Addendum

After Greg read the last post, he told me how funny it sounded that I had "accomplished" something like reading a 1500 page book when I felt like I couldn't get anything else done.

Let me just say that I have been reading said novel since before Christmas, a few pages at a time, and I didn't spend the last week ignoring my children to read it, I promise!

Gone with the Wind

How glad I am that "tomorrow is another day." This last week has been exhausting. Rachel got sick, I had preschool at my house, the girls decorated my linen closet with shredded cheese, my front room with macaroni and cheese, my kitchen with flour paste (their own concoction), and my bathroom with toothpaste.
The weather has been cold and wet (despite my efforts to be grateful for the mountain snow I am ready for SPRING), and I have not been sleeping well.
SO, I have not posted anything for over a week, but last night I actually accomplished something that CAN'T BE UNDONE! I finished "Gone with the Wind."
I very nearly put it down with only 200 pages or so to go (for anyone who hasn't read it, it's a long book & I was very close to the end) because Scarlet was driving me nuts. Her tantrums reminded me of my own children's attitudes over the past few days and I was really not enjoying reading about a grown "child" after I put my own kids down to bed. So I was pleasantly surprised that despite the tragedies that occur toward the end of the book that Scarlet actually grew up a little bit, and I realized that if I can have hope in Scarlet's future, perhaps I can have hope in my mess-making-mini-me's.
But really, as I said before, the best thing about finishing the book was just that...it is finished, and even if my kids paint all over the paper now, I finished a project that I wanted to do (and let me say that an accomplishment of any kind this week is a good one :)

...Oooh, I also did my visiting teaching. Wow, it has been a good week!

Qualities of a good Friend

I picked Ellie up from school last week and as we were going home I asked her if she would like to invite a new friend over to play. Sarah said she would be too nervous to have someone new come over, but Ellie reassured her with this statement.
"Don't worry. You'll really like her. She has a beautiful shaped head."
She continued on after Sarah questioned her "Really. Her head is the nicest shape I've ever seen."

So there you have it. The easiest indicator of a true friend: A Nicely shaped Head.

Who knew?

Do You See What I See?

So I took Sarah and Ellie to the pediatrician for their annual checkup today, and as part of the exam the girls got their eyes checked. I was in the exam room with Ellie when they took Sarah away for her eye exam, and when the nurse brought her back she was laughing. She said that Sarah's eyes are fine, and her imagination is great, too because when the nurse pointed to the picture of the teacup (that looked kind of like the one above) Sarah said, "I know what that is...It's UNDERPANTS!"

I think it's time for another tea party!

So That's What it's for!

For her birthday, Sarah got a bug catching kit from her cousin, Josh. She was very excited about it and has begged me to let her go outside in the snow to see if any bugs are actually "awake."
Today, we were picking up her room, and as she was putting away the bug catcher, she told me that one of her favorite gifts from her birthday was the "booger grabber."
"Booger Grabber?"
She picked up a set of tweezers from the bug kit and shoved them up her nose.
I have NEVER stuck tweezers up my nose (I have used them on my eyebrows many, many times) and I have NO IDEA why she would have thought it was for her nose.
Regardless, looking at her with a set of tweezers stuck up her nose was pretty entertaining, I must say, and she was a little disappointed when I told her that they were actually meant to pick up and examine bugs, not boogs.

Get out the Fish Sticks

So, I just saw this picture as part of hideous wedding cakes & was mildly amused.
Then I read one of the comments that said, "Hmm, do you suppose they cut off the head and stuck it in the freezer for the 1st year anniversary! Can you imagine seeing THAT every time you go for the fish sticks!"

I have been "laughing my head off" ever since.

Sarah's Birthday

Can you guess what kind of party Sarah requested this year?

Yep, that's right...a "CARS" party. Don't you see the car down in front of the castle? I found a really cute "girly" car cake online that I had convinced Sarah to have since she wanted a Car party, and just as I was browsing away from the window, she saw a castle cake. "THAT is the cake I want, Mom!"
I tried to convince her that it would be better to have a car cake since she wanted a car party, but she said that I could just put a car in front of the castle and she could still have a car party.
So, I obliged her, and made a yellow, lemon cake with raspberry filling, shaped as a 2-tiered castle, complete with turrets (which were going to be orange cones for the cozy cone motel originally) but we made due with what we had.
For the actual party, we went on a "tire drive" (instead of a cake walk) where the kids landed on tires that had pictures of different characters from the "Cars" movie. When their character was called they got to pick a chocolate covered donut from the leaning tower of "tires" I had stacked up.
They also played with cars on a car mat, colored velvet posters from the "Cars" movie, decorated cardboard boxes to look like cars, and they ate lunch and watched "Cars" in the "Drive-In" down on the projector in their boxes.
Sarah also hurried the party right along by opening everyone's gift as soon as they arrived (while I was still talking with parents), but I think everyone had a good time, and Sarah wore herself right out by the end of the day.

I Want Candy!

I took a bunch of candy bars up to Youth Conference last weekend as part of an object lesson about the blessings of holding our standards close to us...I offered a ten pack of candy bars to anyone who had their "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet with them at our workshop. None of the kids had the pamphlet with them, but several said that they had it back at the cabin.
I told them that we never know when we will be called on to stand as an example, that we always have to be prepared, and said that if we will hold to the standards we will be blessed in ways we can't imagine.
Well, since none of the kids had their pamphlets, I offered a single candy bar to anyone who brought me their pamphlet by the end of conference, but still had a lot of candy left over.
I got home Saturday night, and helped to put the kids to bed, but Rachel was still a little wound up at having me home again, so I put her on my bed and let her watch a couple of Pixar Shorts while I put the other girls down.
When I came in to my room, Rachel had discovered the left over candy bars and was happily gobbling up everything in sight.

But you tell me...does she look like a girl in paradise?