and annabelle takes the cake...

both darrin and i are quite stubborn but i'm pretty sure annabelle takes the cake as to who is the MOST stubborn. the following clips are from today. her daddy would say that she's a mini-elizabeth in this situation. good for her!!!

the following are just a few events that took place while sitting in her chair...there was singing, talking on the phone to grandma, making carly laugh, and on and on, all in an attemp to avoid the dreaded apples.

A goodnight serenade....okay... 3

Happy Spring!!

Little Blessings from Yesterday

I intended to do this post last night so the title would be "Little Blessings from Today" but I got busy and didn't get to it. I suppose I could actually do little blessings from TODAY but I have a few pics from yesterday to add.

1. I only had one little girl at daycare so my morning started off easy.

2. When I got home the kids were still sleeping which gave me a few minutes with just Carly awake to get 1 or 2 things done.

3. Bennett woke up and was really excited that it was a preschool day (this is normal though). And I was thankful it was because he had A LOT of energy!

4. I was doing some online banking and noticed Darrin's check got deposited early.

5. The sun was shining and it wasn't too cold to enjoy a walk to the library with Jenny and the 4 girls.

6. I was able to use all the leftovers in my refrigerator for lunch therefore I didn't have to throw it all away.

7. Darrin got home from work at a good time so we were able to have a little free time before eating dinner. And this is what he and the kids did.

8. Darrin surprised me when he got home with my favorite song downloaded onto the ipod my brother gave us. It's the 2nd song he's downloaded onto it. The first was for the Athletic Awards Banquet slideshow. I listened to it 5 times in a row today and danced around the house. Isn't he sweet :)

9. Darrin brought Annabelle to the Athletic Boosters meeting and I enjoyed spending time with Bennett. He rode his bike and I walked down the road then we came in to get ready for an early bedtime.

10. When Annabelle got home, I got her ready for bed. She fell asleep cuddling with me and we stayed like this for over an hour.

Bennett's Dream...

preschool teacher: Think about what you want to be when you grow up. Would anyone like to raise their hand and share what they would like to be?

Bennett raises his hand

preschool teacher: Bennett, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Bennett: A horse.



Duly noted.

More about Bargains

If you're looking for cute and comfortable kids clothes for summer, I just got back from Walmart and spent more money on Annabelle for Summer clothes. The clothes are SO cute with fun, bright colors. Dresses were 6.00, t-shirts 3.50, legging pants 3.50, goucho shorts 3.50, and 2 piece outfits for 7.50. They had a lot of color choices and everything was very comfortable and practical. The Granimals brand is nice because there are so many choices to mix and match from. I feel like the Summer selection there this year is even better than last. I am now done with Summer outfits for Annabelle. All of Bennett's shorts from last year should fit again and I got a good start on some new (non stained t-shirts). I might get him a couple more t-shirts and we should be good. I'm glad to get it done. For those of you who need Summer clothes for your kids, check Walmart first. I think you'll be happy with what you find.

Bargain Shopping

Jenny and I went to Fremont, Indiana last night to the outlet malls. Here's what I got. Most of it came from the Children's Place and a few came from Osh Kosh.

For Bennett

-3 long sleeved shirts

-3 short sleeved shirts

For Annabelle

-3 long sleeved shirts

-1 sweater

-1 dress

-1 pair of leggings

-1 pair of pants

Here are the shirts for Bennett...minus the one he's wearing in the following picture. He was SO excited when I showed him all I got for him. He kept saying things like, "Wow! I love alligators! and "Wow! I love my football shirt!" I didn't think he'd be that happy.
Here are Annabelle's clothes...minus the shirt she's wearing in the following picture.

My grand total was...

$48.36

Most items in The Children's Place store were $2.99. You can't find deals like that at a second hand store :)

Check out the Burgess blog for Jenny's deals. You can link to it on the right side of my page.

A Little of This and a Little of That

Last night I sprayed shaving cream on the wall of our bathtub and let the kids play away while they took a bath. Darrin thought it looked gross in the tub but they enjoyed it. So today I thought we'd do it again but this time on pans at the table. It lasted all of about 3 minutes. Mostly they wanted their hands washed. As you can see, I was VERY generous with the amount I gave them which left me quite a mess to clean up :). Here's Annabelle who enjoyed it for maybe 3 or 4 minutes longer than Bennett did. Next time we do this, it will be outside, in the warm weather, with a pool or sprinkler nearby. My silly kids love to splash in puddles and play in mud...not sure what was so bad about shaving cream.

They did however really enjoy this gak that Mark and Carol brought for them last night. It stretches and oozes and makes very little mess. It can stick to clothing but I think it comes right out...we'll have to see.

On to other things. I've watched two movies recently that were quite good. Carol called last week Sunday and asked if I wanted to go to Slumdog Millionaire. It was the first movie I've seen in a theater since What Happens in Vegas.

The last movie I saw before that one in a theater was Friday Night Lights.

We were living in NC at the time. Anyway, the movie was great. It started off in a way that made me wonder where the movie was heading and if I was going to like it. But it really was good. It made me appreciate where I live!

Last night Darrin and I rented Changling. Wow. It was tough to watch but also very good. The fact that it was based on a true story made it even more difficult. In addition, having a little boy made the reality of it that much more horrifying. Darrin knows I can't watch sad movies late at night...he pays the price. We didn't know it was going to be like that though, so I went upstairs crying and insisting that I needed to do something happy before I tried falling asleep. I thought I would check some blogs I read regularly. I went on the Busscher blog who lost their daughter to a drowning this past summer. She was only 2 weeks younger than Annabelle. She is expecting again and had been having some uplifting blog posts lately. Well, her newest one was of her daughter's headstone that was just put in and how difficult it was to see your child's name written on a grave marker. So I cried a little harder and switched blogs to Kelly's Corner. She had a baby that wasn't expected to make it, but pulled through. Her blog is always fun and has lots of cute pictures of the baby. This time it had a link to a blog of a mother of a five year old son and a soon to be born baby girl. In February, her 31 year old husband began experiencing a few strange symptoms. He was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, which in most cases is curable, but her husband died ten days later. Argh. I called it quits and went to bed crying. I tried watching some of Napolean Dynamite but didn't find it funny. Oh well. I know better. It was much too late for a movie like that and I was much too tired.

I've been into reading more than tv lately. Here are 3 books I've read in the last few months or so and for no particular reason other than I saw them recommended somewhere or I knew others who read them and thought they were good.

Kabul Beauty School-A memoir of a woman from Holland who opened a beauty school in Kabul to try to help the women there make money and become more independent. It was very good and also made me appreciate living in a place that is safe for our family. I was disappointed however, when trying to find an image to put on the blog, I read that there is some controversy about the accuracy and truthfulness of it.

Another Place at the Table-A memoir about a family who began doing foster care when they signed up for classes in order to begin the adoption process for a little girl who was in the mother's Head Start class. The agency just kept calling even though their intentions were originally to just adopt their daughter. They became foster parents of the year. I read this in one night. It was good and easy reading.

And finally, I just finished Start Your Family: Inspiration for Having Babies- The book didn't really apply to our family but it was talked about frequently on a blog I read regularly. Here's the link.

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

This woman is a mother of 4 under 4 and she is a "famous" blogger who talks about being a wife and mother and all that comes with it. The point of the book is that society gives so many reasons to wait until the "perfect" time to have kids or makes you question if bringing kids into this world is a good idea at all. This book gives reasons why having kids is a good idea and emphasizes that if you're looking for the "perfect" time, you might end up waiting too long.

The next book I plan on reading is one my mom brought for me the other day called, The Heart of a Mother: True Stories of Inspiration and Encouragement

I'll let you know what I think. Right now I'm enjoying listening to my precious daughter sing The Itsy Bitsy Spider in her crib...she's supposed to be napping. She often sings herself to sleep...so precious. I. LOVE. MY. KIDS.

What an ending...

This stack of pizza boxes...

plus this pile of shoes...

can only mean one thing...

the end of the year wrestling party at our house...


complete with a few wrestling matches with Annabelle as the ref...


a card game...

and video games.

There were also a few nice speeches...

and of course a team picture minus a few.

Darrin was presented with this amazing scrapbook...

with this nice thank you letter inside (not sure it's going to be readable.)

It was a great season with a GREAT group of kids. It's definitely a bittersweet ending.

Until next year...

A Story By Bennett

Bennett made me stop vacuuming this morning so he could tell me this story. I had him retell it as I was sitting here. It is written word for word. He pretends a lot that he's shooting deer which is funny because Darrin didn't go hunting once this season, we've never had a gun visible to him in our house, and we don't watch hunting shows or anything. In Bennett's words...

Once upon a time there was a deer...there was a deer and then I shooted it. We got out the bucks then we shooted it...then I shooted it with my gun. Then we took him to the bakery and got him hot. Then we got the meat out of the bucks. Then we eated it and it feeds our bellies...then it goes down our knees and it feeds us. The End