My tribute to reading!

Here she is! Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. She lives in an upside down house and is great with children. All the parents in her town call her for her unusual cures and advice on handling problems with children. Her late husband was a pirate, and before he died, he hid treasure and money all over the house so she could live comfortably all her life and have the fun of looking for the treasure! The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books are awesome.

Another wonderful children's book I mentioned earilier is Matilda. I have to say that the book is oodles better than the movie, cute as it is. Matilda has these horribly rotten parents. Luckily she is smarter than them and teaches them a lesson or two. I probably read this book 50 times. I always loved how she went to the library by herself when she was four and read through the entire section of the children's section, then started on the adult section. As a parent now, the thought of a four year old going to the library alone is horrifying!

And you know I love her. My Anne of Green Gables. The movie and the book. You know how everyone has a movie or a book that they wish they could watch or read over again for the first time?This is mine. She is so wonderfully clumsy and quirky!

Another book I loved as a kid was Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (couldn't find a pic to go with this one). I hope Seth and Lily want to read as much as I did as a child. I still would like to read all the time, but alas, my time is limited these days. So I've been reading Chicken Soup for the Soul and these wonderful little books by Annette Smith that have the inspiring and humorous short stories. Humor is a must in my reading these days. Life has enough that is depressing...give me something to make me laugh! And these short stories are gloriously short enough that I can read one or two stories and put it down without feeling like I must pick it back up as soon as possible. No cliffhangers. My sister asked me the other day, "How long has it been since you read a normal book?" haha She just doesn't understand my system. :)

hmm I haven't read this one yet

Top o' the morning to ya

Well, yesterday was kind of a crummy day, but there was some good news at the end. Kim called me at work yesterday, she and Jerry were at my house doing laundry. She told me that one of my neighbors had shot her dog (who's staying at my house), Mama Dog! Some 23 or 24 year old guy...luckily Kim and Jerry heard the shot and heard her yelp and drove down there after they saw her running down the driveway, bleeding, and the guy said that Mama Dog "tore a hole" in his garbage. So he just shot her!! What a jerk. They called the police and then took her to the vet. Luckily, she made it. She was bleeding a lot, so we weren't sure at first. They had to cut out the bullet and Kim took her to her house to recuperate indoors for a few days. How could someone be so cruel? I don't think he even SAW her tear his garbage, but assumed it and shot her when she came in his yard. She's been at our house for about 2 months or so and she's never torn anything up in our yard, garbage or otherwise. It made me SO MAD. But Kim's going to file charges and hopefully he'll have to pay the vet bill, at least.
Then I found out that a teacher at Seth's school passed away. I think she had a heart attack, so they let out school today for the funeral. I think they explained it pretty well to the kids...Seth, Becca and Leia didn't have or know the teacher, but Seth seemed a little bummed out about it. But it was nice to see Mama Dog wagging her tail when I came home (as best she could). I feel so sad for the teacher's family though, and for her students. Its just such a shock when things like this happen.
I don't want this whole post to be depressing. Let me think of some good things to say. Last night was a good night. Kim and Jerry stayed for supper and we had Jessie's delicious chili. Tomorrow's my day off! Yay! The only plans I have thus far are to clean my house - yes, it is messy again. Quite so.- And I need to go to the library to return our millions of books and tapes. I've been checking out books on tape for Seth and Lily and Lily really loves them. We have Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle checked out right now. Anyone ever read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books? I loved them when I was a kid. (And still do!) Sometimes when I'm straightening books in the library I'll see books that I used to love...and read over and over again. Like Matilda and the Beverly Cleary books...it makes me wistful. haha Sometimes I miss being a kid. Luckily I can live vicariously through my own two...

Weekend stuff

I wasn't very creative with the title today, I know. :) I'm barely awake this morning but I'm here in body anyway! We had a good weekend. Yesterday was Noelle's birthday party. She was SO cute...she was wearing a little princessy-ballerina-y outfit and Amber gave her a tiara to wear. It was adorable. And I saw baby Cole! He has gotten so big since I saw him last! He was so, so cute, I could hardly tear myself away from him when it was time to leave. We had a good time. There was pizza and cake galore and the kids had fun annoying everyone with those little "Wwwweeeehh" noisemaker things in their goodie bags! It was like a mini-family reunion.
Saturday I took the plunge and got my hair cut. Its a good bit shorter now but I like it. Its straight today, but when its curly it looks a little Bozo-ish haha. Hopefully some of that curly serum goop will help it out a bit when I wear it curly again. Getting it cut wasn't bad, it was the waiting that sucked. Note to self: the Wal-mart hair place is extremely busy on Saturday and not very well-staffed. Never ever go on Saturday again. End note to self. Seriously, there were only 2 ladies doing hair there and a slew of customers. And most of them needed a very intricate hairstyle that took forever to do. Lily and I just got trimmed and out of there. I'm sure the people behind us were very thankful. I try to do what I can. :P
What else? Jessie and I kept the nursery yesterday during church (morning sermon). We had Seth and Lily, Brayden (2 years old, Tasmanian devil), Katherine (6, likes to throw things at Jessie) and Shelby (3, cute as a button). I know 5 kids doesn't seem like a lot for 2 adults, but I was exhausted by the time we got out of there! We painted and colored. Shelby took to me (and me to her) and sat in my lap for a long time, and everytime she'd start to color, she'd look at me and go, "I can't colow" (color) so I ended up "colowing" about 6 pictures for her. haha Brayden was all over the place, as is his usual way. Katherine was hitting golf balls, but baseball style, with her mini-golf putter - at Jessie. Poor Jessie...but its his own fault. He usually lets them throw beanbags at him when he keeps the nursery, but this time he got smart and hid them. Haha! Katherine looked intently for them, but never found them (lucky Jessie!). Seth and Lily were really good, except when we got down the little mini-brooms (there were only 2), they all started fighting over them...tug-of-war matches ensued more than once. But we were all in one piece after church was over, so I guess that's all that matters!! Don't Jessie and I sound like great babysitters? haha

The Office!

This is Jim and Pam! Aren't they cute together?

Pam's art is the "prettiest art of all the art"

Here's Laura's favorite bobblehead: Dwight. Wow, he looks extra scary in this picture!

Sweet Jim Halpert and Karen (Laura's enemy! I agree though, he does belong with Pam)

Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits


Friday again!! It came fast for me this week (seeing how I was off most of the week). The Office came on last night!! It was a good one too. I would talk about it, but I don't think anyone who reads this besides Laura watches it. But I hope we see some more Jim and Pam (Jam!) scenes soon. (the two lead characters, they just can't seem to get together!) - I am a pitiful romantic scene junkie! I admit, I watch soap operas sometimes. Jessie calls it "watching my stories"...augh! I watched Days of our Lives and Passions on Wednesday, but I was pretty lost, as there were a bunch of new characters...and the plots are so ridiculously complicated! But I watch 'em sometimes anyway. :P
Noelle's birthday party is this weekend. At Pizza Hut! Mmmm. I haven't seen Noelle or Cole in quite a while. I bet they're both a lot bigger! Emily and Cole are coming, aren't they? I'll be there, with bells on. What does that mean anyway? "With bells on"? Does that mean everyone will hear me coming, like with a cowbell? lol I have no idea.
I don't know of much else going on this weekend. Hopefully just "west and welaxation" in the words of Elmer Fudd. :)

Hmmm

I looked up the name "Maeve" on www.babynames.com and it is, in fact, of Celtic/Gaelic origin. It's meaning? Intoxicating. Would I be asking for trouble there? haha
"Lydia" is Greek. Hmm...the meaning just says "from Lydia in Greece." I want a second opinion. Ok, www.babycenter.com says "Lydia" means beauty. Ahh. And "Maeve"? Goddess. Wow. Another name I like is Melody. Sounds musical, doesn't it? But Jessie doesn't like it...or Emma, or Isabelle, or Bella...or anything!
I realize I probably sound crazy for constantly talking about baby names when I'm not even planning to get pregnant. Its just a topic I love thinking (and talking) about. Its something to daydream about. :)
If I had to think of boy names, I think I'd be stuck. Jessie and I certainly can't agree on boy names. But if we did have a second son, part of his name would probably be John. After my grandaddy and Jessie's dad. A year or two ago, Jessie and I agreed that we both really liked the name John Audie...and we'd call him Audie. But now it doesn't appeal to me anymore. It's cute...but my mind changed, and Jessie won't let it go! Hmph...men. He apparantly doesn't know that you can't go with a first choice! You have to exhaust all possibilities with something as important as a name! haha or maybe its just me! But I do like the names Noah...and Jonah (sensing a Biblical pattern here?)...But neither of them seem to go with John. John Jonah? ("John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt!") I'll just let the subject rest for now. :)

I have resurfaced

I'm back again! I know it probably seemed like I fell off the face of the earth. I was sick the past few days. Let me just get this all out of the way. I was sick, couldn't sleep, and yesterday I had a a migraine and I started getting dizzy so I took some Dramamine last night to help me sleep and help with the dizziness/nausea but I'm feeling 100 times better today. Sometimes sleep can do wonders for a person. Now, on to more interesting things. (ha)
My last post was Friday...I did have a good weekend. The kids were invited to spend the night with their cousins at their Papa's house (Jessie's dad) so Jessie and I, happy with an unexpected night to ourselves, dropped them off and went out to eat..we went to the mall and I got the notion to look for a new purse (which I got, its cool, it's more like a "bag" but it has a long strap I can just sling over me, so its much nicer than the old purse straps that fall off all the time- anyway). We just browsed most of the time, then Kim called me. She and Jerry were quite ill, 103 degree fever ill. Leia was at a friend's, and Becca wanted to come spend the night. We, being the sympathetic souls we are (she was bored and "lonely", said Kim), went to get Becca a little later. We went grocery shopping at Wal-mart and then went home and watched "She-ra" until we fell asleep. All in all, a very good night.
Becca went to church with us the next morning, and Sunday night. I had the brilliant idea to go to quarter night at the bowling alley (games and shoes are a quarter per person) after church. So, in two trucks (my car is still being fixed from the deer incident) we head to Tupelo, to the bowling alley. The parking lot was SO packed that Jessie had to park his truck across the street. We all unload and go in...to find there is a two hour wait!!! Wah! We were quite disappointed. Especially Seth. He started crying his little eyes out!! I felt so bad, but...the kids were so sleepy (they fell asleep on the way to the bowling alley) that Jessie took them home to bed and Becca and I haunted Books-a-Million until it closed. And I got my yearly dose of teenage drama. Apparantly Becca got to know a boy from school at a party Friday night and they kissed and she couldn't WAIT to go back to school to see him. (!!!) It was good to see her so happy though.

I could go on and on...but I've done that long enough already. I'll just tell a few things that have been going on.

*Jessie is obsessed with a Weird Al Yankovic song "White and Nerdy". It is really hilarious. But he's been listening to it over and over so he can learn the words. Think the song could possibly be talking about him? haha
*I am extremely out of shape. We played baseball in the yard, early Monday afternoon I think, before I started getting sick, and I could barely breathe afterwards. All that chasing the ball around...I'm not the girl I once was!
*While I was sick, I laid on the couch and watched half of the first season of "My Name is Earl". I'm not sure how many episodes that is, but I know its a lot.
*I found a new name I like. Maeve. Jessie will agree to using it as a middle name only for a child, but only if the first name is Lydia. I think Lydia is beautiful, but too close to Lily. What do you think?
*Yesterday was SUCH a nice day...I realized there is nothing better to do on a beautiful day than lounging on the front porch with your husband, watching the kids play in the yard.

Yesterday=busy Today=boooring

So that would explain this blog...I'm sure this is more than anyone wants to know, or read. But here 'tis anyway. :)

1) What item that you don’t currently possess would you most like to have in your home? I would have to say: a dishwasher! (And also a hole to fit it in.) No more dishpan hands!

2) What is it you like best about your mate’s personality. What do you like the least? I have a lot of favorite qualities about Jessie: but one (okay two) is that he's so responsible for his family and such a great dad. He always takes care of us no matter what...he assures me everything will be alright and it always is! He's such a good daddy too. You can tell he loves the kids with everything he's got. Okay, now for the second question. What do I like the least? It would have to be his lack of "getting it" sometimes. For example, when its my birthday (aiming this toward Jessie), tell me "Happy Birthday" and I'll be happy. Just because you acknowledged yesterday that tomorrow is my birthday, that doesn't mean you don't have to say it today!! Just a pet peeve of mine. Am I too nitpicky? I should've ended with the good qualities. Ok, he has beautiful blue eyes too. :)

3) What particular sound annoys you the most? Ooh this is a good one. That would be an alarm clock. Not the kind with the radio but the EE EE EE EE kind. It's horrible. And that's the kind I have!

4) What one thing made you fall in love with your partner? His tenderness. I know, mushy mushy, but its true. I could tell he really loved me. No mind games involved. !!

5) What is the one thing the opposite gender simply doesn’t “get” about your gender? This is easy. They don't understand that everything means something to us. A look, a careless remark, the way that jerky salesclerk treated us at Wal-Mart...The careless remarks are the main thing though. We are SENSITIVE creatures...and men just don't get it sometimes.

6) What one Christmas tradition would you never want to give up? Since I was little, my mom read me the Christmas story out of a big white Bible storybook. That's one I'll keep for sure. Also, decorating the Christmas tree altogether is a good one. And annoying Jessie with my "John Dever and Muppets Christmas" album. :)

7) What is the largest gift you've ever received? Hmmm...probably my washing machine, given to me by a dear lady whom has helped keep me afloat in my young financial struggles.

8) What is the most expensive gift you've ever given? Hmm again. That would probably have to be the swingset we bought Seth and Lily for Christmas a couple of years ago. And because it was December it was on clearance...and it was the display...still the most expensive thing!

9) What is the best time you've ever had with your family? With my now immeadiate family (Jessie and kids) it would probably be in Gatlinburg last year...after we went to the aquarium, we walked alongside a creek and looked at some flowers and baby ducks. It was very relaxing and soothing and we just enjoyed each other's company. Before my now immeadiate family was put together, it would be when my family (Kim, Jody, Mom, Aunt Daphne and cousins) went to the ballpark and played softball together. I want to do it again!

10) What’s the dumbest purchase you’ve ever made? I have practically no memory so I'll have to refer to a recent dumb purchase. It was a $30 lice comb -the Robicomb- (during our lice fiasco in January) that I either didn't know how to operate or it was just a piece of crap. I think it was the latter.

11) Have you ever returned an item to a store for a refund after having used it? I don't think I have...

12) What was your greatest accomplishment in 2006? Hmmm...keeping sane in a world of chaos I suppose. Keeping my children happy and healthy. Keeping us from going bankrupt during the Christmas season. Well, I may have contributed to steering us closer to bankrupt there. But anyway...at least my children are happy and healthy. And I'm still certifiably sane. For now!

A sleepy Friday

Spring coming up in a storm

It's Friday again! Yesterday I kept thinking it was Monday. So imagine my happiness at going from a Monday-day to Friday. Laura and I have a storytime again today. We have to read fairy tales to a group of 3 and 4 year olds. I tried to pick the shortest books with the prettest pictures so they would stay entertained (but most fairy tales are not short) so hopefully we can keep their attention for at least 20 minutes. :)

My house is cleaner than it has been since we moved in. No joke! Jessie moved the fridge and stove yesterday and cleaned under them, mopped the floor and just cleaned like a madman. It looks SO good! I told him he was a better housewife than I'd ever be - and then I told him I meant that as a compliment (and I did). It's wonderful to be in a clean house. I hope we can keep it that way! That's a hard thing, you know, especially with kids (and wild nieces who come over every day) to keep the clean clean. But it looks so nice, I'm going to try my best to keep it that way.

I don't know what lies in store for the weekend. I think we're going to extend the super clean-up to the outside. Our yard could use a bit of work for sure. I wish it were going to be warmer though! I'll be SO glad when spring gets here. I think that's my favorite season. I can tell the days are getting longer, though (much to my delight) because yesterday when I got off work there was still sunlight! Yay! I also love it when the time changes. Why can't we just leave it like that?

A good dose of incessant chatter

I had a lovely time off! It was so nicety-nice. Now I'm back at work and the work has not ceased. I'm on lunch now, so I have a little bit of time to spend writing. Did everyone have a good Valentine's Day?? I had a really good one. We gave Lily a chocolate rose and Seth a chocolate apple, and both a stuffed animal with candy hearts attatched. Jessie and I took Lily to her daycare yesterday so she could be there for their Valentine's party. We came back in an hour and they had just eaten lunch...then the chaos began! Most of the kids had brought something - candy or Valentine's- to give out, so Jennifer (babysitter) was handing out candy and the kids were handing out candy and Valentine's and they were all pretty much running in circles around each other...it was funny. So Seth and Lily got a lot of Valentine loot. Bad for me, a person addicted to chocolate! At lunch I ate some Little Debbie valentine cakes that Lily got - and it was so sugary I thought my teeth would fall out!
Oh we also had a candlelight dinner Tuesday night...all 4 of us. :) The kids liked it so much, they were like, "can we please do it again tomorrow night??" haha so we did. Its actually a really good way to focus on your family during mealtime...no tv and no way to read (for me). And it's different. It was pretty neat.
Oh yeah! While Jessie and I were killing time yesterday waiting for Lily, we went to the library (not mine...and yes, I do sometimes frequent other libraries on my days off) and you'll never guess what movie we found. She-ra!! Remember She-ra? And He-Man? Yesterday I had one of my favorite times while I was off. I was lounged on the couch watching She-ra with Jessie and Lily cuddled in the chair. Only thing missing was Seth (but we watched it with him later).
We did get a good bit of cleaning done too (yay!). I cleaned Seth and Lily's rooms -basically I just took everything out, put it in the hall, vaccumed, then put everything back in, neater. And with Lily's room, I cried because there was still no room to put anything, even though I threw some stuff away. ;P Jessie's still cleaning today...and to that I say Hooray! He took Lily to daycare so he could move the appliances and clean under them. I emphasized that because it is an unnatural phenomenon in my house! I wish it weren't but it is. ;)
Well, I'm sure I have more stuff to bore you with but I better get back to work for now!

Geez

I'm here today! Our computers at work have been down all morning and I've been busy, busy, busy. Hopefully I'll have time to write soon. :) I'll be back!

Now that's better

That's what they should've put in the first place. A heart! Not berries or a red face or a Jim Carrey mask! haha

What day is it again?

I'm crazy. I admit it! Feast your eyes on the lovely seven day forecast above. See Wednesday? What does that little picture look like to you? My first thought was "berries? Why did they put berries on Wednesday? I know it's not the first of spring or anything..." Then it dawned on me that Wednesday was Valentine's Day!! haha Laura claims that they're roses, but they still look like berries to me...

Read if you dare

It's another blah day in terms of weather, but at least its a blah Friday! Laura and I have to do a story time for a Headstart class this morning. Maybe my nose won't run the whole time...my lips and mouth are SO dry because I had to breathe out of my mouth all night last night!! Ok, no more complaining.

I'm giddy inside this morning thinking about having a few days off. Yippee! I think we're just going to crash at home and watch movies and do nothing this weekend. Sounds so nice. For some reason I'm craving pizza today. It seems like I always crave pizza at least once a week, usually on Fridays. Weird, huh?

The Office came on last night. Hmm. It wasn't the best I'd ever seen, but there were some choice moments. "Karen" (Laura's proclaimed "enemy" -"Karen" is the girl who's with "Jim", the guy who we want to be with "Pam", the lead female character- anyway!) sang "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" with the band at "Phyllis'" wedding, which is one of my favorite songs!! I thought she sounded good too (Laura, who stays true to "Pam", couldn't admit that "Karen sounded good - haha!) They also sang "Fields of Gold" - another of my favorite songs. They were joking in the show that all the band played was songs by Sting and The Police...is it strange that two of my favorite songs are also by Sting and The Police? ha

If that paragraph didn't make sense, just disregard it. I just reread it and its a little confusing. Here's a guide to navigate you through it, if you care to read it.

-"The Office" is my and Laura's favorite show.
-"Phyllis" had a wedding on last night's show.
-"Karen" is Laura's enemy.
-"Karen" and "Jim" are together.
-"Pam", the lead female character and our favorite, should be with "Jim" because they both secretly love each other.
-Karen sang "Every Little Thing She does is Magic" at the wedding, which is one of my favorite songs.
-I like a lot of songs by Sting and The Police, and that's kind of weird.

Does that straighten it out? haha Please excuse my oddness this morning. I had a sleepless night last night and I may be delirious for the better part of the day!

Oh deer

As the title suggests, I had an unpleasant experience with a deer Tuesday night. On the way home from work, I hit a big'n with my car. It messed my car up a little bit...the hood is bent, my grill and one of my lights are busted in, and my passenger's side door is jammed shut. :( Jessie's coming to get it today and see about replacing the parts. But the important thing is I wasn't hurt and no one else was hurt, except the poor deer. I think it ran off, but I don't much think it survived. It's amazing how they just come out of nowhere!
My head is kind of in a fog today...I'm having sinus problems again, so I took some sinus meds this morning. They always make me a little "whoo-whoo" if you know what I mean. But they seem to be helping anyway.
We finally finished the Valentine boxes and valentines yesterday. The boxes look so cute! And its such a serious business trying to decide which Valentine's go to who, haha. Seth has Transformer valentines and he decided that he'd give the "good guy" cards to the girls and the "bad guy" cards to the boys. He's such a gentleman! haha And it turns out he already knows how to read all his classmates names! I was very proud. They must practice at school alot, because he just fired through them, first and last names. His reading is getting good too (yes it's bragging time, sorry) - he's so smart. :)
Next week I'm taking off a couple of days (have I mentioned this yet?) - Jessie's taking off next week!! I'm really looking forward to that. So the ol' blog won't be updated for a few days...I know how upset you all are, but I'll be back Thursday! (Just kidding) We're going to be spring cleaning, sort of. Our house really needs it. Don't worry, I'll get some relaxation time in too. (haha that goes without saying). Hope everyone has a great day today.

We're having horrid plumbing problems here at work. When you flush any of the toilets, it causes the rest of the toilets to bubble in a non-pleasant way and then some very gross brown "water" came up out of the drain on the floor. Gross! We had to put out-of-order signs on the doors...I don't know what we are going to do about using the bathroom. Help!

Becca and Leia are going to spend the night with us tomorrow night I think. I think its sweet that they still want to spend the night with their old aunt (ha). Speaking of "old", the other night I was on the phone with Becca and she said, "Gigi, I wish I had been born in your time" I cracked up..."MY TIME???" Kim got on the phone and was laughing too and I was like, "I'm only 9 years older than her!!" But I'm a grown-up and she's a teenager so that makes me ancient, I suppose! I said, "you think I'm an artifact!" Becca was yelling in the background, "I didn't mean it like that! I think it would be cool if we were teenagers at the same time and we would've been friends!" I'm really going to laugh when Seth or Lily say something like that to her when she's in her 20's. (She's 9 yrs. older than Lily) It was really funny though. It might not be as funny in 10 or 20 years though. (ha)

Lily the Comedian

Last night Jessie, the kids and I went to Huddle House for supper. (I didn't get the Valentine stuff done, of course) and we had a really good time. Lily was cracking me up all night though. I thought I'd share some of her wittiness with you.

At the Restaurant:

Me: Did we order yet?

Jessie: No, we haven't ordered yet.

Me: Oh, I forgot, I couldn't remember if we had or not.

Lily, waving her hands wildly at the waitress: Hey, we forgot to order!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

After getting our food:
Lily ordered a hamburger and french fries, as usual:

Lily: takes a bite out of her hamburger and goes "Ooooh!"

Me: What is it??

Lily: They made this hamburger too delicious!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the way home in the car:
Since we met at Huddle House in separate cars, I took Lily home with me in my car. She wanted me to sing her a song, so I sang her "You are my Sunshine". She liked it, and thought she'd sing a song for Daddy (even though he wasn't in the car). This is how it turned out.

Lily: You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, it makes me happy, when you are grey!

Me: cracking up

Lily finished singing the song, then says: You laughed at part of that.

Me: Well, it was funny!

Lily, in a very serious tone: Not to me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of the time, Lily chattered nonstop.

Lily: ...one of the big kids told me. She's my best friend.

Me: Oh really, she's your best friend?

Lily: Yeah. (pauses) I can't remember her name.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Still chattering.

Lily: I'd like to go to space. Mama, I really want to go to outer space Mama, I really do. When, Mama, when?

Me, a little stunned: Um...maybe when you grow up you can become an astronaut and travel in a rocket ship to the moon.

Lily: Yeah. And I'll be a bannerina (ballerina) too.

Me, laughing: Yeah, an astronaut ballerina.

Lily, laughing: Yeah, I'll do bannerina on the moon. I'll take my video (her Bella Dancerella video). Not on the moon. In my spaceship. I'll float and do ballet.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love kids!

Ramblings

Sometimes I just sit here at work and I miss the kids. You know what I mean? I wish I was at home with them now. :( Tonight I'm planning - I've been meaning to do this for DAYS - to help Seth make his valentine box and write out his valentines. I love doing this! That's one of the Mommy jobs that is fun. Doing Valentine-y stuff with the kids. Of course, we'll have to do valentines for Lily too...don't think for a moment that she would let herself be left out of this. haha I actually bought them some Valentines last year on clearance. I think I got Transformers for Seth and Veggie Tales for Lily. Seth is also - ahem- supposed to be able to read every name of everyone in his class. They are listed on a piece of paper sent by the teacher. So tonight begins this undertaking. He's good at sounding out words...and I suppose he's pretty familiar with his classmates names, so maybe it won't be too hard for him (us) to do.

We still haven't uncovered an Indian suit either. It looks like our choices are: (1) Construct a really crappy one out of a paper bag or (2) buy one off the internet. I can't sew - I mean, at all. And everyone else that can sew has a life, I'm sure....or requires money...so anyway...I don't know where I'm going with this...so I'll stop here. :)

A complete change of subject here: I was reading another blog today ( http://threesons.clubmom.com ) and the author of that blog has recently adopted a little girl from Russia. That has always intrigued me. Adopting a child that is born into less than great circumstances...and giving them a life as a part of your family. Its just something I was thinking about today. Its amazing what people have to go through to adopt these children. The couple from this website had to go to Russia and personally pick her up from the orphanage, and she was dirty and smelled bad...so her first "real" bath in who knows how long was given to her by her new parents in their hotel room. Its really fascinating and it gives me a twinge of "what a wonderful thing", you know? What a wonderful thing for the child and the parents. Its very expensive too, apparantly. Very, very expensive. But it has all worked out great for this family. Its a sweet story.

Our weekend

We had a pretty good weekend. Saturday we went to Tyler's birthday party...it was a "Cars" theme. The kids had a great time. They had the party in a community center in Bruce, so all the kids had plenty of room to run around and be wild. !!! And they took advantage of it! They had a pinata, which took all of the little ones quite a while to bust. It was so cute. When it finally did bust though, they were like a pack of wild animals, or vultures, going for the candy! After it was over, Lily and I picked up the rest of the candy off the floor and put it in a big bag and Janella (Jessie's sister) tried to make me take it home. Like we (especially me) need all that candy! So I sneakily left it there. I'm sure she was thrilled to find she was still stuck with it. :)

On a sad note, Jessie and I went to visitation at the funeral home in Fulton yesterday. A couple that go to our church had a granddaughter pass away. She was only 4 years old, her name was Abby. She died of complications of the flu. Being a parent of kids around that age, it's really hard to comprehend and so scary. Its comforting to know, though, that she's in heaven and her family will be reunited with her again one day. It's so sad, though, more than I can express.

This morning was SO hectic. I couldn't find the kids coats, or mine, so I was running around the house like a crazy woman. You know how cold it is in the morning, and Seth has to stand outside and wait for the bus, so I had to find him something. I ended up bundling him up in this sweatshirt hoodie/shirt and then putting a pullover thing on him, complete with hat and gloves. So he was bundled pretty well. :) Then after he left, I found the coats. Go figure.

We did our taxes yesterday! We really wanted to try and do it over the internet or something (the slower, cheaper way), but a check of our outside gas tank revealed we only had 5% left in the tank! So I ran inside and told Jessie we HAD to get some and he was visibly upset because our budget was going to be messed up (not to mention we didn't have an extra $230 lying around - that's how much 100 gallons costs) - so we decided to head over to H & R Block, where we usually do our taxes, and get them done. Jessie's dad was horrified a few weeks ago when he found out that we do our taxes there, because they take a good little chunk of it for themselves. But as much as we wanted to take his advice like a good son and daughter-in-law, we had to have some money quickly. Luckily, we got back a good amount. Enough to pay our furniture off and the rest of our debts! (yay!) And enough to heat our house for a little while longer, a necessity that we cannot do without. But the H & R Block we go to in Amory....its usually a good experience, with nice people, etc. This time, the people were still nice...but the place smelled like 50 ashtrays. It was HORRIBLE! There was a very visible NO SMOKING symbol on the door, but the "team leader" did not heed it, obviously. Both kids (of course) had to go to the bathroom while we were there, so as I was walking back to the front of the store with Seth, the "team leader" lady was in the back, and she just lit up a cigarette! I was astounded. It stunk so badly in there, I'm telling you. Anyway, enough complaining. Getting our check soon will be enough to erase those bad memories, I think. But if that store smells like that next year, I think we'll take our business somewhere else. :P

Let it snow

We had a little bit of snow this morning. Jessie made a snowman with the snow on my car! It was so cute. So the kids got to see a few flurries, and Lily's dreams of building a snow queen were sparked again. It'd be nice if it had stuck, but oh well. We've still got February...maybe we'll see some more this month.
This weekend we've got Tyler's birthday party (Jessie's sister's son), he'll be five! All these babies are no longer babies! It's crazy. I've still got babies on my mind. I almost wish it would just happen (pregnancy) so I wouldn't have to make a concious decision myself!! Kelly (my sister's daughter) has a birthday tomorrow too. She's growing up SO fast too. She's a little lady now! Then Noelle, Kim, Leia, Amber (who'd I leave out?) from now till April. Oh, Laura and Sarah too! 'Tis the season for birthdays. And also for being broke from buying so many gifts!
Oh, I left out Jessie's dad, his birthday is tomorrow too. Good grief!
I can't tell you how good it feels to know that I won't have to get up and out in the early morning cold tomorrow...Saturdays are wonderful!! My bed always feels extra comfy in the mornings, of course, so it's so nice to not have to wake up before 6:00 am! Jessie's planning to take off the week after next, so I'm hoping to take off a couple of days too. That'll be so nice, and also good for Lily, because I think she needs some extra time with Mama and Daddy. This morning she didn't cry when I dropped her off at daycare; I was so glad. I think it was because of the excitement over the snow. Seth has never seemed to have any type of separation anxiety, thankfully. Lily is a Mama's girl though. I hope she stays that way for many years to come. :)

A yucky day

If only it looked like this outside!

Well, I'm kind of bummed out that we didn't get to stay home in bed this morning. I now wish I'd gone to bed early rather than stay up and watch the news last night! I am so insanely sleepy this morning. I was really getting afraid I was going to drift off on the way to work. I had to keep slapping myself and shaking my head to insure that I didn't! But hopefully I can stay awake at work today. I'd look kind of weird slapping myself all day at work. :)

I was really hoping for a little snow so the kids could see it. Yesterday morning I told Lily it might snow and she started talking about making a "snow queen". I had to sadly inform her that there was no way we'd get enough snow for that! Those poor kids are desperate to see some snow. I'd still like to go on a mini-vacation to a place where there is snow, but I don't think it will happen this winter. It'd be nice though. After Jessie and Seth got home from work and school yesterday, we actually went outside and played frisbee for a little while. My face and ears were freezing but my middle, the part with the jacket, got hot! I think the kids were in need of a little outside time, so it was worth it. Then it started sleeting at about 8:00 pm, and I thought, cool, its real winter weather! It didn't last long though, it seemed to turn to rain pretty quickly. Oh, if only it would snow...!

On a happier note, a new episode of The Office comes on tonight! I love Thursday nights! Usually, after the kids go to bed, Jessie and I watch all those crime shows, CSI, Law and Order, etc...The shows are so interesting, but the bloody scenes are getting to be too much for me. I just can't stomach it! This is part of the reason I DO NOT watch horror movies. I just don't want to, and I can't. Some nights, I'm that way with the crime shows. I just can't watch them. So its refreshing when something like The Office comes on. If you came to my house on Thursday nights though, you might get scared at the sound of my bellowing laughter.