Noodles

Don't mind the noise in the background . . . just enjoy Gracie's latest skill she is mastering. Of course once the camera came out, not only did Sophia go crazy but Grace became distracted to the task at hand.

Buzzards

Yesterday at Sophia's school some small buzzards arrived during outside time. Sophia's teacher, who loves all things animal like Sophia, was telling the kids about the birds and how they liked to eat dead stuff. Teasingly, Ms Teacher said that maybe if the kids played dead the birds would come down and pick off their skin and eat them. Who do you suppose out of the 10 plus kids in the class flopped down on the ground immediately and played dead? Oh you know it was our Sophia. "I even stopped breathing Mom, I was so dead." She laid there still as death on the ground the rest of playtime waiting for those darn birds to come eat her skin off. She thought "wouldn't it have been neat Mom if they tried to eat me and I scared them cause I was still alive". Dawson tried to explain to her that the birds knew she was still alive by her smell, and that if she really wanted them to eat her she would have to not bathe for like 2 weeks. "Really sweet, no more baths for me!" She has talked non stop about the buzzards (or boulders as she sometimes calls them) for the last 24 hours. She was bummed when they were not at school waiting for her today. Here is hoping that buzzards wouldn't like the taste of a sweet yet ornery little Chinese girl!

Pick Up Lines from Dave Ramsey

(I took these from daveramsey.com . . . if you have ever heard or read Dave . . . you will laugh)

You look familiar ... didn't I deliver a pizza to you last week?
You're so hot you could melt my debt snowball.
Good thing I have identity theft insurance, because you stole my heart!
Call me your mutual fund, honey ... 'cause with you, I'm showing interest.
Are you unpaid credit card debt? Because you have got FINE written all over you!
If you turn me down, my life will look like a country song.
When I saw you, my jaw dropped like the value of a new car.
You should be my retirement plan ... you'd put the "OK" in my 401k.
Why am I nervous about talking to you? Because you're better than I deserve.

MY FAVORITE . . .
I still have money in my restaurant envelope ... can I buy you dinner?

Fancy Schmancy?!?!?!

I finally (not sure if I can say finally since it did just open a week ago) . . . but I finally went to our new claimed to be fancy schmancy Kro-ger Marketplace with its jewelry store and coffee shop within! I had heard mixed reviews about it so had become quite curious and wanted to scope it out for myself.

Here are my casual observations:
- The whole place is decorated very fancy schmancy. The lights over the checkouts should be on some streets in a historic downtown shopping district.
- Due to the whole place being decorated up, there were no cut outs. I am talking about those oh so cute cut outs of my favorite Nascar driver. Currently, he has one for his not-to-be-named main sponsor as well as for Lays chips. Not a cut out advertisement to be seen in fancy schmancy land.
- There was a bulk area in the grocery section. You could get coffees , rices, noodles, fun little snacks . . . you could even get your spices out of cute little containers so that you only bought what you need. Fancy clever!
- The store does indeed have a very odd layout as others had said. There didn't seem to be a logical flow other than to put things you really need towards the back of the store making you walk through aisles of things you would not normally buy otherwise.
- I was surprised to only find an end cap of movies, no big section. I really expected to see a big movie section. There was a larger book and magazine selection. Not movies though. Hmmm?
- Toys and beer right next to each other . . . goes with previously mentioned messed up layout.
- And here is one thing that I just don't get . . . and this isn't just a Marketplace thing . . . why in the front of the store milk display do we not have 1% milk? Is that a high seller therefore I must walk all the way to the very far back corner of the store to buy it? I mean I could see how when I ran to the store to get a gallon of milk I might wander by a $1000 living room set and pick that up as well. I mean I have a shopping issue of going for just a few items and spending $50 . . . but $1003.59 . . . I don't think that would happen.
- Kudos can go to a few more things - the soup bar in the deli area had my favorite fancy tomato soup, and all the checkouts were open with folks ready to get me out of there.

All in all I was kind of bummed that what I heard was pretty accurate. I was ready to be impressed and have another cool place to venture for my retail therapy. But I am not sure that the ole marketplace will make my list of places I need to go. I've got my own new Kro-ger that I am getting used to and is very convenient and very nicely laid out for the grocery shopping adventure. And for the rest of my retail therapy . . . I still have my Kohls.

What have we been up to?

We completed a 5th grade book reading project. This is Dawson - a child who has proven to have his mom's tendancy towards OCD when completing a project. This dog/wolf has a skelton made out of Lego's covered with clay, and textured for that true mange look. He was so proud of his dog/wolf, and we were very proud of his effort and creativity. We had a tea party!!! Gracie really does love having tea parties, the camera just caught her at a very bad-I-am-about-to-start-running-a-103-degree-fever-and-have-RSV kind of moment.

We posed in the shirts that Grandpa and Grandma "Hornsing" sent us for Valentines. They sent us gifts and candy. Mom and Dad got us nothing. Oh, we got Madagascar 2 as a family, had family movie night, and laughed.

And how cute is it that Gracie perches herself on Dawson's head to twirl his hair? She still has hair envy has hers just refuses to grow longer than an inch or two.

Blessed!

My favorite time of day is currently right before I go to bed. On my way to my room, I take my motherly rounds to each childs room. Of course the objective is to ensure they are asleep and covered and all is well. But my absolute favorite part is to just stand there and take it all in. The way they look, sound and even smell.

Our girls are currently sharing a bed in their room. Grace decided she didn't like her crib any longer but sleeps great next to big sister. They are almost always cuddled up next to each other. And quite often Grace is twirling Sophia's hair in her sleep while Sophia has a protective arm around her little sister. They often are breathing in unison. It just warms me up when I can stand and look at them like that.

Dawson sleeps spread out on his bed. Usually does not have covers on. I will cover him up when I go in to check on him and he will grab the blanket and pull it up under his chin. Brandon wraps himself like a burrito in his blankets before he goes to sleep. But even getting that glimpse of my baby boy before I go to bed is something I treasure. It does make me a bit sad at times knowing that my time with him is almost up - soon he will be off to college and becoming an adult. But for now I can go in and gaze upon him as he sleeps.

In those final moments of my day, I thank God for each of my blessings and how each of them has a unique story and I pray that each of them will grow to know Him and to use their life stories to be a testimony for Him. Sorry to go all mushy on you today, but I am just so thankful for my family today and for how God continues to provide for us in all ways when there is so much going on in this crazy world. Don't forget to reflect on all your blessings today!

Favorite Foto Friday

What has Sophia been saying?

Our Sophia is a lover of big words and deep conversations. She loves to think and talk about her thoughts. Here are just a few things we have discussed lately:

"I am never going to get married, because if I do then you die." This was said to me when I asked her if she was going to marry a boy in her class. After discussion, she believes that once she gets married and moves out, Jeff and I will die. I tried to explain that her grandparents were our parents at one time. She said that they are grandparents not parents. We will have to revisit this topic at a later time as she was not changing her mind.

"You are so addicted to my jacket." Say what? This exclamation was followed by the explanation that I was "addicted" to her jacket because I am always saying "Sophia put your jacket on", "Sophia where is your jacket?", "Sophia lets get your jacket on." I guess since I like her to be warm I have now become addicted to her jacket.

"My life is so complicated. You could never love me all the way." This statement makes me sad to think that somewhere in her mind she might think this is true. But taking in at the time it was said, I think she was just being dramatic. She was very tired. And had been being kind of sassy. And out of the chaos came this statement.

"At what age do I get to become a baby again? Like when you turn 80 or something do you get to be a baby again?" This was just a random conversation starter one day on the way home from school.

"Guess what? Mrs Manners turns out to be Mr Manners. Ms Beerman looked under its tail." Mrs Manners is the rat at school.

"Why do you have to be so frustrating?" This is a favorite lately as any of her family members make her angry in anyway.

And there you have it, the latest from the mouth of my sweet crazy adorable five year old - who by the way I do love ALL THE WAY!!!