I Missed Out

....or so it seems anyway. This is the first year in I don't know how long that I haven't gone Black Friday shopping. I think I'm glad I didn't go, but it seems like I surely must have missed all kinds of good shopping. The remembrance of extreme exhaustion after that early morning madness was my main motivation for skipping out this time. I would have gone for sure if I could have come back home and gone back to bed, but we all know that wasn't happening! Besides, my shopping buddy wasn't with me this year. She was in Colorado not shopping too.

So now I'm getting ready to go to bed and I'm really itching for some shopping! Did anyone get any incredible bargains?

We're Off!

I'm about to go put the bags in the van so we can take off! The kids are excited, I'm excited, and Daddy is super excited to have his family (part of it anyway) coming to see him. We'll be back by Monday........

Down to Two

Have I mentioned that the two baby monkeys are with their grandparents for the week? THE WEEK? I haven't had just John David and Julia since before Aulora was born!

First off, I just have to say that all of you mommas with only two kids, well, quit the complaining! Just kidding. ;) But seriously, going from four down to two is a huge deal. Especially when it's the babies that are gone. I would sooo be having a vacation this week if not for that stupid Piece of a house that will apparently NEVER be done! (I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.)

I'm taking them tomorrow evening to Dallas to meet up with John for the weekend. We're really excited about this little mini-vacation of sorts. Daddy is off Friday but then he works from 9-6 on Saturday and Sunday so he won't be with us the whole time. We just figured we might as well use that nice hotel room that he was going to have anyway!

We're planning to see my grandma while we're there and then some other things we're thinking about are:

• seeing the King Tut exhibit (John really wants to do this!)
• going to the movies (Bolt maybe?)
• Rain Forest Cafe
• Model Train exhibit
• Underground Dallas
• Eat at Reunion Tower (that's the ball in downtown Dallas)
• see a show at the Omni Theater
• eat at Pappasitos!

Any suggestions from anyone else? I really want to make the most of this time with just the older two. This is pretty rare!

Awesome Site for Kids

Either everyone has been holding out on me or no one else knows about this site because it rocks! Julia LOVES to play on the computer and today I found Starfall.com. She was already reading, but she's taking off now! If you have young kids, check it out!

Finding this site got me thinking though. There must be other sites out there that I'm missing out on. Are there sites your kids use that you recommend? Please share!

The Birthday Party

Another birthday season has come and gone. That always brings relief tinged with plenty of emotion over my babies being yet another year older. With all that we have going on right now, it was nice to have their party at Chuck E. Cheese's just so there was nothing to worry about other than getting them dressed and picking up the cake (which Gran actually took care of for me!). I really wasn't feeling well all day, but a mommy can't miss her own kids' birthday party so of course I was there. We made some birthday memories, I hope!

It's the monkeys with ol' Chuck himself right after the birthday show.
(It's funny how much John David's teeth resemble Chuck E.'s teeth!)

Here's Little with one of his school friends, Samuel, dancing together during the show.

Silly friends - Samuel, John David, Kelen, and Aidan....and for the record, those glasses on top of John David's head are his laser tag glasses he randomly decided to wear for the day.

Julia and her friend Madison. (This little girl is the reason Julia longed for curly hair for sooooo long. She finally got her wish since Mommy and Daddy bought her the special curling iron for her birthday!)

Cameron, Morgan, and Julia - happy girlies.

Sister love...

Renee, Andrew, and Timothy gave both of the kids their own gift card to Walmart. Does it get any better than that? Julia already spent hers today on a Littlest Pet Shop set.

Julia's teacher, "Mrs. Anchez" (as Julia says), gave Julia a Webkinz kitty. Can you see the pure delight on her face? She named it Amalia. There is never a shortage of fairy tale-ish sounding names around here.

Daddy and Joshua were mostly just trying to stay out of the way.

Hey! I'm there! See? It's me in a picture!

I think we were singing happy birthday in this shot.

This is Ronnie, one of the kids' friends from church. She actually had a massive head injury during this past year and had to have emergency brain surgery. She had a miraculous recovery and we were so happy she was with us for the party!

Julia's friend, Azariah, gave her lots of jewelry that she has been quite thrilled about. There was a best friend necklace set and yesterday, after telling her what the different words on the jewelry said, Julia came in to see me. She handed me the necklace that said "Best" and said, "Here, Mommy. You can have this one because you are the best mommy in the whole wide world!" And then I got the sweetest kiss you can imagine.

The boy in the red shirt is Tommy and he's John David's friend from church. His family doesn't have very much so he sold some of his toys to get some money to give John David for his birthday. He was also excited about giving him tickets he won during the party. Isn't that the sweetest thing? (There was also another little boy who came who couldn't afford a present, but his dad works at Walmart so he brought John David a container of bakery cupcakes!)

Julia's friend, Cameron, gave her this shirt and you would have thought Julia had won the lottery. She was so excited about it and put it on when we got home from the party. I finally pried it off her body tonight so I could wash it. She had even been sleeping in it!

Happy Birthday, Babies!!!

Confessions of a Bad Mommy

First of all, SHHHHHH, don't tell my kids that I'm the tooth fairy.

Now that we got that out of the way.......

On a Mommy scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the most pathetic mommy ever and 10 being world's best mommy ever, how awful is it that my son lost a tooth and excitedly put it under his pillow only to find it still there this morning when he woke up?

He better hurry up and get to sleep so I can go all tooth fairy and not forget again.

The Highway From H*ll

I'm not sure I can adequately describe what transpired in my car between 1:25 and 2:05 yesterday, but it was straight out of the Twilight Zone. All I can tell you is that I was downtown and needed to go to a different part of town. I was stuck on the same stretch of highway for all of that time and couldn't find my way off. Instead of naming all the different highways names, they use numbers and I can't keep them straight. I kept trying to exit only to find myself going completely the wrong direction. It would not be truthful to say I kept my cool either. In fact, I'm pretty sure I had a nervous breakdown. John was trying to help me over the phone, but he wasn't quite right on the exit number so I was jacked up yet again. And then he laughed at me. Or maybe I should say with me, since I was laughing at myself in the midst of my crying fit. It was horrible!

Then, when I finally found my way off the highway from H*LL, I came upon this:




Traffic was completely stopped as workers tried to figure out what to do. I had my window down at first to look at it and take a picture, but then the wind shifted and waves of water came shooting in. My electric window just couldn't go up fast enough at that point!

The end result of all of the weirdness was a messy mascara face and a very late mommy picking up her babies from preschool/mother's day out. I should probably avoid all highways for awhile.....

Bath Convert and a Present Picture Hint

I know I said I would show what Julia's present was, but first I have to throw in some bath time pictures. These never get old for me! Monday night was the first time Joshua has ever taken a bath of any kind without crying. He's probably had not quite enough baths in his little lifetime just because the sheer terror he seems to experience breaks my heart.

This time he was impressed with the bubbles and the toys. And then he discovered splashing water with his hands. He was an instant fan of bath time as he giggled over and over when the water drops would land on his face. I tried to capture it on video, but I didn't get my camera in time. (Don't call CPS - I'm a good mom. I sent someone for it so he wouldn't be alone.) I fell in love with my little man all over again as he was so cute and giggly!

Clean at last! Clean at last! Thank God Almighty, we'll be clean at last!

Best Buds

We just need John David now.
Sorry Little, you're just a little too old for community bath time!

I wonder if you can tell what Julia's present was by looking at these (not too great) pictures I took of the kids at bedtime. They were busy looking through the Target catalog circling what they want for Christmas.

That's right, John David. Circle away. Just circle away.

Shhhhh.....

Daddy doesn't know it yet, but he bought Julia's birthday present today at the mall. I think it's just the coolest thing ever and can't believe that I've waited this long to get one. Julia is in heaven too. Pictures will be posted soon......

Recipe For Disaster

One Mommy who desperately needs to go potty (but not because she drank way too much Dr Pepper - no never)

One five year old who thinks it's hi-freakin-larious to beat you up the stairs and run to the bathroom and block the potty as she laughs like a hyena

Yep, that's pretty much it.

Bye Amadeus

I was on the way home this evening with all the kids when Gran called and said that her dog (who has also been the kids' dog since we've lived with them) was going to be put to sleep. They found out he has stomach cancer and he was in a lot of pain. I drove to the animal hospital and broke the news first to John David outside of the car. Amadeus is his buddy and they really love each other. It was heartbreaking to see him cry for his friend he was losing. I sent him in to say goodbye and then told Julia. She cried equally as much (or more), but I think her tears were due more to her drama queen nature. She said she wished there was a shooting star right then so she could make a wish for 'Deus to be all better. I figured it wasn't the best time to lecture her about shooting star wishes versus prayer.

When we were driving away, Gran called to talk to John David. She didn't know she was on speaker phone and I'm pretty sure I heard her promising John David his very own cocker spaniel for our own house when Daddy was done with school. Hmmmmm......

Getting them to sleep was no easy task tonight. Julia was howling and crying great big tears for a long time, so I finally went in and scratched and rubbed them and sang every old school worship song I knew until they both fell asleep. Whew.....



Bye Amadeus. You will be missed. =(

I Cannot Tell a Lie....

I am ticked off. My children are determined to hide or lose my stuff. The latest three things are:

• my camera charger - I gave up looking for it and bought a new one on ebay
• the remote for the tv - this is not a matter of laziness. you can't change the channels and access the recorded things without it.
  
• the stylus for my palm treo - one of the monkeys was just admiring it today and now it is mysteriously missing. hmmmm.

I know, know, know that my monkeys are responsible for these items. It's not uncommon for them to get into my things or misplace stuff, but these are three significant things all at the same time. ARGHHHHHH!!!

It's worse too because this was just one of those days. The kind of day where it's bright and sunny when you leave for the grocery store and pouring down rain when you leave. Children take off diapers and other children have accidents. You get thrown up on and the dog barks and snaps at the baby and makes the baby scream. Kids don't do their homework right and there was a lot of it to begin with.

A day like this reaches perfection when you eat the remains of your kids' corny dogs for dinner along with some cookie dough from the fridge. Oh, and ultra perfection when you have what has got to be a bone spur in your foot. Ouch!

So now I'm going to take a hot shower and breathe in some of His peace. Which reminds me....

I was walking to my car in the parking lot a couple of days ago. It was a day that was filled with decisions and, frankly, uncertainties. I don't mind change, but I do not like uncertainty. I was almost to the car when I heard God speaking that old song (by Kathy Trocolli I think?) called, "My Life Is In Your Hands".

My life is in your hands
and though I may not see it clearly
I will lift my voice and sing
for your love does amazing things.
Lord, I know my life is in Your hands.

This is what keeps me going right now - just knowing that I don't have to see it all written out clearly before me. We just need to obey one step at a time and we'll get wherever we're going.

John David and Mimi

A few weeks ago Mimi took me, John David, and Joshua to Olive Garden for dinner. The girls were in Tulsa and we didn't want to cook! Mimi is the kids' great grandma and boy do they love going to her house. Every Thursday is "Mimi Day" while I teach piano lessons. She picks up the boy from school and then they go with her until dinner time. Sometimes she takes them to Chuck E. Cheese's or McDonald's and sometimes they go to her house. Last Thursday she taught Julia how to make blueberry muffins and this week they are going to make cupcakes. Her house is a museum of everything vintage and they have the best time with her. Thanks for the good times, Mimi!

So Much To Post, So Little Time

I don't know about you, but when I have lots to do (or in this case, lots to post) I just start shutting down. I can't do anything at all! So in an effort to not totally shut down, I'm going to post here and there as I think of a few small things. There won't be any pictures for a while though because my camera battery charger is MIA. I'm pretty sure monkey #3 is responsible for this, but I don't have proof yet.

First off, happy birthday first to John David who celebrated his eight birthday last Tuesday! (Did I already mention that? I can't remember and I'm apparently too lazy to check previous posts.) I took him McDonald's for lunch and, at his request, we ate at IHOP for dinner. We took some pictures, but you won't be seeing them tonight (refer to paragraph one). Sorry.

Today is Julia's fifth birthday! Now that is just really hard to swallow. I made a deal with her last night that if she would stop growing, then I would give her more birthday presents. She agreed! Hmmmmm.....Do I really want a four year old Julia forever? Probably not. (refer to sidebar of this blog)

John David is currently flying the most annoying little ufo toy up to the balcony. Who buys my children these things???

At lunch on Sunday, the kids went up to the ice cream counter to order their dessert. John David had the money and was in charge of ordering. He ordered himself and his friend big waffle cones and then ordered Julia a small kiddie cone. When asked why he said, "Because little princesses don't need to get fat." No lie, that's what he said. I'm sure everyone there thought that's what we tell our girls. Great.......

The girls pooled some of their birthday money together to buy a Mrs. Goodbee doll house. What a wonderful toy for them to share! They have spent many hours already playing together just like little sisters should. I love watching them. It's the stuff sweet mommy dreams are made of.

Julia also got her first bike! It's a decked out Barbie bike and, although it still has training wheels, Julia thinks she is quite grown up. Pictures of that will come later.

We just finished up several days of visiting with all grandparents and what a whirlwind it's been! Of course the kids were in heaven since anything they could possibly want was given to them before they could even ask for it. Now it's back to reality as it's just us again. Their little bodies were surely in shock today as they heard "no" quite a bit. They would have heard it even more if it hadn't been Julia's birthday.

It's time to do some homework now so off I go.......