Kids are funny

Or at least MY kid is funny (to me)!
She is always cracking me up with the silly stuff she says. Even some of the stuff she is serious about makes me laugh so hard.

The other day I wasn't feeling well and was just laying on the couch when Annabelle came in and asked me where her solar system was. I wasn't in the mood to get into a very long discussion at the time (shame on me) and just told her that it was in the sky. She seemed happy enough with my answer and went about playing with her little brother.

Well, that night in bed my husband and I were talking about how funny the kids can be at times. This reminded him of earlier in the day when Annabelle was with him. He was telling me that he and another coach were just standing around before football practice and heard Annabelle playing. She had on a little babydoll style shirt that had a sash that tied in the back. My husband went on to tell me how she was tying the sash over and over. Well, apparently she tied it too tight. She turned around and told the guys, "Man I tied my shirt so tight it is cutting off my solar system."

I have never laughed so hard.

Wordless Wednesday

This handsome little guy turns 3 next week.

Tell me again where the time has gone??

A creative evening

Back around Christmas when my mom asked for suggestions on what to get the kids I mentioned Play-doh. I am pretty sure she snorted when she laughed out loud about that. I know she probably thought I was insane for asking her to get my almost 3 yr old and 5 yr old play-doh, but ya know now that I don't have carpet it doesn't bother me so much. It really isn't all that hard to clean up at all (to me). My son thinks he needs to have 16 different colors at one time and almost always smashes them all together. This makes clean up and the disposal of play-doh that much easier on me. :) Last night I was so kind when they both begged me to let them get out the modeling clay and play-doh. It allowed me to tend to some chores I felt needed to be tended to and kept the kids occupied long enough that I could take care of things without having to stop what I was doing and get this or that or stop a fight should one take place. It was great!

The kids had a fun time and for once there was very minimal arguing between them! Annabelle had her "big girl" modeling clay and tools to work with and Isaiah had his little cans of play-doh and cookie cutters to keep him happy. Of course one of my favorite things about letting them play with the stuff is that they always make something for ME!! I love that about motherhood. I love seeing the excitement on my kids' faces when they bring me the treasures they have put so much love in making for me. The hard part of that though is sometimes not knowing exactly what it is they have made. There are times when it is easy to see exactly what it is that has been made, but other times it is best to just not even ask and leave it up to your imagination to decide....

See what I mean?? These were yesterdays gifts. My son's creation is on the top and my daughter's is on the bottom. I took different pics of these lovely gifts at different angles but quite honestly they all just came out the same. When trying to figure out what exactly each child had made, I decided that this was one of those times it was best to let my imagine decide! :)

As promised...

Pics from my hubby's birthday! I could have just edited my last post, but I am not feelin' it. I'm lazy (and working) and probably won't be able to come up with a single other thing to blog about today so I decided to just start a new one with the pictures. Cut me some slack people, it's Monday! I don't like Mondays! :o)

Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting from Sweet Celebrations - $18

Huge muscial birthday card - $9.99

Hand painted artwork from the kids - PRICELESS!!!

happy birthday...

to my wonderful hubby!
He is 33 today! We've had a great day so far. We started the day with my daughter's basketball game. Daddy is the coach! The team sang "Happy Birthday" to him while they were having snacks after the game. :)
We had lunch at Chickfila and then I picked up his favorite cake from Sweet Celebrations. Yum - carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! Annabelle picked out one of those HUGE music cards for him. I am not a fan of paying tons of money for greeting cards, but I let her talk me into paying $9.99 for a card that played "Celebration" when her daddy opened it! ha ha
As far as a gift, I am terrible in that department and my sweet husband knows this. We typically both pick something out for ourselves and call it a birthday present. He has plans to do this at some point (for his own gift!). Annabelle had the great idea to paint something for Daddy from her and Peanut. She picked out two wooden plaques and they both painted lovely pictures on them for him. She even told him he needed to take them to school and hang them in his classroom so all his school kids could see.
I'll post pictures of the fun stuff later! :)

TGIF

That is all I want to say today.

I am so very thankful that it is Friday. This week hasn't been all that hard or stressful, but for whatever reason I am tired! Today, in particular, I am just worn out. I am ready to start my weekend. I hope it means that there will be some time to relax at some point. I wish you all a very relaxing weekend, too. :)

I gained 2 pounds in 10 seconds....

and I am so happy about that!
Now you might say, "Why on earth is this woman happy to have gained weight?" Yes, most women I know are desperately trying to lose weight. Hey, count me in that group. It is a never ending battle. But rest assured ladies, the 2 pounds I gained yesterday were gained with love and my heart swelled so big upon receiving the added weight. I am a very happy and blessed Mama (today and everyday).

Yesterday my husband picked my son up from school. When the arrived home Peanut came bouncing over to me and handed me a massive pile of large beads on a string.



"Here Mommy," he said, "You're my best friend." Awwww. He just melts my heart. I said, "For me buddy? What is it?" He smiled so big and said, "A necklace. You gotta wear it. I made it for you at my school."

And so I did just that!

Wordless Wednesday

I feel so blessed to have such a great best friend. Today is my Brandi's 30th birthday! I love you, B!!!! Thanks for being such a great friend all these years.

blah blah blog...

I'm really bored and have nothing exciting to talk about.

It's Sunday night and so far this is my first weekend post of my blog (I think). I've had a really great weekend so far. Friday we went ahead and celebrated Valentine's Day. We spent it as a family as we have for the last few years since kids came along. :) I love it this way. We started by giving the kids their cards and gifts. Annabelle got a new Webkinz and Peanut got a Lightning McQueen car set. They were both happy.

My hubby and I rarely do much for Valentine's Day since February happens to be such a busy month for us. We have Vday, then a week later is his birthday (the 21st) and a week after that is my birthday (the 28th). We decided last year that we would just start celebrating the three events as one and do one dinner out and buy one gift for each other that would take care of Valentine's Day and the other's birthday. Works for me! But he broke the rules this year. Go figure!! He got me a Webkinz (I have an addiction, what can I say!?!?), a new Willow Tree collectible to add to my beautiful collection and my favorite Premium M&Ms in Mint! He is quite the guy. :)

For dinner we had pizza and salad from a joint nearby. Everyone was happy with our dinner choice. Dessert would wait for Saturday night though. Cherry Chocolate chip cake with buttercream frosting made by my hubby. It was delish.

I am now sitting here thinking about all the yummy stuff I had this weekend and am ever so thankful to have Monday off. The first thing we are going to do tomorrow after dropping my son off at daycare is head straight to the gym and working our booties off! And believe me, mine needs it bad!!! What better way to start off the week, huh?

Pre-Valentine's yummies

Ahh Valentine's Day. The most Hallmark Holiday of all the holidays, to me anyway. I've never really been a fan of Valentine's Day, to be honest. I mean as a kid sure I liked it. What's not to love about little candy hearts pleaing for "True Love" and paper cards with cute sayings like, "Bee Mine" and a swarm of bumble bees pictured on the front? Actually, I never really liked those little conversation hearts. It wasn't the messages I didn't or don't care for it's the taste. Give me chocolate and then we're talkin'.

Anyway, I debated back and forth the last several days on what to send to my son's daycare class for their party treats. Do I just be lazy and send a bag of suckers or those silly conversation hearts or do I breakout the Kitchen Aid and get a little more creative? I decided on the latter but wasn't feeling too creative. Although I shouldn't tell a lie, my husband did most of the hard work. He measured, whipped and baked. I did the frosting and decorating. Teamwork!

Alas, the masterpiece(s)! Not too fancy, but at the same time not Cake Wrecks worthy. Strawberry cake with vanilla frosting and of course, Valentine's sprinkles in red, pink and white! Yummy! I think a group of rowdy 3/4 year olds will absolutely love them!

And yes, friends, I did mention chocolate earlier in my post. I'm not a huge lover of chocolate but I do like it. See, I have been attempting to follow South Beach diet to the best of my ability the last month or so (and I have been somewhat successful); so when my boss (aka father in law) walked in this morning with a 14oz box of Mrs. Fields Premium Assorted Chocolates my heart did a weird little pitter pater for a split second. Just a split second. My daughter was with me and said, "Oooh we can totally share that, Mom and have a sugar breakfast!" Much to her dismay I quickly responded with, "No sweetie, let's wait until everyone is home together tonight and share." I might have decided to take the plastic surrounding my lovely heart tin off at some point today....

Oh and there might be one or two missing. Just sayin'....

It's been a crazy week..

and not in a good way.

Baby girl has the flu. :(

It all started Monday morning with a headache. I'm a terrible Mommy because I ignored my girl's plea to not go to school because her head was hurting. I've told the girl over and over again that I would be a rich woman if I had a dollar for every time she has a headache! So, what's a mom to do??

About 9am I get a call on my cell, of course I am at work. It's Annabelle's super sweet teacher. She tells me that Annabelle was complaining of a headache, doesn't have a fever, but does look rather pale. She goes on to tell me that my sweet girl declined going to computers (which she normally loves) because she wasn't feeling well. "I'm on my way."

I get there and my poor baby looks pitiful. She did indeed have to "let the uglies out." My heart sank. The mama in me felt bad for my girl, but at the same time I was thinking about the rest of us, too. Please, Lord, do not let this pass around my house, let it be gone tomorrow!

Unfortunately tomorrow has now turned into the next day and the next day and well, the weekend. After poor Annabelle ran a fever for 2 days that decided it wouldn't break, despite our attempts at beating it with Tylenol, I called the doctor. They swabbed for strep and flu. She's out of school for the week. She even has to miss her Valentine's party at school.

I told you I was horrible mother. I let time slip by, we got busy, and you guessed it, I failed to get my kids flu shots. Next year, we are first in line!!

I missed Wordless Wednesday...

because I had a sick kiddo. So, here's the photo I would've posted yesterday. It's of my boy using "Pat" to hammer the little pegs on the table at the Crumble Bumble (aka Cracker Barrel). And for those of you that don't know "Pat", well he's Handy Manny's hammer. :)

And yes, I realize my post is not wordless now. tee hee hee

basketball, skating, and barf buckets....

Annabelle had a basketball game Saturday morning. She played well. All of my photos showed up dark, which was a major bummer for me. This one was the lightest even though it wasn't the best. It was a fun game though. Annabelle's team played a team that one of her good friends from school plays on. I enjoyed watching she and Tucker "dance" on the basketball court.

We also had a church youth group outing Saturday. We went to a local skating rink and all the kids were able to skate for a couple of hours. Annabelle LOVED it. We had never been before (with the kids). It took Annabelle a while to get used to the skates and the floor but by the end of the two hours she really impressed me. She only fell a couple of times and didn't even cry when she did fall. My girl got right back up and kept on going. Peanut was a little bit of a different story. He let Mommy and Daddy hold his hands and go one time around the rink but after that he was done. He did do a little dance on the carpet long enough for me to snap a couple of cute pictures.

And now you say, what's with the barf buckets??? Ahhh, yes. Well, Sunday as we were about to walk out the door for church poor Peanut got a funny look on his face and out came the uglies. :( Our family had been hit with the stomach virus. It's Monday and so far it has gone through Peanut, Daddy, and Annabelle. I am knocking on some serious wood, keeping all my digits crossed and praying hard that it doesn't hit me. I do not do well with the uglies. And now be glad I didn't post a picture of the Emert barf buckets!! ha ha ha...

annabelle grace

my sweet baby girl...

i love her eyes the shade of the blue skies i remember from my wedding day. i love the way her pretty smile makes my heart dance and sing.i love her shiny hair and how she is girly enough to let me accesorize with pretty BOWS. i love her big hearty laugh, it is sure to make you giggle. i love her sweet nature and sassy ATTITUDE. i love when i grab my camera and tell her to look my way she does all of this...

Chillin' but still grillin'...

it was cold Wednesday evening, um, no wait - it was freezing when my man decided to fire up the ol' charcoal grill and start dinner. Nevermind the fact that there was still snow on the ground and it was 20 degrees out, add in the windchill factor and I think it was in the low teens, but he still was set on grilling burgers. They were delicious, too, by the way. I could smell the aroma fill the air as I stepped out of my car when I arrived home from work. I'm sure a few of our neighbors think we are crazy and you know what?!?! Fine by me! We don't need 80 degree temps to fire up our grill. :)

I have a sweet tooth

And it is real bad especially when cupcakes are involved. Today my beloved and I, along with our sweet daughter, had lunch together. They are out of school again due to the weather. I'm thankful for that (mostly because it means I will arrive home this evening to a semi-clean house)!! My daughter has a sweet tooth that is much worse than my own and that is why we ended up across town from where we had lunch today at a yummy bakery called "Sweet Celebrations." It is quite possibly the best little bakery in Blount County.

Annabelle loves going for the cute little thumbprint cookies they have. I have to admit that those little cookies are the best ever, too. Small shortbread cookies with just the right amount of crispiness to them and then topped off with the most delicious frosting in any color of the rainbow you can imagine (color varies at different times of the year). Today my sweet girl walked right up to the counter and kindly asked, "May I please have 3 pink thumbprint cookies?" Her wish was granted. :) And it was a happy day!

I chose the beauty below and it tickled my fancy.

Wordless Wednesday

Not my favorite household chore.

I started my day Sunday by sorting through the mounds of clothing, blankets, and towels that were thrown all over my house. I did the usual sorting that most people do when beginning laundry. Whites, darks, jeans, towels, blankets and sheets. Sounds so fun, huh?! Not for me as I despise laundry.

My little family of four can manage to make it feel as though you are doing laundry duty for 104. It doesn't help that I have two little monsters in the house that think they need to change clothes 3,642 times per day. And my sweet daughter who thinks that once she tries one shirt on it just has to go in the dirty pile. And we won't even talk about my 3 yr old who still seems to miss the toilet some days. Bless his heart, he just doesn't always have great control and hasn't quite mastered the grip (hey, folks - I'm just speakin' truth here!!) and manages to get pee-pee on his pants and socks. But hey, Mama is proud he is finally standing rather than sitting. And let me add that I'd much rather do extra laundry than have to scrub walls daily!! You other mom's of boys know exactly of what I speak.

Speaking of socks...

This is quite possibly the worst part of laundry for me. I don't mind folding 52 towels in a row, but something about a mound of socks sends me into convulsions. And that small mound of socks there that needs to be matched isn't even half of the socks in my house looking for their respective mates. I don't know about you, but we have a whole basket of mismatched socks. Even when we have a small portion matched someone is still running around in the mornings trying to find socks. I digress.

26 Days and counting...

until my 30th birthday. I've been stressing about it quite a bit. I honestly have no idea why I am stressing about it. It could be that my body is telling me I am aging. Its' gotten to the point that I am plucking the gray hairs out of my head almost every.single.day now.

I've accomplished a lot of the things I always said I wanted to do before turning 30. Having kids was at the top of that list and I can say that I have been truly blessed with two beautiful kids. I love them dearly. Although now come to think of it I think they are to blame for the gray hairs!! ha ha

Anyway, I am in the homestretch now and I know turning 30 won't be as bad as I have stressed that it will be. Afterall, my beautiful best friend will be celebrating her 30th ten days before me. I'll let her get me prepped for it!!