Will Crash for Krispy Kreme

We were leaving Chickfila on Thursday evening and next door the hot light was on at Krispy Kreme Donuts. We love (well, mostly me, but whatever) the donuts there and John rolled down his window and had his head sticking out to smell them. "It smells just like the fair," he said. He was enjoying the scent so much that he very nearly crashed into the median.

Silly Man.

Yummy Krispy Kreme.

Sigh.....

***No, we did NOT stop there. No, we never stop there. They aren't good for us. Boo.***

A Walmart Moment To Beat All Walmart Moments

I can't believe I have neglected to write about this, but it happened when I was computer-less and internet-less a few weeks ago.

I was driving down the road yesterday and had a rare moment of clarity.

Gadzooks! I never shared THE Walmart moment!

(I'll forewarn you now that I have now pictures - boo! - but hopefully you can appreciate the story anyway.)

It was a Saturday and in an effort to kill two birds with one stone - distract the kids because my parents were leaving to go back home and buy some groceries too - we headed into Walmart. Myself, John, and all four kids.

What were we thinking??? Walmart? Saturday? Four kids?

Moving along.

Early on in the trip, we had what might be considered a foreshadowing of THE moment when I asked Aulora to put the container of blueberries in the basket for me. She obeyed happily and dropped them in. As soon as the little plastic box hit the basket it opened up and blueberries went everywhere. Of course, berries fit through the little openings of the basket so they rolled here and they rolled there. They rolled, as I said, everywhere!

So before lots of people started walking on them and squishing them (and before they could kick us out), we had all the kids on their hands and knees picking up berries.

Then we discreetly grabbed a new box of blueberries and continued shopping.

Fast forward one long hour of grueling Walmart torture later and we are checking out. I sent John ahead towards the car with the 3 big kids as I took care of bagging and paying. We were almost done when I realized the monkeys were eating a box of goldfish we hadn't yet payed for. I didn't want to walk too far away from Joshua and the basket so I told John, "Just take the bag out of the box and toss me the box."

Pause right there.

Are those difficult instructions? "Just take the bag out of the box and toss me the box." No? I didn't think so either. Hence my assumption that's what my husband would then do. This is the man that scored so high on his LSAT that he was hired to teach the prep course. This is also the man that is now in law school at Notre Dame. And he already holds 3 other degrees.

He's a smart one. I really can't emphasize that enough.

Back to the story.

He did NOT remove the bag. He did NOT close the box. And I did NOT know that he didn't do those things.

He tossed the box at me from about 15 feet away. The rest is quite a blur.

A blur of goldfish and laughter that is.

Right there, in the midst of Saturday afternoon Walmart craziness, I was assaulted by a whole box full of Pepperidge Farm goldfish. They were flying all over the place! In my hair, at my feet, in my shirt!

Time froze and I stared at my smart husband in disbelief. Everyone else stared at me in disbelief. Poor little me with a now empty box in my hands, standing in a sea of goldfish.

And then I could hear some snickers. Of course it was not at me, but with me, I'm sure.

I've had a lot of Walmart moments, but this one has to be my crowning glory. I really hope I don't top it. I really don't.

I'm good. Thanks.

(I have to say, the incident did make for easier snacking as goldfish were readily available throughout the day. That's all I'm going to say about that!)

Do you have a Walmart moment that will make me feel better? Do share!


**I'm sharing later about my new favorite grocery store! You won't believe what they have for the kids!**

Something Hairy Can Be Scary!

If you were sitting in your living room, in a house you just moved to, where you daily see either "varmits" outside or at least the evidence of them, and you looked over and saw this:

Wouldn't you be a little concerned???

After slowly inching forward to see what it could be and then poking it with a long toy, I discovered it was just this:

What is it?

Just the hair that fell off of this poor little Amish doll.

There. All better.
Except that everywhere I go in the house, this hairless doll shows up on the floor - her hair always sadly nearby. Kind of creepy.

Julia said she has boy hair and that's why she needs her Amish "cap".

Budding Artist Uses My Door

Aulora felt the need to add her own decorating touch to one of the doors.
Can you see it? Lots of big crayon scribbles all over it.
All crayons have now been confiscated.

The Price of Sleeping In

Joshua has a cold and John has had a tremendous headache he can't get rid of for going on two days now, so we played hooky from church today. The girls woke up early anyway and I could hear them happily playing as I stayed warm and snuggly in bed. I could tell they were playing with toys and they were even playing with Joshua, giving him toys in his bed and keeping him happy.

Life was good. The bed was great. I was happy.

Then Joshua started to cry and I knew sleeping time was officially over. I went in to get him and this is what I found:

I'm not sure if you can fully appreciate the depth of the toys in the bed,
but trust me, it's a lot of toys!

Not to mention the fact that there are also two little girls in there too.
(See the big gouges on the front bed rail? That's from John David's belt buckle as he leaned over the bed to play with Joshua one morning before school. Nice, huh?)

Joshua discovers one of the two now empty toy boxes.

And here they are pretending to be asleep so they wouldn't
have to clean it all up. Nice try, girls.....

Amercian Girl Doll Store

My parents came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we spent about 4 or 5 days of their time with us over in Chicago. My mom got rooms at The Marriott on the Magnificent Mile downtown and we went to the aquarium, Navy Pier, the children's museum, saw Cirque Shanghai. The kids went bike riding with dad and played on the beach and we all got to ride The Tall Ship Windy where John David was chosen to shoot the cannon. My dad has all the pictures of those things, so I have to patiently wait for him to post them on his smugmug site. (ahem, Davus.)

The lobby of The Marriott
(just envision four monkeys running around hollering and that's what it looked like when we were there)

We had two rooms that were across the hall from each other
(if I remember correctly, we were on the 34th floor - do you think I opened that glass door?)

One evening we had a girls' night out! Here's my mom and the girls outside the
American Girl Doll Store as we were leaving, shopping bags in hand.
(Oh my, what have we started??? Have you ever been in one of these stores or seen one of the catalogs???)

In addition to the store, there is a restaurant there. Everything is so dainty and sweet and they even have little seats for your dolls. This was the appetizer we enjoyed.


I don't know what Aulora was doing here, but I think it's just too funny.
I guess she was really excited about her plate of dainty desserts.

Julia chose the colonial era Elizabeth for her doll.
(Can you tell that Julia looks kind of strange in these pictures? She had some mystery fevers before this trip and nobody, including the doctor, could figure out what the problem was. We chalked it up to a virus and decided to let it run its course. Our second day in Chicago she woke up with very rosy cheeks and a red blotched body. We finally concluded she had fifth disease. This was confirmed when Aulora developed the same rosy skin a few days later.)

Aulora chose a bitty baby which has yet to be named anything but "Baby".

Julia and Elizabeth had impeccable manners at the table.

Aulora and "Baby" had some tea.

The girls pose with Grandmamma.

I know my dad has some fun pictures from the trip so hopefully I can steal them soon! Thanks to Grandmamma and Dodie for a fun trip and lots of memories! And thank you to Gran for buying the girls their outfits they are wearing in these pictures!

Another First Day

Three years ago I took my first baby to his first day of kindergarten. I'll never, ever forget that day. This post still makes me all weepy!

Here they are for this year's first day of school yesterday morning! John David started third grade and Julia started kindergarten.

Here's John David for his first obligatory "first day of school" shot.

And here's Julia for hers (Notice the new grown-up hair style without any bows because she is apparently too old for them now. I did put them in her hair today though!)

This is a quick shot of John David in his classroom. I wanted to take more pictures, but I was afraid I would embarrass him. His class has seven students and his teacher has been teaching for 28 years. She seems like a wonderful lady so far!

Julia's class is a little bigger with either 12 or 13 students, I think. Her teacher has been teaching for about 15 years and is so sweet. Her room looks like a lot of fun!

Their day starts with prayer with the principal over the intercom.

Do they look older after their first day or is it just me?

Craigslist Entertainment

John and I often browse Craigslist - sometimes because we need something and sometimes because it's just fun.

Last night I came across a post for some wicker patio furniture. It all sounded nice and then we looked at the picture. Notice anything strange?

And then there was this set of microsuede furniture from the same seller.

So after much discussion as to whether the pictures were just taken at weird angles or if this furniture belonged to very small people, we decided to send a friendly email to the sellers. It said:

"Hi,

My husband and I are huge craigslist fans and we frequently browse through listings just for fun. We've been really intrigued by both your microsuede post and the patio set post. My husband is convinced all of these things are small and I say it's the angle of the picture. Is the white SUV in the background super huge or is all the furniture extra little? Will you settle our argument for us?

Thanks! =)

A fellow Craigslister"

We just sent it about an hour ago so we don't have an answer. I'm not sure if they will respond at all, but I hope they do. Surely, this is just a funny picture, right? Because if you were going to sell small, mini furniture on Craigslist, wouldn't you mention the size in the ad? I'm just way too amused here......

What do YOU think???

Must....Post.....Something.....New!

• Internet is scheduled for installation next Wednesday. Excitement is a small word here. 
• Our first school choice for the kids fell through, and now we are quickly trying to form plan B. Uh, school starts next week, by the way!
• Julia got her hair cut in anticipation of school starting. It's still long, but much shorter. She's suddenly so much more grown up and her hair is just beautiful.
• Joshua has learned how to go up and down the stairs so my stress level has decreased significantly. 
• Aulora has also learned how to use the "big" potty without my assistance so my running up and down the stairs has also decreased significantly. (Our downstairs bathroom is under construction.)
• The basement carpet will be installed next week so maybe construction nastiness will finally not be constantly tracked all over the hardwood floors. 
• Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches are yummy.
• Our dish network isn't totally up and running yet so there's been no tv around here. I watched Old Yeller last night. (Shhh, I cried.)
• I promise my blogging will pick up again soon. 
• I completed a makeover on an old desk and it now hold my computer in our formal living room. I wuv it! I'm on the lookout for an old chair to go with it. 
• Purchased an old desk for John David today at Salvation Army. It will also be receiving some TLC from La. $12 isn't too bad though. 
• The computer is about to die.....
• I miss all of you, my SA friends. I've been keeping up with your blogs on my phones. I hope to make some friends as good as you all were. =)
• Mimi, I've lost weight since not living by you. I miss you, but I do not miss my extra love handles. You were fattening me up! It was good though! Love you......