girlymama

impulse buy of the day

Easter Dresses

flower girl!

Again! Ellie was asked to be a flower girl in the wedding we're going to in April (which has been slightly overshadowed by the fact that we are going to Disneyland the week before. You may have heard and not noticed that the reason we are going to CA is because of this wedding. Probably because I don't think I mentioned it in my excitement to go to Disney. Not that I don't love the bride and groom, but its Disney. Disney!!) 
Anyway, she l-o-v-e-s to be the flower girl. Heck, she'd prefer to be the bride, but anything that has her up front with people taking pictures of her is fine by her. Her shyness tends to wear off as soon as she's in front of a crowd. Don't know where she got that from. ahem.
She's done this twice before, so I'm sure she'll be great! I mean look how cute! Look!!

you're not supposed to copy the bad stuff

Today we were running WAY late and I was telling the kids to Hurry UP because We Are LATE and You Need To Put The Toys Down and GET MOVING!

Then, I hear Ellie say yell at Gracie: "Come on! Move it!" then, she looks at me and says...

...wait for it...

"See, Mama, I'm talkin' just like you."

Jeez, I suck.

that little punkette

Ellie: "She's coming!! Hurry! Close the door!"

 

Yup. That's never a good sign....

i'm too sleepy to write about anything in particular....

so I'll just write about everything.

Watching a food network show about 'comfort food' during a snow day is totally unfair. I want to run to the gorcery store and throw together a fantabulous meal. Instead of the leftovers I was planning on serving today. Man, I love cooking. I wish I had more time to. Have you seen this show? I think she's a little annoying, but I like her general idea....
Watching Food Network makes me want Le Creuset and an awesome stove.
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Today we went outside on an 'adventure' and made a snowman. They're not really sick anymore, so they could finally play in the snow. Sadly, the snow is covered in a layer of ice so its not packing very well. But we had fun anyway, throwing snowballs at the trees and making footprints. See our pathetic snowman?

Me:Okay, we don't throw snowballs at people, okay? Especially not at peoples' faces, okay?
Girls: Okay, Mama.
SPLAT. Ellie throws a snowball that lands directly on top of Grace's head.
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We had two parties this weekend for Ellie. Saturday we took her and two friends to Chuck E. Cheese. (After that, Mama had to restrain herself from bathing them in undiltued Purell. Ugh.) Then Sunday we had family over for her 'real' party, with cake and presents. She had a great time and has been singing "Happy Birthday" to herself all weekend.  She baked her own cake and was extremely proud. (It was very yummy. We adapted this recipe into a two-layer cake, substituting a white cake mix.)
      
Here she is playing air hockey and with her cake. I just realized I should probably take the Christmas trees off the fridge....  Now we have to convince her that her birthday is, in fact, over.
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I'm super depressed because we lost power last night and I missed the Oscars! I love watching stuff like that. Now I'm resigned to surfing the 'net trying to find out what happened. The bright side is that the power came on again around 1am so we were saved from freezing to death 'cause our house got cold really quickly.

oh, %#$&!!!!!

I just got my first speeding ticket. Ever.

I tried to get out of it. I was ever so charming and apologetic to the officer. (Maybe I should have taken off my wedding band and flirted a little. Although I was driving a minivan with kids in it, so he probably wouldn't have fell for it. Still.....) 

No dice. He handed me a ticket. Actually, he claims to have generously not given me a ticket just a 'citation'. (I was clocked going 42 in a 25, which would have been a zillion dollars and 4 points on my licence. But he put me as going 30 in a 25, which is a 'citation' not a ticket, and no points.) Well, this little 'citation' is going to cost $117.  Well, thank you so much, Officer! Because I thought that tickets were expensive.  Thank goodness you only gave me a citation!!
Glad I've been working so hard to save money, to be able to spend it on new clothes. our trip to Disney. Dinner out. something fun like this.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

ahh! my eyes!

I went to the eye doctor today. I h-a-t-e the eye doctor. I hate anything to do with eyes - Like you know in movies when they have a needle near someone's eye? That's when I suddenly have to go to the bathroom. For ten minutes.
Anywho, I survived. Nice doctor, although he seemed a bit too excited about his job. (Dude, they're just eyes.) And with insurance and a nice little $100 rebate, I got a year's supply of contacts for a whopping $30. Yup. I rock.
However, I must ask. You know how they give you those drops to dialate your eyes? To see your retnias? The doctor says to me, "Your eyes should return to normal in about 8-10 hours?" Seriously? 8-10 hours so you can do a 2 minute test? That's the best eye drop you can find - one that dialates my eyes for half a day, making me wear sunglasses inside a la Jessica Simpson?  Isn't there a better drop? Or perhaps some recreational drugs that would be quicker?
Ugh. I hate the eye doctor.

On the bright side, my mom and I went shopping today and I found some really, really, really, cute fabric. For super cheap. Stay tuned for some very cute purses ;-) And some baby quilts made out of this collection.

neglected children cause trouble and other insights

Me, to the closed bathroom door: What are you doing in there?
Gracie: Nut-thin'........
Me, to myself: Humm. I should check on this, but I'm in the middle of reading this great blog. I'm sure she's fine.
cue sound of bathtub being turned on
Gracie: Ut-oh! I all wet, Mom!!

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I met a friend at the mall this morning. I needed to run into the Disney Store to get something for Ellie's brithday (she really, really wants a stuffed Dumbo for some strange reason. And I also got her this and these cute sunglasses. One for her birthday and one for our trip to Disney. What? That's a necessity! Sunglasses! Come on!).  Anyway, we went to Gap. Since she had to return something! And, her bad influence I mean, she encouraged me to try stuff on just for fun. So I ended up getting this. And I really wanted this and this, but didn't cave in. Yes, I know I'm not supposed to be spending money. But I had a gift card! Really!
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My mom is coming to visit today, which will make Husband's trip to Kansas City much less painful. She is, naturally, coming for the 'event of the decade!' -- Ellie's birthday tomorrow. What a grandma.
Here's a quote our conversation this morning: "Now don't you clean just for me. I don't care!"
Yeah. Right. Does anyone not clean when their moms are coming for a visit? Where does she think I inherited these obsessive cleaning habits from anyway? Dad?!?!
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By the way, the Children's NyQuil worked like a charm.  Ellie slept all night last night. Which means I slept all night. The world is lookin' a whole lot more rosy from my window this morning! Well, off to clean! Not that I have to!

countdown

to the big day. Ellie's* 4th birthday is on Thursday. I cannot believe she's almost four! I've been going through old pictures today. And trying not to be too depressed. She's so big!!!!

 First birthday! So sweet. So unaware of how her life was about to change**...
 Second birthday. Note the black eye. Classy.
 Third birthday. Princess party. 10 little girls. 1 large headache.

How is she four? Already?!!? When? How?

*I'm annoyed using "Big Sister" and Little Sister. Too many letters. My last name isn't on here, so whatever.

**Just before her first birthday, I  found out I was over two months pregnant. We were still in shock.

thoughts from the day

Overheard this afternoon:
Little Sis: Where's Daddy?
Me: He's at work.
Little Sis: Where?
Me: At his office. Daddy works at the office, Mommy works at home.
Little Sis: No! Mommy works at the mall!

Seriously, I rarely  go to the mall. I honestly don't know where that came from!
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Cleaning kids rooms is pointless. Lesson learned.
I wish I had a before and after picture for you. No. A before, after and 15-minutes-later picture. The after picture would be nice. The other two would look exactly the same: like the Disney Store threw up in a violently pink bedroom.
Yet... I still do it! Why oh why do I feel compelled to clean up their rooms when their favorite recreational activity is dumping-things-on-the-ground-and-walking-away?
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Another quote from a phone conversation this afternoon:
Me: And then my mom said...
My little brother: What did you say? Did you just say 'my mom'?
Me: Yeah. So?
My little brother: So... that would be my  mom as well, right?
Me: Yeah. I forgot who I was talking to. Shut up.
My little brother: Go take a nap before the crazy kicks in.
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Today I went to Target to buy Childrens' NyQuil. They really make it! (And I thought my husband was joking when he suggested it.) I may get sleep tonight. Not that this hasn't been fun. I slept in Big Sister's room last night, thinking that at least I could eliminate the walk from my bedroom to hers. No dice. She woke me up last night so many times I lost count. My favorite was around 5am when she woke me up to tell me her toes itched. Or possibly around 1am when she woke me up to tell me that she washed her hands after going to the bathroom.