[SIGH]

I wish I could beautifully and eloquently write the thoughts of my heart. If you could read what I am feeling it would match the poetics works of Hemingway or the heartfelt musings of Jane Austen. But alas the gift of the written word is not mine...however if you need help with drywall, mudding and taping or a flower arrangement or a goofy way to remember the 10 commandments I am totally your gal.

SO here it is-what my sigh is all about and written in the only way I know how:

AHHHHHHHHH my baby is in a big bed!!!

Last night after crawling out of her crib and being put back in several times she went into Lilly's room, got in the bed and there she slept. I thought it may have been a fluke but when it was nap time today she walked into Lilly's room and got in her "new" bed.

Our baby phase has officially come to an end.

Over.

Done.

We are putting the crib away tomorrow.

I think Michael McClean wrote it and sang/spoke it best: "I cried the day that they took the crib down. And I want the baby phase to last more years round."

A dear friend (who has the gift of writing) said that she thinks most women go through some sort of grieving phase when they choose to be done having babies.

After finally getting married at the ripe age of 34 years and 8 months...In my mind I was barely 21 and ready to have a whole slew of kids.

I have 4.

There are days that those 4 seem like 20.

And then there are days when 4 just isn't enough.

I guess that's part of the grieving process.

Even though my baby phase certainly was shorter than I had imagined,

I am SO grateful that I even got to have one!

SOUL SURFER

SOUL GOOD!!!!

This movie is an absolute must see.
We all loved it!

Walgreens

To the lady behind me in line today
who felt justified in openly and rudely mocking me and my coupon I say:

"PPPFFFFFTTTTTT!"

or

"Really?"

or

You're not even worth the change I just saved!"

or

"The Jerk Factory called...they're all out of you!"

or

"You really hurt my feelings and almost made me cry."

FHE

After team teaching with Anna and then Jim for the past 2 weeks,

Lilly insisted on doing it...All. By. Her. Self!

So we let her.

She taped a picture of Jesus and handouts to the TV hutch


She called us in promptly at 7:00

She started off by informing us of her agenda

She TOLD Anna to give the prayer.

She TOLD us to stand and sing:
Once there was a snowman.
Singing a song if fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do....
And just the chorus of Follow the Prophet while marching in a circle around the room.

We were then instructed to sit on the floor where we were each given a coloring page and crayons.


After coloring she explained the rules to the game and shook her finger at Kirsten as she said "...And no cheating Kirsten!"

Then we played a rousing game of Duck, Duck, Goose.

We wrapped it all up with bowls of ice cream which apprised us of our lack of bowls -so we took a trip to Ikea to buy some more.

And as a side note: if you have ever wondered what I was like as a child.... :)

A short story...with no words

(Hint: pay close attention to their expressions)

One dollar to the person who can come up with the best story or captions

Armageddon 101

Today was our first of four installments of "Armageddon 101"

This is a weekly class that my all wise and all knowing mother has agreed to teach to my friends and me. Whoda thunk that "Pipe Down" (pet name for my mom from a few of my friends taken from a hilarious family story which I will tell another time) would be standing in my kitchen offering her pearls of wisdom on all things canning, food storage and preparedness when not 5 years ago the only thing that worried me about the second coming was if I would still be a virgin or not.

TMI? maybe but it really is the truth!

So what did we learn today?

Installment #1: bottling your own chicken

Eww sick!

Looking-Yes

Tasting-NO!

Go ahead and mock but I can assure you that when a natural disaster strikes-people will be begging me for my meat.
While they are foraging for food my family will be feasting on powdered potatoes, canned green beans and London Broil...in a bottle.

Yup... here's a look at next weeks course:

Sister Wives

If you haven't yet watched this fine Television program-you might want to.
If you haven't lived it.. you might want to try that too.
I have.
I am.
And here's my story

How's that for Drama. It's my intro when my life becomes a mini-series to rival only "Thorn Birds" Or "V". But not the recent"V" the "V" from the 80's that had us so enthralled on Sunday nights sitting as a family in our jammies with a bowl full of chocolate ice cream and milk poured over the top-to give it that crystaly? effect.

Anywho...

For the past few months, my good friend H.B. (to protect the innocent) has been coming over a couple of times a week. She has triplets that are the same age as Lilly.
They play well together-or so we think. We have sort of a "Don't ask Don't tell" policy while they are here. It usually works for us... well, up until they decide to pull all 50 or so of the alphabetized VHS tapes off the shelves and then scatter them all over the basement floor. Serves us right for having video tapes. Good thing they weren't laser discs because those things break so easily.

So she comes over and we get things done.
She grades papers.
I run errands.
She runs errands.
We watch episodes of our favorite shows that we have DVR'd
We make delicious lunches.
We make treats.
We do the daily crossword in the paper.
We talk about current events and engage in healthy debates (well not really debates, she's too smart to be bested by me. Some day. Some day.)
We craft.
We make menu's for the week.
We swap recipes.
We fold laundry.
She helps Kirst with homework while I cook dinner.
We finish up projects once started but not motivated enough on our own to complete.

I think Shel Silverstein would have written it best:

HB and me
Me and HB
I have one
She has Three
Together we are as happy as can be!

However...Our fundamental difference from the show: we don't share a husband.

In the words of my wise and highly sensitive husband..."why would i want to make 2 women unhappy?"