Whew!

He passed the fitness test!! We were so excited! They did ask if he wanted to, he can come back again in two weeks just to see if his times improve at all. We were pleased because the higher your scores, the better you are looked upon for acceptance! He is really focusing on push-ups and sit-ups for the next two weeks now.
We are really excited because our friends called us the other night and asked us all to come spend the night on New Years Eve! It will be a blast! The kids can run around and play until we put them to bed and then the guys are playing video games and us girls are going to scrapbook! I cannot wait!!!
Tonight my husband came and took me to the girls room to peek in at them. They were playing "Christmas" with each other! They had a little red box and were packing toys in it for each other. It was very cute!

Fitness Test

Our family had a great Christmas this year! We spent the morning snug in our jammies, indulging in whole wheat waffles and slowly opening up our presents. It was the first year that the girls understood taking turns and going slowly to stretch it out. We all got some neat things! The girls got a new bedding set for their room and they LOVE it!
We also had a wonderful surprise on Christmas Eve! We got a letter from Santa and inside was some money instructing us to go out and do something fun together! We took the girls to a pizza place and then let them rent a movie. It was so much fun and a great treat for us!!
Maybe you are wondering why the title of this was fitness test? I am getting to that. My husband turned in his preliminary packet for acceptance as an officer into the U.S. Army. It looked ok and so he goes tomorrow for a fitness test. Assuming he passes that he will get an appointment to go in front of a board (maybe in February) and then if all that goes through, he'll have an all day physical and if he passes that he will be in and would go away for 3 months of training in April 2008. Please be keeping us in your prayers!

Recall

My husband and I were reminded of a highlight that happened this past summer when we were on our annual vacation to the beach. Our three year old was with us as we were picking up our groceries for the week. We had them walking beside the cart because it was packed full. We were walking past the laundry detergents when she plopped her little bottom on the lowest shelf, looked up at us with shiny brown eyes and said, "I'm a buying thing!" It was SOOOO cute and we got such a laugh out of it! I can't imagine ever forgetting that moment, but my husband suggested that I blog about it, just to make sure.
That seems like so long ago already! Now it is Christmas Eve and we are repeatedly chasing her back to her room, so it is NICE to recall such a happy moment in her young life.
Merry Christmas!!

SURPRISE

Last night was GREAT! My father-in-law called me a few weeks ago after reading in my blog that his son was graduating from college. He asked if I would throw him a surprise party and he would take care of the cost. It was so much fun to plan! No one spilled the beans and he was FLOORED! We had 14 people who dropped their kids off at our house. My sister and her friend baby-sat for the kids. There were only 8 kids who came here. They had dinner, crafts and evidently my sister has very special connections because the kids ALL got to speak to Santa. My husband thought we were meeting at this place for a Christmas Party. He walks into this private party room, sees all these people and decorations! He jaw hit the ground! It was awesome! We then spent the next 2 1/2 hours, laughing, talking, relaxing and of course EATING! It was great! My husband said it was the perfect present and the perfect way to celebrate his graduation! I have to agree! Everyone from the smallest baby to the oldest grown up had a BLAST! So a GIGANTIC thanks to an AMAZING Father-in-law!!!!!

Stories

Tonight I was eavesdropping on our oldest as she sat reading to herself. If was some of the little books out of Christmas book basket. She was reading the story of Mary. She said, "Then an angel came to Mary and said, 'Hey! I think you should be the mother of a baby king!'" Too cute!!!

Bad Dream

We were awoken this morning to our door flinging open and our four year proclaiming (at 4:30 a.m.) "YOU SAID IF I EVER HAD A BAD DREAM COME TELL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She flops into our bed telling us that she had a dream she was driving me and her sister around and a monster with gray hair was touching me with his foot." How scary!!! What is so funny is that she was telling her little sister about it and here is what they concluded... they must have had the SAME dream because they sleep in the SAME room!!
Also, more bed time drama. Our three year old was "playing" Candy Land with her sister in their room. It was so cute! They were pretending they had a game board and could jump from space to space. BUT, the game got scary. Our youngest said, "Two things scared me in my room. Sissy did and I scared myself by pretending to be licorice." THAT is true talent when are able to scare yourself with evil pretend candy!!!

Boring

My bog must be getting pretty boring, because no one has been making any comments! =)
Today was a cool day here! Our four year old had a preschool show. Her class were little angels and they looked so cute!!! She just stood there. She never talked and did not DARE move to make a motion or anything. If you have any advice on getting kids to talk, TELL ME! She has yet to speak at all this year in her class!!! She does talk to herself in the bathroom. Speaking of bathrooms.... My husband got a gift card to a bookstore for his graduation. We decided to go tonight to see if he could find a cool book. Our four year old said she needed to potty. There is only one bathroom there, so I asked if she wanted me to come in, or go by herself. She went by herself. I heard her in a VERY loud voice talking to herself. "I need to go to the bathroom the way my mommy tells me. First wipe off the potty, pull down my panties, my pants, climb up then, Unhhhhhhh, make unhhhhh sure you ahhhhhhh get all your urhhhhhh pee-pee out whew, wipe your privates, hey wonder what my little sister is doing, I'll check on her in a minute. Pull up my pants, now make sure you get plenty of soap and no hot water you might get hurt." You get the point. I was laughing so hard!! She has no idea I heard her.

Great weekend

My husband in D*O*N*E with college (for now)!!! We had a great weekend. On Friday we had dinner with my parents. They kept the girls for awhile and drove them around to look at Christmas lights. WE went to see the movie "Enchanted". It is ADORABLE! We laughed so hard! It is worth seeing once either in the theater or waiting for the dvd to come out. So funny and original!
Our four year old has a cough so we kept her in all Saturday and Sunday. My husband and three year old went to church. It was nice having just the four year old here with me. We made granola together and read books. We did drive out with them tonight to get a cup of coffee.
My husband kept the girls last night so I could go grocery shopping alone and he kept them today so I could go to a work Christmas party. We played a really fun game called Phase 10. It's a cool card game!
That is all the news from our corner!!

Tonight's THE Night

Tonight my husband will be done with college!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Till he goes for his Master's, but let's not even think about that). We have a mini celebration planned! My friend is taking me and the girls to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. After he gets home we are going to watch a movie together. Tomorrow night my parents are cooking for us and then keeping the girls for a little while so we can go out! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My husband says he is going to report me one day for major over-use age of exclamation points, but I truly cannot seem to stop! He said in our Christmas letter that wrote, "nothing much has changed for me!!!!" He said, "I was so confused!" So I apologize if my need to use them bothers you, but I'll keep using them anyways! =)
The girls are doing great. They are very excited to go see their friends tonight and get to play! Tomorrow they get to go to a birthday party too! The fun never ends around here!

Little Mommy

Last night our four year old had a scary moment where she sounded just like me! She got upset at my husband (I think he fussed at her about table manners). She turned away from the table towards the wall and just stared. We said, "What's wrong?" She said, "Nothin. I'm looking at a wall." That is just what I used to do! Now I don't have time to internalize my feelings!! It was really funny and we were trying so hard not to laugh at her.
As of tonight my husband will only have ONE final left to take and he graduates SATURDAY!!! He will be DONE with bachelor's by 7 p.m. tomorrow night!! Yea!!!!!

Delays

I want to start by saying that I am very sorry for the delay, but the power cord on our computer is not working and we are waiting on the new one. Combine that with the fact that my husband is studying like crazy for his four finals this week, and you will understand my lack of blogging.
Also, I have not really had anything happening. We have all been busy. I am SO ready for a break from all this busy-stuff!!!!
Tonight I was baking these little chocolate dipped goodies for a meeting tomorrow and the girls wanted to try a bite. The things were like rice krispy treats, but made with a different cereal. Our four year old spilled a little on her belly. She grabbed a tissue to wipe it off but it stuck to the goo on her belly. Our three year old laughed so hard I thought her eyes would pop out of their sockets!! It was so sticking cute!
I will blog more after our new power cord arrives. I hope everyone is ok!!

Quiet Week

I don't have too much blog-worthy things to write about, but I wanted to touch base. I am real excited because all of our Christmas cards will go in the mail! That is always a huge accomplishment, It feels so good to have it behind me.
My husband is real excited. He sent me a text from his class saying that he got a 100 on his most recent test in that class! Plus he graduates in 1 week! He has one more class tomorrow night and then 4 finals next week. I cannot fathom what it will be like to have him home during the week. I will actually be cooking for 4!!
We had a call for a placement from DCS yesterday but we declined. However it reminded me that we all need to be in prayer for foster kids across the nation. It is especially hard on them this time of year.

Surprise Parade

Last night was amazing! The girls had a huge day! We took the oldest to volleyball, we all went to a birthday party, the youngest went on a date with her daddy to the symphony and then we decided to go to a parade together. We were there early and were checking out this little train. A man came up to us and asked if the girls wanted to RIDE on it through the parade. OF course they screamed, "Yes!" and they rode and waved their way through a Christmas parade!!!! I walked behind them ringing a bell and waving! It was great and we were all exhausted at the end of the day.
Tonight my husband strung Christmas lights up in the girls room. Our youngest was about to hyperventilate she was so thrilled!!!! If only we did not have to work in the morning. Ugh. =)

Chronicles of a grumpy.....

This is a bit of a saga here, so bear with me. There is a McDonald's close to our house that has a indoor play land. As you can imagine, we are frequent visitors to this place. It also happens to be close to a neat park with an awesome track and field, so in warmer weather we play at the park and get drinks at McDonald's. Anyways, many of you may know that they hire many special needs individuals to keep the place clean etc. I think this is great! However, this particular location has managed to hire a very cute man with Downs Syndrome. EVERY person with Downs that I have ever met is like a cuddly teddy, friendly, easygoing, like able. Except for this man!! He is SO grumpy! Once we were there and this Christian day care came in. They were saying a group prayer about what a great day this was. He stood beside me mumbling, "Nothin' great about this day, don't know what you kids are talkin' 'bout." I about lost it trying to contain my laughter! It seemed like such an oxymoron to me! Well, today we were there and my friend said to him, "What's wrong?" (Evidently he was staring at her). He tapped the table we had all our coats on and said, "I have to WORK here!" We moved our coats and her grumped his way around wiping up tables. THEN a school bus arrived and this cute Downs man mumbles, "This place is going to H*** in a hand basket." I about spit diet coke through my nose! He then followed that by saying, "All it does is these kids make more work." It made my day! I hope no one thinks I am making fun of this man because I am not. We smile at him and talk to him etc... I just think his grumpiness is great!
On a completely different note, the girls met one of their heroes tonight... Curious George!!! The four year old just kept giggling and hugging him! They would not speak to him, so I was. I told the four year old to tell him about ballet and she said, "Why don't you mommy? You've been talking to him all day here." How can you argue with that logic???????

Tuesday

I am so excited because my husband is almost done with his classes! I wish I knew what we were doing after that, but no such luck.
The girls were really good today. I let them play outside by themselves for a little while and they thought that was pretty cool! They are thrilled with all our Christmas decorations, the tree and the music. Our three year old loves listening to music. She taps that little foot and bops her head in time with the music. So cute! Our four year old likes the Christmas books. We store them with our decorations and pull them out the day after Thanksgiving. It's like a mini-Christmas because they have not read these books in a year.
We are all good here. No cutesie stories, healthy, happy and ready for a new day!

Back to normal

Unfortunately life returns to normal tomorrow. Our company is gone, Thanksgiving is over and we go back to work after several days off. Yuck. On a positive note.... we had a great time with my husband's sister!! The girls loved having her here and hated to see her go. I have posted a few photos from her visit with us.
After she left, we came home and spruced up the house so that we could host our small group Bible Study here. That went great and we all had a super time!!
I had a funny moment tonight. We were reading to the girls before bedtime. I was reading them this book ALL about how THE BEST THING ABOUT CHRISTMAS IS JESUS!!!!!!!! So, we get to the end and for the 20th time I read, "so the best thing about Christmas is..." (and I leave a pregnant pause for our four year old to fill in) and she screams, "ME!" Oh my. We have some work to do here! =0

Playing in the Leaves

Hiking With Aunt

Tea Party

Dancing like a princess

I was reminded of an event that happened shortly before I began blogging. I thought I would share it with everyone. One evening we were at the bookstore and the girls were dancing and singing on the stage. They were twirling and do ballerina moves when my husband walked up with our coffee drinks. Our four year old cam up to him with shiny blues eyes, tilted her head up at him and said, "Could you please dance with me Daddy? Like a Prince does? With your hands here and mine here?" He looked at me for rescue, but I said, "You have to do it." So he whisked her around the stage turned dance floor and was immediately transformed from daddy to Prince Daddy. It brought tears to my eyes!!!!
Today was fun! My husband and his sister took the girls to a place to play. I went with my dad and sister shopping. I found some great deals! Then we came back and his sister treated us to a yummy lunch. My husband and the girls blew leaves and played in them. His sister and I went shopping and sight-seeing with my parents. We came back and decorated our house and tree. We topped off the night with our traditional pizza dinner and it was magical!!!!!!

Sugary Sweet

Today was Thanksgiving 2007! It was such a great day. I have not even set foot outside our front door all day long. We spent the day with my family and my husband's sister. My first turkey turned out wonderfully! My husband is very excited about all the leftovers.
After my family left, we put the girls down for naps. Then we woke them up and they put on aprons that their grandma made for them. We baked Applesauce Oat muffins. All of us dressed up and we had a tea party with them!! We set up their princess table with fine china from my mee-maw! It was great!
Now they are with their aunt in their room having a pajama party!!! I believe they are playing candyland and dolls. In a little while, we will get them and rescue their aunt, but she really is sleeping on their trundle bed tonight!!! I think all that adds up to the perfect Thanksgiving!!
After the girls are in bed, we are watching "Survivor" and breaking out the last of the homemade tiramisu ice cream cake!!!!! What a great day! So many things to be thankful for!

Big Day

Today was a HUGE day for our girls! They started off with a gym class (translation: 1 hour of hard play with a trained teacher), off to McDonald's where they played with 3 boys for 2 hours, home for a supposed nap BUT.... their aunt finally arrived! They had been waiting for years for this magical moment to arrive and now it is here!!!! They all loaded into our van and my husband, the girls and his sister went kayaking together. After they got home we cooked and then went to the local ice cream store. Needless to say they were EXHAUSTED! It was a great day though and I am VERY excited for tomorrow! I am cooking my first ever turkey.
I am also thankful for my family and the fact that my husband and sister are able to enjoy each other. It has not always been that way. Evidently when he was born, she made several attempts at taking his life. They have come such a long ways. =) But, seriously, when they were gone, I was thinking how great it is that he considers my parents, his parents; and then his sister comes and he is equally excited about spending quality time with her. He worked late into the night last night so he could be here early today and see her. I just think he's a great guy!!!
Happy Early Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!

Holes

Evidently, this whole cat walk thing has been HUGE to our friends 5 year old daughter. I guess she has been frantically searching their house looking for holes. She cannot fathom that every house might NOT have a cat walk in it. I think if she was strong enough she might start banging holes in their walls or floors. That just tears me up! Their kids are so darn cute!
Tonight the big thrill in our house was the capture of a baby lady bug named "Leeda". She now lies trapped in the girls room in a small rubber container where they can watch her all night long.
For me the bog thrill was going downstairs to their toy room. I found the girls decked out in dress up clothes. Necks dripping with jewels, lacy tutus, fluffy sleeved purples dresses and the three year old sitting at little pink vanity brushing her hair with a "My Little Pony" brush. I said "You girls look so pretty. What are you doing?". Our four year old looked at me and said (in all her decked out finery) "Rocking baby Jesus in my arms." Are you a puddle on the floor yet?

Quiet Wind

On Thursday I went with my oldest daughter and her school to walk donated food to a local shelter. It was a neat idea and a fun thing to do. All the kids (1-4) were dressed as Indians. Their teachers had all given them Indian names. Our daughter (who has yet to speak to ANYONE in her class) was dubbed "Quiet Wind". We were telling this to my dad over lunch today. He dubbed himself "Breaking Wind"!
On a completely unrelated note, today is our dogs birthday! She is one year old today! The girls had to sing to her this morning. The dog did not know whether to be happy or scared.
My husband and I rented the movie "Amazing Grace" last night and it is a really good movie. If you ever get the chance to rent it.
No other news from our end! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving! My husband's sister is coming down for a few days. The girls are VERY excited to have their aunt here.

Cat Walk

We have a cat walk inside our house. It sits under the "activity shelf" in our dining room. The cat walk is actually an old vent cover that my husband pulled out and then he rigged some carpet covered ramps into the basement. Our cats food and litter box are down there. You could come into our house and never even know that a cat lives here. So tonight I had out two girls plus three other children over here. They were beyond thrilled with the cat walk. The oldest child said, "WOW! I wish our house had holes in it! Do you think there are any other holes in your house that we could play in?" It is amazing what kids find cool!! I guess at this point you can imagine hoe the next few hours were spent. We "built" a cat walk in the living room and I spent the rest of the evening chasing "Rainbow", "Flower", "Cupcake" and "monster" into their cat hole so they could walk "down" there cat walk. I am exhausted. Oh yes, FYI, the other girls picked the cutesy names and it was our sweet three year old who chose "monster" for her name.

Sandwich

Do you like my husband's sandwich? When our youngest daughter was about 18 months old, he was sitting with them eating this particular sandwich. She started saying, "bunny, bunny". He said quite condescendingly, "Honey, this is a sandwich." UNTIL he turned it and saw... a bunny! Since that point in time we have discovered that she really is artistic and it showed at 18 months!!

Great day

It is so nice to have a great day under my belt again!! Today our oldest had preschool and the youngest and I went to my mom's group. Then we met my husband in downtown for coffee (us) and ice cream (them). On such a blah rainy day it was so special. Then the girls and I went to a consignment store and I found their winter hat for a great price. They were able to get their hair cut at the local beauty school and we went shopping at Kroger's. I made dinner and our oldest said, "Thank you for this yummy dinner. You must make too many delicious meals huh?" Such brownie points she earned with that statement! Now my husband is at class BUT he was able to leave the computer for me to use.
I guess the only downside to the whole day was the abnormal amount of unhappy people at Krogers. Usually they are the elderly people. I must have said "excuse us" to at least 5 people who were in my way and they just ignored me. Does anyone else ever run into this or am I alone? I also met some abnormally happy people. Even the elderly man behind us in line was happy and we had 3 separate transactions!!

Still recovering

My husband and I are still recovering from our colds. I am ready for bed! I just had to post these photos of the girls! I had a doctor appointment today, so he took them to ballet and snapped these pictures of them! I think they look adorable!
Our youngest daughter has this penchant for getting out of bed before she falls asleep and coming to where we are. We think she is checking to see if my husband is there or at work. Last night we were at our wits end and she came out AGAIN. I was ready to go give her a spanking and a talking to. She beams her big brown eyes at me and says, "I thought I could just sleep on the floor because I am sad and need my daddy to hold me." So he goes in to hold her and she said, "Can you hold me this big for a minute?" Can someone please tell me how you get mad at that?

Another shot

Ballet Beauties

Words

My husband went with my dad to a conference this weekend, so the girls and I packed up and went to spend the weekend with my mom and sister. We had a good time. We did some early Christmas shopping, ate Mexican food and hit some stores. Nothing really noteworthy happened. My mom and I spent two wonderful hours talking with very few interruptions. It was grand!!!
I did recall a thought I had wanted to share on our youngest. She has trouble pronouncing certain words. But it is so cute!! For "nasty" she says, "masty". BUT if you say, "Did you say 'masty'"? She will say, "NO! I said, 'masty'". Obviously she hears them correctly and knows them, they just come out silly. She has one really cute sentence though. "I need another tennis shoe to wipe my fnot". I will see if you know what she means!

Still here

My husband has been extremely busy with the elections etc. that he has been covering! I have not had much access to our computer.
Really, you have not missed too much from our lives. My husband and girls are feeling much better and now I am feeling pretty crummy!
Our oldest had her first mini field trip to a fire station. She told me there was a puppet show and I said, "Oh did they talk about fire safety?" Her eyes swallowed her face and she said in a COMPLETELY awe-filled voice, "MOMMY, how did you know?!?!?!?!?!" It was cute!!!
Wow, I really have an amazing lack of news and cute stories! However, tomorrow is a new day, so please stay tuned!

Looking up

Today things are looking better. My husband took our three year old to church, allowing her to burn off MUCH excess energy. I have spent the morning lysoling, laundering, sterilizing and dish washing. Ok, so maybe those aren't real words, but you get the picture. You may think that doesn't sounds like much of an improvement. However, after spending last night on a sleeper sofa with a feverish, twisty little body, it FEELS like an improvement! Luckily she has not been sick in almost 10 hours, so I think she is over the hump. Her energy is still real low, but that has given me time to get all this cleaning done. My reward comes in the form of getting to leave the house around 2 today! YEA!!!!
Just a little sidebar, there is no such thing as a good time change when you have kids, but especially when you have sick kids! Boooo! Down with the time change!!! =)
Oh, yes, one more thing. Last night after such a gross day, my husband and I were relaxing downstairs with a little television time. Guess what happened? THE DOG PUKED!

Pukish Post

I am sorry to have been so deliquent in my blogging, but we have had a sick week here. Our three year old puked 6 times and has had strange bathroom type problems which have required my assistance in wiping. Our four year old projectiled in the van today. For a lovely visual... she was in the back and her "stuff" hit the front window. She had since gotten sick on the couch, floor, blankets, towels and a few times the garbage can. Meanwhile, admidst the puking, cleaning and wiping, I can hear my husband hacking his lungs out.
That has pretty much been my week.
There was at least one cute moment. Our three year old had never had a flu bug before. She threw up real close together and without a trace of pity, remorse or sadness but AFTER a huge incident she says, "Maybe I will just keep doing this forever and it will be like this every day."

Life of a kid

It must rock to be a kid! Today I took the girls to a gym class for 3-5 year olds. Then we ate lunch, had a rest, went to ballet class and then to a birthday party!!! At the party they got to play, eat hot dogs, decorate pumpkins and eat cake and ice cream!!!
I on the other hand got up at 4:45 to go to work, chauffered them to the various events, supervised their play and the play of others, dished out food, took photos, did laundry, emptied and refilled dish washer, picked up misplaced stuff and am now blogging! All in all, not a bad day, but when I compare it to theirs, they are clearly the winners!!!

Ahhhh

Today was a breath of fresh air. Actually the entire weekend was! We spent lots of time together. Then today I was able to go shopping for 2 hours BY MYSELF! I got a pair of jeans, a pair of pajama pants and a Christmas gift for the girls. Then I went and got the girls entire Christmas (minus stocking stuffers) taken care of! It was great and amazing! I had so much fun!!!
Tonight I took our youngest out with me for Sam's Club shopping. We picked up some surprise bagels for my hubby as well. Our oldest did not get to go. She has this little demon that POPS out at random moments. Today he came as we were leaving for Sam's, so she stayed home with daddy. It took 30 minutes, but the demon left. The rest of the evening was uneventful and now my husband and I are relaxing over bagels and coffee!!!

New cue for a tummy ache

Tonight was lots of fun! Our small group (14 adults and and 14 kids under 6) had a little Halloween party. We had pumpkin carving, pinata, dinner, and tons of fun! On the way home our three year old said that her tummy was hurting her. Then she said, "so that's why you need to feed it more candy because then it won't hurt anymore". Wow. In all my years of living, I have never once thought of eating candy to make a tummy ache go away. You never know, she could be onto something here.

Simple Pleasures

Tonight was one of those great nights as a family. We loaded the girls up and drove to a flat, grassy area and let them out to play. There was no equipment there so they played in leaves, ran long distances through the grass, gathered acorns for squirrels and chased each other around. It was so fun and cute! It makes me feel so happy that they have such simple pleasures! One of the biggest things I feel though is justified. We only let our girls watch PBS (no commercials) and approved dvds. They have never seen a disney movie and have only watched 2 full length movies. There were many days when they were younger and I so badly wanted to turn on the tv and let them zone out. We have refrained from doing this and instead have girls who usually won't even watch a 30 minute show or video. This is the plus side and the "justification" so to speak. We have girls who know how to play and that don't even need toys to have fun. Many times I have felt either guilty or pressured to let them watch other things, but nights like this one make me want to stick to my guns.

Overheard

A conversation that I heard as we were driving along today. "Sissy, you need to share your purse with me." (4 yr. old replying)-"Mommy, Do I have to?" (Me)-"Yes". "Well, three year old, iffin I share it with you then I would feel sad and I don't want to feel sad." "Well Sissy, I would give it back to you!!!!" "Yes, but while you had it I would feeling sad all the time."
I just thought it was funny.
Also, a sentence I heard from the childcare workers. "We really lucked out because the projectile vomit was so extreme it plastered the walls but not me." I honestly never thought I would hear "projectile" and "lucky" in the same sentence.

magical buttons

I kept thinking yesterday that some really cute memory had slipped through my fingers. Guess what? I actually remembered it today!
Yesterday after we left the pumpkin patch we drove through the McDonalds for a round of Diet Pepsi's. Our four year old asked why the button was pushed down and I said, "So they know it was Diet Pepsi." She asked if she could push a button down and I said sure. She pushes a button and squeals, "HEY! It is STILL Diet Pepsi in here!!!!!" It just reminds me of how much we "assume" kids know and yet how they can believe in things like magical buttons that change diet pepsi to water and water to juice!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Today was a great day, both in weather and time spent with family!
We met my parents and sister for lunch at a yummy Chinese place. Then we all went to a pumpkin patch (which ironically did not actually sell pumpkins due to the drought). We took a hayride and played around outside. On the hayride the driver stopped and gave everyone stalks of soybeans. Our four year old must have eaten 100 or so of these. She ate them on the hayride, on the way home and as we painted our pumpkin here at the house. It was crazy! I believe we are going to the organic store to get her some of these.
We stopped on the way home to but a pumpkin for them to paint. I will try and post some photos later in the week.
My parents kept the girls for us on Friday night. They took them to a football game. My dad said that he was wrestling with our three year old and he said to her "get off of me you big lug". She obviously found this hysterical and said to him, "Get off of me you big log!"

Sad little girl

I am busy dealing with down side of being busy. My poor husband works full time and is in college four nights a week. Our three year old (who loves men in general, but especially loves her daddy) has been really sad. We left her sister at preschool and she started bawling!! I asked her did she miss sissy? Daddy? "YES! I don't want daddy to be at work or school, I want him to be with me!" It was so sad. Then of course she never would say it to my husband, so I am the one dealing with all this sadness!!! Everywhere we go she says, "Do you think daddy will be here? Does he not need to work today?".
On the other hand, there is our four year old, who tells her little sister that Daddy NEEDS to work to make more money so she can take gymnastic classes!!!! =)
She has been asking to spend her allowance on gymnastics lessons because we told her we cannot afford it. She thinks her $3 a week should cover it.
Kids are so darn cute!!!!!

Keep it

If you are not real familiar with our youngest daughter, then you may not find this real funny. BUT, today after ballet class I was sipping on a diet pepsi and the girls took sip. As her sister climbed over her to her car seat, our three year old put her foot out in hopes of hitting her sister, "accidentally" of course. I told her she needed to apologize and she said, "Mrrry". I told her to open her mouth and tell her. She did and said, "sorry sissy. HEY! I want my diet tepsi back"!!! (Not a misprint, that is how she says it)
I had to laugh. Evidently the reason she mumbled "sorry" was because she was holding the diet pepsi in her mouth and when she apologized out loud she had to swallow it. It was way too cute!
Tomorrow is a big day for our four year old. At preschool, they are having green day. She she is wearing green. Then for her lunch, I made a green scrambled egg burrito, green goldfish crackers and green water. She is so excited! I hope she is able to sleep tonight.

Cat Girl

Today we went to our friends' daughters' birthday party. She was turning 3!!! We went to her mom's house to go ride a horse. It was just tons of fun!! The girls all looked so cute taking turns riding by themselves and then with each other.
The real fun came afterwards when my two girls and my friends' two girls found this little toy mouse. This mouse has little wheels that make it spin around and it makes this taunting/annoying sound of "Nanananananananana weoooooow weeooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww" over and over. Well our little girls ALL proceed to crawl around on the ground chasing this mouse, picking it up with their teeth and meowing joyfully over the capture of the mouse. It was cute and extremely weird!!!

Deception!

Our daughters oldest aunt bought them these Adventure Oddessy cd set of four stories. Our oldest (who is transitioning out of naps, but DOES take a rest each day) has been playing these EVERY day and night. I did not think much of it because I really thought it was background noise and that she wasn't paying attention. I also thought that it was WAY over her head. Obviously I was gravely mistaken. I put her in her room for "rest" yesterday afternoon and she asked to listen to Number 2 of the cds. I thought sure, whatever. So, I put it in and left her alone in there. I come in later to check on her and tell her rest was over and here is our conversation.....
"Mommy, do you know what they did?!?!?!?!"
"Uhhhhh, no"
"They completely deceived their mother and snuck into a scary movie and she did not know and she did not know where they were."
"Wow. They shouldn't have done that should they?"
"No, she had to punish them because she loves them."
"What was their punishment?"
"They were punished."
"Right. But what was their punishment?"
"Their mommy punished them."
"Ok. How?"
"Punishment"
"Four year old, what was their punishment?!?!?!?!"
"Mommy, she put them to bed early."
As my frustration built, I found myself wondering why I cared what their punishment was because I do not even know who "they" are!!!!!!

Memories

My husband suggested that I blog about this, so here goes. Now, about ONE MONTH AGO, my husband took the girls to their soccer game while I had a garage sale. I reminded him to take snacks and drinks because they don't eat lunch before they go. Evidently he took one box of raisins and one bottle of water. I usually take each child a granola bar, a few crackers, grapes and 3 bottles of water EACH! Needless to say, they were horrified when they realized this was all they had to fuel them and they were VERY disappointed in their dad's snack packing skills. Yesterday while our oldest was at preschool, our youngest said, "Do daddies only take one?" I said, "One what?" She said, "One snack. Yesterday when we had soccer daddy only brought one raisin and one water!!!!". I said, "yes, but the next time he packed more." She said, "Only because you helped him. Mommies know how to pack snacks but daddies think we only need one. You better keep helping him huh?" It was so cute! I guess it must have made a HUGE impact on her.

What's in a name?

This blog is a little risque for what I normally write, so be careful!!! We were at the gym yesterday and my three year old excitedly told me she made a new friend! I was so excited and asked what her name was. She blurts VERY loudly, "A**Hole". I said what did you say? She repeated. I said "Four year old what is she saying?". She replies with "Azzzzhullll". I said, "Ashley???" "yes mommy!! A**Hole". So, just a warning if you plan to name a sweet little baby of your own, you may want to poll three year old and see how they pronounce it.

Nothing new

Today was almost as quiet as yesterday. We just enjoyed our time together. We had church, lunch and then my husband studied while I hit the gym and the girls napped. Later we went to Sam's Club. That about sums up our entire day.
I have to blog about the most disturbing sight we witnessed this evening. As we were getting out of our minivan our attention fell onto a family of three (mom, dad and a boy of 5 or 6). The dad hopped out of the car and lit a cigarette. While lighting it he put his CAN OF BEER under the car. He and the mother proceeded to pass the cigarette back and forth while walking the entire 20 ft. to the store. Where they then pass it back and forth VERY rapidly so they would not lose much of their smoke before extinguishing it. It was sick and sad on so many levels. It makes me so much more thankful for how we were raised and for our family and friends.

Quiet Day

It was nice to have a slow, easy day for a change. We all slept in and had a lazy Saturday morning.
My husband had to work, but me and the girls stayed in and cleaned the house. We all ate all three meals as a family!! That was the highlight for me. Tonight we went to get some groceries and that was really it.
The cute part came on the way to the store. Evidently my husband has been holding out on me.... as we pulled out our drive I hear two little voices asking for "windows down with radio blastin' please". Hmmmm. My husband rolls down all the windows and cranked up the radio and we went "cruising" to the grocery store. Evidently this is a common occurrence when I am gone and he takes them out alone. I am sure we made quite the sight driving down the road in our minivan with our Christian music blaring for all to hear.
It was great!

Sunflowers

Old Memory

I remembered something today, that I needed t "blog" down so that I won't forget it. A few weeks ago I was making lunch and the girls were playing that they were lost and I was a stranger. I invited them to stay at my house and eat lunch with me. We all sat down at the table and our oldest said, "Excuse me lady, but we don't even know who you are. I think I will call you Miss Sweet." Meanwhile our youngest pipes in and says, "I'll call you Miss Big Fella..... hey big fella? I gotta hug ya". It was the cutest thing!!
That reminds me of a time we were traveling home from church. Our oldest daughter was quizzing me about heaven, how you get there, where is it etc... I explained that if you accept and love Jesus then you will go heaven when you die. She shines her big blue eyes on me and says, "Mommy, iffn' I die and go to Heaven, I will just look at God and say, 'No thank you, I'll just go back because I will miss my mommy too much and just want to be with her'."
If that doesn't make you melt, you are made of stone.

Pettiness

Today was extremely busy. We were gone from early until 7 at night. Never once coming back to the house at all!! We ended up at my parents for dinner. By the time we left the girls we coming off of sugar highs combined with no naps. They spent 45 minutes arguing as to whether our golden retriever is blue or blondish. Seriously. They even lost their story time and STILL kept on!!!! Petty. Luckily for me, tomorrow is a new day.

Wave Runner

Giving In

Well, today I bit the bullet and joined our local Sam's Club. I had just hated the idea of "paying" for the "privilege" to shop there. Now I am SO excited about the whole thing! For starters, we got a 44# bag of dog food, for what we were paying for a 17# bag. That alone ALMOST paid for the card. Then there was toilet paper, pull ups, contact solution etc... It was great! To top it off, they have this little cafeteria area and the girls asked to eat there. For 8 dollars we got 2 slices of pizza, 1 hot dog, 2 pretzels and 2 drinks. We were actually stuffed!! We could have starred in one of those Taco Bell commercials where they say they got stuffed off of a dollars worth of food. We actually threw stuff away because we were too full. It was super!

At the Beach

Photo Day

Today was a major milestone in the life of our oldest daughter. She had her first ever Picture Day at preschool. To some, this may seem totally insignificant but to me this was MAJOR. In fact (much to the amusement of my mom and husband) I was ready to have a nervous breakdown over this!! Over the weekend (while shopping) one of my goals was to find a beautiful fall sweater for her to wear for Picture Day. Needless to say, I never found "the one". Yesterday I was frantically looking for something to put her in . After demolishing all the hard work I did on their closet and dressers, I finally settled on an outfit that I thought would pass. I must say, she pulled it off with style and the outfit was much more like something SHE would want rather than a Beautiful Fall Sweater. I don't know yet how that pictures turned out, but the substitute told me, "She had a little trouble with smiling". My expectations for a monumentus Picture Day ended with that statement.
I need to write down a cute story about our youngest. She has this absolutely remarkable talent for acquiring neat things for free. People practically throw gifts to her as she walks around. Example: One day at the Farmer's Market, she was carrying her little bank in case she found something she wanted to buy. By golly, if Farmer's didn't keep coming up and PUTTING money into it for her!!! Today this happened again. We went to this little consignment store to see if they had any shoes to fit her rather over sized feet. She was being really good right up until we went to pay. Then she ran over to this sign and with her pudgy little hands wiped off the swirly letters announcing their sale. I apologized and the woman pretended she was upset. My little one looked at her with tears STREAMING down her face and started sobbing. The lady came and hugged her, tickled her and THEN gave her candy!!! I was floored! All I want to know, is why this never happens to me????? =)

Nicholas Sparks

I JUST finished reading a book by Nicholas Sparks called "The Choice". It could possibly be my favorite EVER of his (but maybe I say that every time). Anyways, I cannot say anything about it or it will give secrets away, but it is GREAT!
Today was so pretty and the girls were really good. They even tried beef tonight and they liked it. Normally our eldest is very adverse to new foods, so I hinted that she was eating chicken then we she asked for me said, "Hey, it's beef!".
Ballet was great today. We went shopping at the grocery afterwards and they were the belles of the ball in their cute little outfits.

Shop till ya drop

Yesterday was a total blast!! I met a group of 8 ladies from church and we drove to an area outlet mall and shopped from 10-6! It was great! I got myself 4 shirts, 1 pair of shoes, 1 gift for a baby shower, 1 gift for a Christmas present, 2 pairs of jeans for the girls, 2 skirts for the girls and 3 shirts for the girls, ate two meals at nice places and STILL only spent about 120. That money all came from a garage sale that we had. I felt like I did really good.
The girls had a big time while I was gone. My mom and sister came over to be with them. They baked and decorated sugar cookies (fall colors of course) and then made craft pumpkins that were so cute. My husband came home from work and took over. He said they were real good and they never asked about me. Now that is really kinda sad! I figured they'd struggle to fall asleep at least. Nope. Nothing. So then this morning the youngest crawls into bed to snuggle and I excitedly holler to our eldest, "I'm heeeerrrreeee and I am awaaaaaake!!!!!!!". The BIG response was, "oh". I can tell I was really missed yesterday! =)

Cheap Thrill

Tonight we decided to take our girls out for a cheap thrill. We went grocery shopping and then took them to Krispy Kreme, where for about 1 dollar they have fun that keeps them talking for weeks!! You go in, let them pick out 1 doughnut and then we sit down and watch the "Glaze Fountain" coat doughnuts! We can easily spend 30 minutes doing this and it is so cheap. It helps that we only do this about twice a year, but when you are hard up for money and have a four year old who loves to be on the go, this is a great thing to do!

Pizza Party

My husband works full time and has classes four nights a week on top of all that, so by Thursday night I am DRAGGING. Also, my patience and creative talents for entertaining two girls have sunk to all time lows. So tonight we threw ourselves a Pizza Party. We ordered a pizza,ate in the living at the Princess table, watched a dvd and then tickled each other. It works wonders for your soul.

Oh Brother

It seems like the girls have been on a roller coaster of emotions lately. One day they are UP and have great behavior and the next day I start to believe that maybe aliens have invaded their little bodies. Today though, this was brought to a whole new realm that I was completely unprepared for. My four year old was having a rough day and she did something that required me to send her to her room. She came out of her room and I asked her to do something else and she said "NO". I was totally floored! This has never happened before. Now either we have been extremely blessed, or she in entering a new phase that makes me feel like I need to get some more parenting classes under my belt. I really don't know.
On the plus side we have had some great moments. Our three year old was sitting next to me during dinner the other night, she leaned over to me and said, "Mommy, I am glad that you are here with us all the time." Ahh, I live for moments like that.

Words of Encouragement

Today was really nice! It started off with the gym class the girls go to. After class the teacher comes up to me and says, "Are you the mom of the two little girls in pink?". Of course, I said yes. She says, "Well, I don't really know how to word this....., but they are leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else in the class! They are my favorites and are so good. I am very impressed with the skills that they have." I was doing interior screaming at this point! It made me feel so incredibly great!
Later this afternoon we had ballet and my husband surprised the girls by showing up before their class so that they could show him their room and teacher etc. They were thrilled!

Parents worst nightmare

If any of you happen to know our JUST turned 3 year old daughter, then you may know that we call her our "resident comedian". I also feel she acts just like my dad. Yeah. It's great. =) So, we are getting out of the car after church and she is finishing her lollipop. I noticed that it was gone and she was simply gnawing on the stick. I instructed her to go throw it in the garbage. She told me, "I can't because I am pretending that this is my smoke".
Can anyone please tell me where this comes from? We have no friends who smoke (to my knowledge). Any time we see someone smoking we say, "Ewww, they are making themselves sick, sick, sick." That is the extent of cigarette discussions in our household. The only TV they watch is PBS and I am pretty sure that Clifford and Curious George do not going around saying, "Anyone want a smoke"?
Anyways, I did laugh inside, but am still curious where this little girl came from!!! =)

Link to video footage

Here is the link to the video that goes with the post "Prancing Pastor".
http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p178/KendyKender/?action=view¤t=pllllll.flv

Prancing Pastor

Today was loads of fun! I took the girls to soccer and then met my parents and sister to visit a State Park. At the park we fed fish and ducks, played in sand and then walked across a bridge to an amphitheater. That is where the true fun came. My dad, who happens to be a pastor, and the girls were putting on shows for us. My dad decided to do a show by himself. He came out to the tune of "Pretty Woman" and proceeds to prance and dance and do ballerina twirls ALL over the stage. We were laughing so hard! It was a riot!
The girls were wiped out. We came home and gave the dog a bath and then they went to bed. I can still hear them, but hopefully they will be sleeping soon.
As a sidebar, we rented "Christmas with the Kranks" last night and it is a very cute movie.

Check Up

Today my three year old had her three year check up and everything went fine! It was another very busy day here. I don't have any real cute stories, but it was nice. Our oldest went to preschool and the youngest and I went to her check up. She never even cried when they pricked her finger! Then we hit the mall and ate lunch together. After we picked up her sister we went to baby-sit for my friend with three kids under 5. It was surprisingly fun! We even squeezed in some outdoor fun. Afterwards we headed to Wal-Mart. UGH! Finally home and bed for two little girls. My husband and I caught up for a few minutes and now he is off to a late movie with several of his friends. I am glad that tomorrow is Friday and my husband and I can spend time together and time together with the girls.

"Hey Awana"

Tonight the girls had Awana's and this is almost equal (if not surpassing) the level of excitement on Ballet Day! They get to memorize scripture verses and recite them for their teachers. In return they are given little patches that are sown onto vests for them to wear. Our three year old now has two patches and our four year old has many because she was in it last year. For our three year old tonights Awana'a ROCKED! Evidently they sang to her in gym (probably about 100 kids), gave her a "lovely" whistle and then at snack time SHE was given chocolate ice cream! Our four year old was a tad jealous and she said, "Man, three yr. old! Your birthday keeps on coming every day and seems like it is forever"!

Shadow pictures

Today my THREE YEAR OLD and I were walking to go pick her sister up from school. She looked down and saw our shadows. She said, "Look Mommy! A picture of us walking together!" Too sweet!!!!
Our four year old came home from preschool and informed me that she can read a word. It is "the"! I know it's not much, but I was so excited! I bet by the end of the year she could be reading simple sentences. That is absolutely amazing to me.
Not too much news around here. We had preschool and soccer. Both went really well. I am exhausted and very ready for bed.

Ballet

At our house today the level of excitement is equal to how football fans feel during the Superbowl. Today was BALLET and TAP Dance Day!!! Our four year old could not fall asleep at nap time and our three year old was ready to run out the door naked just to get to dance class. I must say that there is hardly anything cuter than two petite girls dressed in leotards, tights, ballet slippers and carrying princess bags with tap shoes and socks! They look so cute toddling around in their dance gear.

Fussiness

Of all the things I long to remember about our girls, today is NOT one of them! They have been so fussy and bickery with each other (yes, I know that is not a real word, but it fits).
They pretty much fought and argued with each other all day long. Forcing me to the point of making ridiculous threats that I never would have followed through with. I actually threatened to remove all toys, books etc. until all they had was each other. It does make me wonder if they just have too many toys or is it just a grumpy day coming off a sugary birthday high?
All in all I think we are not alone. I also think (and pray) that tomorrow will be better.

Party Day

Today was a BIG day in the life of our three year old daughter! She had her 3rd birthday party! We had 10 kids (under 6) and 11 adults! She really got a lot of cool presents.
Here is the funny thing.... for 6 months all we talked about was that she wanted a black snake cake for her party. This might seem common if she actually liked snakes but she doesn't! So a few weeks ago she says she wanted a rainbow cake. When I quizzed her as to the last minutes change of plans, I was blithely informed that "Black snakes can bite." She then informs me that green snakes are perfectly acceptable AS LONG AS the inside of the cake is a rainbow. Can you guess what my husband and I were doing at 11 last night? We were making a rainbow cake in the shape of a snake and my husband iced it to perfection. It was such a great looking cake and I think we used almost every dish in the kitchen (thank you Lord for our dishwasher!!).
If you thought this is funny, keep reading. So we are at the party, which was inside an ice cream shop, and the BIG MOMENT finally arrives. After six long months of planning it is time to cut the cake. We light the three candles, sing the required birthday song and finally, FINALLY cut into the snake cake. Guess what? She never ate it.
Guess what else? I still love the tar out of her and think she is so amazingly cute!
Sidebar, on the way home from all the excitement we passed a homeless man and she exclaims, "MOMMY! Santa is walking down the street!"

First posting

Wow! My first ever blog! It feels so important. The main reason I want this is to remember all the little things that happen in our daily lives. My friend and I joke that we wish we had "mommy cam" (a built in camcorder in our fingers that would immediately record anything cute or funny).
So, in honor of that I will start with a few things that have happened recently that I want to remember.
On our way home from church Sunday our four-year-old and I were talking about where God lives etc. She asked how we get to heaven and I explained to her how if you love Jesus and try to be like Him then when you die you will go to Heaven. She says, "So, if I die will I go to Heaven?". I said, "Yes". She said, "Well, I will just look at God and say 'No thank you, I'll just go back to my mommy because I will miss her too much.' ". I about melted!
My husband and I are foster parents and recently the possibility of adopting a boy was open to us. I was discussing this with the girls. Our four year said, "Mommy, I hope he stays gone from us." I said, "Why? Don't you want him to live with us?". She said, "I'd love to have a little brother, but I just wish his mommy would take care of him." I found that to be amazingly perceptive for such a tiny girl.