New Bundle of Joy!

Many of you may not have been aware of our situation but...

WE HAVE A NEW MEMBER OF THE FAMILY!!

His name is A.J. and he's simply adorable. We're all glad that he's finally here.

My Apologies

Yesterday I received an email from my sweet friend Richard asking me to turn off the auto play on a song I posted in December. I had NO idea this was happening! When I posted the videos of Star Wars and Minesweeper my friend Dottie mentioned that some music was interfering but I just thought that it was something with her computer! When I go to my blog it does not automatically start! So, here is an official apology to all my fans! I'm sorry. I had no idea!! AND, I've fixed it!!

Today Is My Birthday!

Maybe it's shallow of me to announce this but, honestly, this is for posterity's sake too! I want my kids to read this later and know (or remember) things like this!!

So far, this birthday has been pretty different than last year's birthday. This year we are iced in. There was a nasty ice storm that came through Monday night and both the kids and Geoff were home from school/work. So, with no where to go I've been reading Chronicles of Narnia, basking in the tons of birthday wishes on Facebook, and doing laundry. Oh, and I showered! We do have plans to go to my dad's for pizza and cake this evening, though.

I thought I would let you in on a few things that I like. I realize that by the time many of you read this it will be too late to get them for me for my birthday... that's okay... there's always next year. And, when you're old (35 this year, thank you) your tastes don't really change from year to year!

There's this gum:

I LOOVVVEE this gum! Ever since my mousecapades with Amber! I saw this gum when checking out at the Walmarts, laughed out loud, received funny looks, and bought it. You see, in that little film we made, Amber said that the mice like bubblemint gum... I thought she was hilarious at the time because there wasn't such a thing... uh... I WAS WRONG! Anyway, you can buy a huge pack of these at Sam's for 6 or 7 bucks! hint hint. I was also very disappointed to see that it is NOT "a low calorie food"!

Next on my list is this:

I LOOOVEEE this chocolate. Did I say that I love it?! I love it! So creamy. So delicious. (I know it looks a little like a poop log but, that's beside the point!)

Next up:

This is a Casio Exilim z750 and I LOOOVVVEE it! Unfortunately, I've lost it! I cannot find it anywhere! So, if any of you are feeling exceptionally generous feel free to get me one of these!

And last (for now) but not least...

I currently crave all food mexican! Yumm!!

She's Got Great Hair

This has to be the best hair e-vah!

Concrete For Breakfast

It's Malt-O-Meal. And my kids LOVE it! They could eat it everyday. I'm okay with this because it's good for them and SUPER easy to make! The only thing I hate is the fact that Andyn, who knows how to use a spoon, sometimes will use her hands. Then we have this:

Cleaning it off her is like cleaning sand off of your tongue! And when it dries it resembles concrete! You practically need a sand blaster to get it off of the table, chair, carpet or any other surface she may have wiped it on!

Wonder Twin Powers Activate!

This afternoon Aspen and I spent some time at the mall window shopping. We were checking out the plethora of costume jewelry that Dillard's had on sale and I came across this really big gaudy ring and put it on. I showed Aspen and then stuck out my fist to her and said "Wonder twin powers activate!" First she looked at the sales lady to make sure she wasn't watching us, thus embarrassing her, then she looked at me and said "What?" I promised her a clip from YouTube on the subject!

While searching for a clip to show her, I came across this one that I thought very clever!!

Good times!

Ainsley's Birthday

I actually started this post over a month ago. But, because of my previously confessed obsession with Facebook I haven't finished it up until now! The good news about my recent obsession is that now I have a TON of Flashback Friday material!! _____________________________________

Ainsley turned 8 on Black Friday. And because I have my priorities straight I went shopping with my sister and convinced Ainsley that she needed to wait until the next week to have a party because all of her friends would likely be out of town for the holidays. Smooth, huh?

She didn't mind mostly because for the first time ever I let her invite all of her classmates. Since we're new, it is difficult to only invite one or two kids from her class. The school does not allow passing out birthday invitations at school unless there is one for every child. And because I don't know any of the parents to invite them personally we decided to go ahead and let her invite ALL 25 of her fellow classmates!

We rented an indoor facility at a really cool park here. The night we rented it for was the first night of the steam engine rides around the park and Santa visiting! I thought that surely this would go really smooth... I wouldn't have to come up with a lot of stuff to entertain. They would play a game and eat cake and open presents and then ride the train. If there was still time, I had a craft planned. That's it! Easy peasy, right?! Well....

Set up was smooth. Here's the 'cake': We did a polka dot theme...

We got there early so no problems. Until... I realized that I had forgotten to pick up some ice cream. Once again, no problem. I called my dad and asked him to stop by Braum's and pick some up. Then realized that there was not a freezer to store it in. Oh well, soft ice cream never killed anyone. Kids started arriving and a few of the parents stuck around. Usually, I'm okay with this. But because I didn't know any of them I was feeling very nervous... almost like I was performing!

We played a few rounds of Bingo: We opened the presents: Don't ask about the second photo up there. I'm not sure what came over me.... I was having some anxiety and sometimes this is how I react!

We ate cake and drank ice cream.... seriously. Not only was it soft but, of course, I forgot to bring spoons. Like an official idiot. Oh, I'm sure these parents were REAL impressed with me! I'm sure Ainsley will get all kinds of birthday invites to these kids' parties!

Last, but not least... we rode the train:

This is where I was super glad that some of the parents stuck around! There were about 15 kids to corral during our ONE HOUR wait to ride this thing!!! Thank goodness it wasn't cold... love that Arkansas weather! By the time we were done riding the steam engine/tram thing it was time for the party to be over!! Parents picked up their kids and all was said and done. Not too bad, I guess. One little guy did ask me where his goodie bag was... oops. I think I subcontiously was boycotting the whole goodie bag thing but in reality the little craft that I had planned was for them to take home. Since that didn't happen, they didn't get anything. I felt bad about it for about 30 seconds. Then I was fine.

Remember the ice cream? On the way home from the party I realized that I had forgotten it! Thing is, Geoff cleaned up and packed everything away while we were at the train so the lady that was on duty in the building could go home. What he didn't know was that I had stuck the ice cream in the microwave thinking that the insulation MIGHT keep it from melting so quickly. Yep, you guessed it. It was left in there. When I realized what had happened, I stressed out for a few minutes because I didn't want to lose my $50 deposit!! But... what was I supposed to do? I called the next morning and just mentioned that I had left something, maybe I could come get it. (Secretly hoping I could just clean up the mess without them knowing.) Well, she asked what I left because they had a clean up lady in there already. So, I just told her. "I left 2 half gallons of ice cream in the microwave." She said, "Let me check to see if they are still in there." Pause. She said, "I'm sorry ma'am, but they cleaning lady through them out." She was so apologetic that she couldn't return them to me!! I said, "No, that's fine. I didn't want them back. I just didn't want to lose my deposit!" She assured me that I would get my deposit. Dodged that bullet!

So, basically, I'm an idiot sometimes but Ainsley had the best birthday! She loved it. Happy Birthday, Sweet Cheeks!

Excuse My Hiatus

I know it's been a while. But, this Facebook thing has really taken over my body! I'm working on the addiction. I promise.

For now, I saw both of these videos today on other friends' blogs and just HAD to post them here.

This first one is great... I'm going to rent the movies tonight so we can watch them this weekend! (It was posted by Bree.)

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

This next one is great, too! (Richard shared it on his blog.) It took me a minute to catch on but once I did I loved it!

Truth Be Told...

I'm blog slacking because of the evil Facebook! It's got me in it's clutches! Let's just say this: at least now I have a lot of Flashback Friday material!!!

Day of the Mess

woke up ready to face the world

fed kids (funny i don't remember eating)

took anitbiotic (must have eaten a brownie with it)

vacuumed LOTS of food off the floor

hitched a ride to the auto shop to pick up van

spent several hours on phone trying to fix insurance issues (while still managing to break up squabbles and feed some kids)

vacuumed LOTS more food off the floor

took ainsley to doctor's appointment... antibiotics for you

dropped off prescription

cleaned up an entire tube of paint off my 2 year old and the dining room table

vacuumed LOTS more food off the floor... yet again

picked-up ainsley's prescription

fed everyone cold cereal (except for me... i had the enchiladas Sis Holder brought that no one would eat!)

cleaned up the entire bowl of cereal that andyn dumped on the table

refused to vacuum again and made the kids pick up the crumbs by hand

gave two kids baths and screamed at another till she showered (aspen is staying home sick... she can be stinky if she wants to)

stripped germ infested sheets off my bed (i've had strept for 2 days)

fought with 2 yr old every five minutes for about an hour to stay in bed (did i mention she didn't take her usual 3 hour nap)

zoned out on facebook for a good hour

made my bed

ate a brownie so i could take my antibiotic

wrote this post

headed to bed ready to kill the world

**note** i don't write this so much for your reading enjoyment as much as for future fire power against my kids. when they wonder why i'm so mean i'll make them read this. or when they want to put me in a nursing home and feed me rubbery mashed potatoes i'll make them read this and realize all i did for them despite my sanity!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Missing me?

I here by promise to have at least one new post before I go to bed tonight.... tap, tap, tap... is this thing on....