no idea. Sorry. I was weighing myself diligently, but then in September I had a few medical scares and when I went to the doctor and was weighed I was very upset to find that I weighed a full ten pounds more on their scales than I did on mine. I came home and threw mine away. However, I did weigh myself a few weeks ago and at that time I had lost about 16 pounds. I have gone down at least one size in my jeans and in all honesty I think I'm ready to go down one more size. As far as how I feel? Much, much better. I'm also trying to be careful with how I eat. As I mentioned earlier I had some medical issues come up and it kind of opened my eyes to some things. One of them being my diet. I'm not a big junk food eater, but after talking to some friends I realized that some of the foods that I ate that I thought were okay, were really not good for me. I started to read labels and was shocked at some of the things I found. Before if I happened to glance at a label it was to check the calorie content, but now I'm looking at the sodium content, carbs, and fat. I've also recently begun drinking water. I've always really, really hated water so this is a biggie for me. I'm kind of cheating a little in that I am adding some flavor to it in the form of crystal light, but hey it helps. One thing I am not doing however is dieting. Someone recently gave me a diet plan that they are using and I took one look at it and knew that it wouldn't work for me. For one all of my favorite foods were banned from it and two, I know that I might lose a lot of weight with it, but then once I'm off the diet it will all come back.
I was thinking of adding some pictures of myself to show the difference in my weight, but I'm really not ready for it. I go back to the doctor in March and I'm thinking that when I go I'll have an accurate weight (hopefully far less than last time!) and I'll try to get some pictures to share then. Other than the change in clothing size it's been kind of hard for me to tell a difference. My husband recently snapped a few pictures of me with the girls while I wasn't aware and when he showed them to me I could really tell that I looked different. So there you have it. I'm nowhere near supermodel size and I never will be, but the plan is making a difference and I'm going to keep it up and try to update every so often. So have any of you tried the 100 workout? If so how are you coming along with it?

Let the insanity begin!

2011-12-05T09:20:00.000-06:00

Well as you all know by now it's December which means the holiday season is officially here. In other words; chaos and insanity. This past weekend was so busy I nearly wept when I woke up and realized that today was Monday and I did not have anything I had to do or anywhere I had to be. Sure, my house needs to be cleaned and I'm sure if I thought about it (trust me, I won't) then I could think of a few errands that I need to run, but for the most part today brings pure bliss in the form of doing nothing other than recovering from a loooong (but fun) weekend.
On Friday I chaperoned a field trip with Audrey's class. We had a nice picnic at the park and then went to the theater and see the play A Christmas Carol. The play was really nice, but I have to say I was completely exhausted by the time we got back to school. I honestly do not see how teachers can deal with the constant talking day in and day out. The kids were wonderful, but oh my goodness, can they talk a lot! Then after I picked the kids up from school they had just enough to time to change and get ready to head downtown for the North Pole Stroll.
This was kind of a big deal for us for several reasons. One, we've never been. Two I was driving. The driving thing may not seem like a big deal to most but for me, it was a huge thing. I do not drive at night unless I absolutely have to. I don't see well and it makes me extremely nervous. I also do not drive downtown unless I have to. There are lots of one way streets and trying to find parking makes me a nervous wreck. However I was bound and determined that I was going to do this for my kids and I did. The first thing we did when we got there was write letters to santa.

Then we went to the exploreum. They've been having an exhibit on Australia so they had an Australian themed Christmas complete with a surfer santa! My kids of course refused to take pictures with 'that weirdo in a santa suit'. Audrey and Sophie did however get their face painted with an Aborigine sign. Sign of what I have no idea, but they thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Then we were off to see the snow. That's right, snow. In south Alabama.

I didn't claim it was real snow. After playing in the snow we came across this gorgeous Christmas tree and I thought I would get a nice picture of the kids in front of it.

Awesome isn't it? Something tells me it won't be making the cut for Christmas cards this year.
On Saturday we didn't have too much planned. We met up with my parents for a Christmas parade. It was awesome. You know how at the end of most Christmas parades the final float has Santa claus on it? This community decided to end theirs with a van from the jail pulling a flatbed of inmates on it. Sadly I didn't snap a picture to share.
Sunday we went to the Shriners Christmas party. The kids were excited because they had a little parade and they got to see Santa Claus. This year the Shriners did things a little differently and had drawings for door prizes at the end of the party. My family never, ever wins anything so imagine our surprise when right as we were getting ready to leave we heard Sophie's name called. She won a humongous bicycle.

It cracks me up because the thing is huge and she is so proud of it. I told her I would try to find her some pink streamers to girl it up a bit. After running home to drop off the bike we took the kids to Bellingrath Gardens to see the Christmas in lights exhibit. I'm not sure why I always insist on taking tons of pictures since they never come out well, but I do.

little drummer girl

copycat has to do everything her sisters do

All in all we had a fantastic weekend, but I have to admit I'm kind of glad to have it behind me. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Christmas lists

2011-12-01T10:14:00.000-06:00

Like most parents every year I ask my kids what they want for Christmas. For some kids this might seem like an awesome opportunity to list every toy they've ever seen on television and in the stores. Not mine. Trying to get a list out of them is like pulling teeth. I do good to get them to give me two, maybe three things. For example I asked Audrey what she wanted and after much deliberation she finally told me she would like the American girl dog Sugar and her rain gear.

I asked Sophie what she wanted and surprise, surprise she told me she wanted a ginormous Hello Kitty stuffed animal.

With Kylie I was a bit luckier I suppose. She asked for two things. A Moshi monsters ds game and a Moshi monster Iggy plush. Please don't ask me what a moshi monster is because I have no idea.

Now most of this was easy peasy. I bought everything ages ago, but that stupid plush thing Kylie asked for has been sold out everywhere. Trust me, I mean everywhere. I finally found out that the Moshi Monsters game originates from the U.K so I searched online stores in the U.K. No luck. Every single one was sold out of it. I tried Australia. Nope. Finally as luck would have it someone on Amazon had one and I snagged it. For twice the retail price. Because you know I'm a sucker when it comes to doing things for my kids.
Do your kids make Christmas lists too? If so did they put anything super hard to find on it? Anything that you would really, really rather they not have?

Turkey in disguise

2011-11-22T10:00:00.000-06:00

Every year the kindergarten classes at my childrens school have a 'turkey in disguise' project. Basically they teacher gives the kids a picture of a turkey that they have to cut out and then disguise so that no one will know it's a turkey and eat it for Thanksgiving. They hang them up along the walls throughout the school and the parents can see them when they come to school for Thanksgiving dinner. I remember one of my kids decorated their turkey as a doctor and yet another one decorated theirs as Santa Claus. When Sophie brought home hers to decorate I just knew she was going to decorate hers as Hello Kitty. I was wrong.

I don't think you can even begin to imagine my surprise when she told me her turkey was going as a bottle of soap. When I asked her how she came up with that idea she informed me that the turkeys neck and head reminded her of the pump on the bottle of soap. Go figure.

My how things have changed.

2011-11-13T17:00:00.000-06:00

When I first became a mom one of the things I was most excited about was all of the clothes shopping that I had to look forward to. Shallow yes, but true. I was one of those moms that would not walk out the door unless my kids looked just so. When Kylie was young I was all about the smocked dresses, bonnets, bows, monograms and other stuff that you generally had to go to a boutique to buy.

Then when Audrey came along we stuck with the smocked stuff for awhile, but then moved on to more casual things like Baby Lulu, Mini Boden, Gap and Gymboree.

I have to say this was actually a little bit of a relief for my husband because it was a bit cheaper. Of course I was never happy with just a dress or top, we had to have the whole enchilada. Socks, bows, purses, shoes and even underwear had to match. Then when Sophie entered the picture it was three times the fun. I loved it because I could dress all of the girls in matching or coordinating outfits. It actually became dare I say a bit of an obsession?


Yes, that is a cast on my two year old daughters leg.

Recently however, I have been feeling a bit sad. The girls have long since stopped wanting to wear matching clothes and not only that they have gone and *gasp* developed their own taste in clothing! Sophie thinks that everyday should be Hello Kitty day, Audrey only wants purple, lavender or lilac, and Kylie? Oh my goodness. Kylie makes me the saddest. She only wants to wear the same two or three outfits. Over and over again. Today I realized just how far we've come with the clothes thing when Audrey asked to wear this outfit to Target:

Yes, that is her Dorothy costume from two years ago complete with Toto in a basket. Did we get a few stares? Probably, but you know what? My seven year old thanked me for letting her wear it and smiled the entire time so it was definitely worth it.

We've got spirit!

2011-11-12T18:32:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again! Yes, college basketball season has begun and I am now one happy mama!

Unfortunately Sophie outgrew her cheerleading outfit (Kylie and Audrey look like they have too, lol), but she decided to improvise with her own little blue devil ensemble.

Even the dolls are Duke fans around here.

TGIF?

2011-11-11T11:39:00.000-06:00

To say that this week has not been good would be an understatement. Actually to say that the past few months have not been good would probably be more accurate, but I'm not even going to attempt to go into all of that. I was really looking forward to today because the girls are out of school and I thought we could just hang out at home and relax. Well we are hanging out at home, but relaxing? Not so much. First I've had to fight my youngest angel over these:

Yes, Sophie has pneumonia. Since she adamantly refuses to take liquid medicine this is what we get. Last time she had it she opted to go to the doctors office everyday and get a shot, but since she is in school now it's really not an option. I have to crush these humongous horse pills up and mix them with some pudding. And she does fight me on it every step of the way. Luckily I only have 7 more days of this. After the morning round of fighting over medicine I got to deal with this:

That my friends would be my bathroom floor sporting a coat of mint colored nail polish. Nich eh? And all of this before noon. How lucky can a mom get?

To catch a ghost

2011-11-01T08:11:00.000-05:00

About a week or so ago Audrey was sitting next to me while I was checking my email. I subscribe to emails from pixel of ink to get a heads up on free/bargain kindle books and I had just opened an email they sent me and saw a book on it called '101 ways to catch a ghost'. Non-fiction of course. I started laughing and Audrey wanted to know what was so funny and naturally when I told her she begged me to download the book. Since it was free I did. She then proceeded to ask me everyday if we could read the book because she needed to catch a ghost. Things have been so hectic around here that I honestly have not had the time so this weekend when she asked me I just gave her my kindle and told her to have at it.
A little while later she, Sophie and Kylie came in the room and asked for a flashlight. Then a few minutes later they came back and informed me and my husband that we needed to be very quiet because they were ghost hunting and they wanted to be able to hear the ghosts. About twenty minutes later they informed us that we did in fact have a ghost. Nice. I pretty much forgot all about their little escapade until I was cleaning up this morning and ran across Audrey's notebook. She writes jokes and draws pictures in it and I was flipping through it as I was taking it to her room admiring her great pictures (her art skills are obviously a recessive gene) when I ran across a something that she had written. It would seem that she took notes while ghost hunting and I thought I would share in case any of you might be worried that you too have a ghost.

6:31 pm-We were in the bathroom hunting for ghosts this evening. We looked in the shower and the cord of the shower (I'm assuming she meant on the shower head since it's one of those that you can take down and use as a handheld) itself was moving! When Kylie touched it it was cold. BEWARE! OMG! Now there's a light. A little oval shaped light not caused by the flashlight. Now the phone is dialing itself (why they had the phone in there I do not know) I have a feeling it's a not a nice ghost like King Boo (I think this is a Mario Bro. character, but I'm not sure). Or it might be a nice banshee like Ecto (huh?). Sophie claims to have seen something up close to the shower!

Just when I was getting used to not having the kids barge in the bathroom on me all the time they just have to go and conjure up a ghost for me. Great.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T09:46:00.000-05:00

Have fun and be safe!

Halloween smores

2011-10-26T13:54:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine recently told me about the cutest Halloween favors over at Southern Vogue. I'll be honest with you I am not a Halloween person. At all. I realize Halloween is the nations second most popular 'holiday', but I really, really don't like it. Sure the kids are cute all dressed up, but the tons of candy and the tacky decorations just irritate me. I know, I know I'm a grinch. Whatever. Needless to say when she told me about the 'cutest Halloween favors' ever I was skeptical. Until I took a peek. They are smores in a bag and when I saw them I just knew I needed to make them for the kids to give their friends at school.

Special bonus they are super easy to make. All you need are one graham cracker, one peep, one hershey bar (fun size), a bag and a ribbon or twist tie to close off the bag. Easy peasy.

And so it begins

2011-10-25T08:21:00.000-05:00

The other day a friend was telling me about their middle school child and how it appeared that the whole boy crazy thing was starting to take place amongst her and her friends. I just laughed and told her that I was so glad I didn't have to worry about that. Kylie still thinks boys are yucky, Audrey is too shy to even think about having a boyfriend and Sophie, well she's only five. Famous last words.
A few days later Sophie came home from school bursting with excitement because she was invited to the birthday party of a boy in her class. On the way to the party she told me to make sure to keep the invitation because it had the boys phone number on it. I really didn't think too much about what she said, but then the next day I caught her going through my purse looking for the invitation. The next thing I knew she had her big sister help her call the boy. I could not believe it. My oldest two children won't even speak to boys, yet here she was calling them out of the blue. Then last weekend I took the girls to their schools fall festival. Sophie had not one, but two little boys chasing after her and guess what? Neither one of them was her little friend that she's been calling on the phone.

I have a feeling the next few years are going to be fun.

I heard a rumor..

2011-10-15T14:04:00.000-05:00

The other day I heard something that just made me laugh and laugh and laugh. Some silly person told me that fall (you know the season of changing leaves and cooler weather?) had arrived.

Now I realize that I'm blond and well, us blonds tend to have a reputation of being gullible, but really?

Surely they were just teasing me. I mean there is no way I would let my kids go to the park in sandals and sundresses if it were really fall.

That would just be too weird.

Sisters and best friends

2011-10-04T10:15:00.000-05:00

For now at least

The exploreum

2011-09-06T14:40:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I surprised the girls with a trip to the exploreum center. Audrey and Kylie have been before on field trips, but Sophie has never been.I have to say I was nervous about taking them by myself, but they were really very good and we had a fantastic time.

Learning about gravity

Audrey playing the stringless harp

No idea what this thing is called, but it's awesome!

And no I did not tell them that it was educational.