Thursday, October 31, 2013

Theme Thursday - Scary



And the award for most dramatic Turkey Homework goes to....




Okay so the homework said to give the turkey some feathers... And the last two homeworks - Astronaut and Scarecrow were very realistic so I let E run with the pink feathers she saw at Hobby Lobby - only the dark ones in the pack though. AND

Pink button eyes.
Pink pipe cleaner and silver nose.
Pink pipe cleaner arms/wings
Pink button and silver toes.
Golden gobbler.

In case you cannot make out the rest of the 3 yr old fantastic-ness...

Various farm animals with green glitter glue to walk on...
Several golden turkey stamps courtesy of our Hobby Lobby visit
Farm is written in blue glitter glue in just to clarify the setting / to add a few more ounces of glitter to the page.

E was sooooo insanely ready to do her homework right when we walked in the door from Hobby Lobby. You know who is more excited that E's homework is done... Papa. Because can you imagine him trying to regulate/manage homework time? This homework is due on Monday but because I am now 100% convinced this baby actually coming and should be here at any given moment I figured the homework might fall victim to new baby's arrival if we waited until Sunday night...

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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

My Morning in Pics

This morning's meltdown brought to you by the color brown : )


NO BROWN SHIRT! MY LIFE IS RUINED!!!

Yesterday E was obsessing over wearing brown... She NEEDED to. Well her brown leggings were in the dryer so those were out. Shirts with brown - also in the dryer - and would not be ready for school. So she grabbed the brown tights (from last year that maybe slightly small) and ran with them - and her navy/glitter tutu dress - which did not match in the least but then I realized I have bigger problems that my 3 yr old wearing something matching to preschool. 

Blast forward 2.5 minutes - 

Me - E, why do you have to wear brown?
E - Because we are not learning about Sammy Square anymore...
Me - {puzzled} Was Sammy Square brown? 
E - No...

Get to school and talk to teacher... Apparently brown is the color for November AND in circle time the kids are asked to point out the color of the month - clothes, shoes, hair, eyes... SO by wearing brown E guarantees she is going to have an article of color to point out {she's a smart one}. 

Which totally makes sense because the past few weeks she HAD to wear orange (October) to school - but that did not always happen. 

So anyways, today E was wearing an orange shirt with brown owls BUT the girl decides to spit toothpaste on it... and not just a little so the pic is her realizing the consequences of said tooth cleaning actions... And the fact she does not have another brown shirt to wear... 

Oh preschool you complicate my LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {Sometimes}

Maybe I should just get a brown hairbow she can wear everyday? Brown shoes?

If you don't think I don't already know next month's colors... think again. I got the inside scoop - they are black and white. 


Five Favs - About this Guy... Who also is a fantastic cook

So our 5th anniversary is about... hmmm... two days away. Neither of us can really believe that its been 5 years since we were married. My how things have changed and evolved - what the heck is 10 years going to look like?!?!? Here's a little backstory into 5 things that I liked (and still do) about Lee... that maybe might have convinced me he was the one. 






1. Faithful

We met at church. He was an altar server and very involved in the liturgical activities of the church. Clearly he had been/was (and still is) very committed to serving God. This trait was very important to me because I knew that if I was to get married (that was not in my plan) that my husband needed to be grounded and committed to the Church and her teachings so that we could raise our family and children in the Faith.

Need I say more? Sure... why not. So that was the beginning. Then when we were engaged I/Holy Spirit STRONGLY encouraged/pushed him to discern studying to be a deacon - he said he would give it a try (and thanks to #1, #2 and #3 and a few other factors - ladies and gents we have a deacon). So now I should not complain when a box full of books shows up at our doorstep right? Oh no... never : )

These came in yesterday... I promise I'm going to give a tour of his library one day


2. Hard working

I hate to sound old fashion or nostalgic but seriously there are so many people (men and women) these days that are just lazy. Lee is not one of them. Not to say that he isn't lazy at times - AFTER doing a bunch of work - but you have to earn your right to be lazy! Seriously, the hours that he works during the summer are crazy - it has gotten a little better since he has the girls to come home to but... he definitely earns he keep when it comes to work. He loves his job and wouldn't trade it - not to say that there aren't things he gets frustrated with or whatever - but he is dedicated to what he does and does it well.

Who can resist a guy on a tractor?


3. Persistent 

Lee is not one to let something (or someone go). Now the story is that he had his eye on me for a long, long while before he was even on my 'radar screen'. Not to say that Mary McQ did not give me/us the hardest time from the get go... "Oh you and Lee would be so cute together." The church where we met was small so we would go out for lunch or dinner after Liturgy with the group of young people ALL THE TIME. The story goes that he would try and sit next to me or sit across from me (there were 6-10 people probably so there was some scheming on his part for sure). Thinking about that makes me smile : ) 

When we were finally 'dating' after 18 months of the first time we met, I was not sure about this whole discerning marriage thing and I gave him 100 million reasons why 'WE' were not a good idea (we were dating to discern marriage, not to casually go out with each other for years and years and years). Man I remember that conversation - and so does he. He convinced me to stick it out another few weeks and hey... you know, if he had said 'Okay let's just end it after 3 weeks' pretty sure you would not be reading this blog right now. 


4. Optimist

I am an realist... Lee is an optimist. He sees the good in people and situations. He can be critical of things but in general he has a very positive attitude; he is not a grudge holder; he starts his day with a smile on his face. I cannot say that I am like that but you know what... he love me for it any ways and gives me something to strive for!

The number of selfies we have is insane... 


5. Cute

I've saved the mushy for last so just skim past it if you don't care. I happen to think Lee is super cute. His mannerisms, his Southern accent, his walk... and yes I like his hair - and he like mine too - and he was NEVER afraid to tell me that even before we were dating : )

Here's another 5-in-5 since that's the number of the day here:

He was super cute on the phone when he asked me out to dinner for the first time
He was super cute at dinner when we did go on out first date
He was super cute when we went to dinner before he made his first attempt to ask me to marry him
He was super cute when he tried to ask me to marry him the second time
He was super cute when he finally popped the question


And another... 


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Monday, October 28, 2013

Happy Monday!

This is what happens when you eat bananas and run your fingers through your hair!

November 2012 - Update

Again another month that I really have no idea what was happening... Other than Thanksgiving in SP and the Mount... so we'll just use our imaginations and fill in the blanks....


 In the van...

 Lee's most favorite outfit on R : ) 

 I told you have kids who sleep in the CRAZIEST positions... 

 Grandpa Joe... enough said

Thanksgiving FOOD!!!

 Playing...

 Cousins pic...

 And again....

 And again....

 The growing group of girl cousins

 Will we be adding another in 2013?

 Obligatory kids in toy box pic

 We can crawl together

 Crashing Papa's couch tie

 Big helper moving R's crib down a notch

 Hi... I just took a bath

 Again, how comfortable can this be?

CHEEKS!!!

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Friday, October 25, 2013

No Longer a Tractor Supply Virgin


Okay now that I am coming up on 5 years in the Mount (gasp)... I had NEVER been to Tractor Supply. All I knew about it was Lee got his work boots there and it seemed like the country version of Wal-Mart - which I still contend this is semi-accurate but Tractor Supply is way cooler than Wal-Mart and does not have all the crowds or a food section.

It was this unexplored oasis of shopping... so when Lee went to Tractor Supply in search of a large tub for a baptism at church, I totally jumped on the bandwagon - I mean hopped in the van. Let's just say I was impressed by Tractor Supply and all of the different stuff they had - baby clothes, toys, a pretty good shoe department (for outside/working activities), lawn mowers and small farm implements (that's right... I know what farm implements are : ), pet food - the works, people!!! If the girls were not touching every single object in sight I might have discovered more. So I herded them over to this section while Papa continued the baptism font / insanely large watering bucket search.



R loading up in the ATV


Little red car... Meet JD ATV


Can we take one home? {Maybe for Christmas? - seriously its on the radar screen}


Tractor riding... Just like Papa

Trailer included



E made a point to tell Lee - "Papa I REALLY want this for my birthday". E may have struck a cord with Papa so they can be matching in the yard. 




Overall conclusion... Tractor Supply was a pleasant surprise. I cannot say I would do loads of shopping there but that ATV R was in was super cute (can you believe I just said that? Clearly I have been out of the big city Raleigh too long). Maybe they have an AFTER (not day of) Thanksgiving sale in which I can get a good deal on that. We were thinking about getting R a bike for Christmas but I could see that instead since E is still into her red car. E's dream of her peddle tractor thing might actually wait for her bday since she will be getting a scooter. She'll probably 'need' 100 other things - like the cupcake set we are giving to a friend for her birthday tomorrow or skates - because you know she does not have have skates.

My response... there are many things you don't have and you should be grateful for what you do have.


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7QTs - This post is brought to you by... 3 yr olds and all the ridiculous antics I can fit into one post

{Nani says I'll miss stuff like this}



--- 1 ---

Yesterday morning E was not being a super cooperative 3 yr old. Have you met any? Specifically in regards to getting dressed - by herself - which she can do. Nothing matched. She wanted to wear a jumper like R. Then she had to wear a sweater but she did not have any clean jeans and then it was back to the jumper but the purple tights did not match the pink jumper and then the jumper did not have white in it so it did not match the jumper ei-der and then the white shirt did not fit because it was too small. All in a span of hmmm... 3 minutes. I sent her off to the brown chair to pout in her fashion woes by herself. 

--- 2 ---
We managed to leave the house at the time we were supposed to be at school. The dishwasher was not loaded - no surprise. My bed was not made - shocker. The girls room had blankets and animals everywhere - did I mention we're doing a pre-Christmas purge? And to top it off the darn humidifier that we got for the girls room is not working! Oh and I'm 39.5 weeks pregnant. 

So instead of focusing on the morning and how I should have been making the bed and loading the dishwasher before the girls got up - instead of loading pics for this post. I'll make a mental note of better decisions I can make and remember E is 3. 

--- 3 ---

Along with the other silly 3 yr olds on her soccer team. While we are forgetting recording for memories sake about soccer how about Monday was picture day and E REFUSED to take an individual pic or be in the team pic. I am seriously going to call the photo people and see if I can get a copy of the pic of me holding her in the pic and her screaming. It would totally be worth the $10 bucks, right? I think so! Side note: And if you think she got her juice box and snack at the end of the game... think again. 

--- 4 ---
Moving forward to the game portion of the evening... E was very mad that we were not on our usual field and had to be on the one right next to it. Sometimes I do think she is mildly OCD. 

I told her before the game at home, if she scored a goal we would go get ice cream. I am no stranger to bribes... How do you think we got through potty training?!?!?! So this idea movitated her to be out on the field longer than normal and actually kick the ball a few times. But as soon as the other team came up she would have nothing to do with the ball. {There was one girl on the other team who was a ROCKSTAR and probably scored at least 7 goals}. Now that was impressive. But as the game went on... she stayed out there but then would not kick the ball at all. She had a half way open lane to the goal and I put the ball in front of her and said one, two, three kick it. Its your turn. I got a resounding no. No. No. On

--- 5 ---
Oh but the Caterpillars... we were doomed from the start because of our mascot right? Ehhh... I have no idea really but at one point I think I was standing out on the field after the other team scored a goal and there was only one lonely Caterpillar out there with me {there's supposed to be 4 players on the field}. It was just a hiliarous scene I am sure. One overly pregnant soccer coach begging for kids to come play. Hopefully I am not the crazy soccer coach who has scarred this kids for LIFE : ) They are just 3, right? So they will do... or not do whatever they want whenever they want. Even the coach of the other team came up to me during the game and asked "Do they normally do this... just run off the field"... My response, "Oh yeah, this is very normal for us" : ) Oh well... I hope there is some fun being had by these kids. Maybe they won't look at their first soccer trophy and think man we lost every game - like I do when I see my YMCA Blackberries trophy. I was 5 then and we did lose EVERY SINGLE GAME... There's hope though. I totally stuck soccer out for the long haul despite the epic season of the Blackberries. The Blackberries? And you thought the Caterpillars was a silly mascot!


--- 6 ---
Okay enough with the lack of photographic evidence to present my case....



This is E last night... Pink tutu... Hello Kitty pajamas... swim class with her animals in her room. Now let's discuss what matches my dear child. I did not need to take any pics of her room because... well she had done something similar a few night before. 

So around 8 we go down the hall to check on the girls and this is light shining from the crack of the door. Not a surprise but the nightlight USUALLY does not give off that much light. Open the door to this. Big overhead light on. Animals lining the room. Blankets spread out. R fast asleep. Supposedly E was 'organizing' her animals... Okay great... but you may not turn on the big light because that might wake up R. 


If you look hard enough you can see R is in the crib most definitely... asleep


Solution to big light problem... Flashlight. 


And that was the problem last night when she was out in her tutu... She could not find it and was FREAKING out about it. Fortunately we convinced her to use Papa's 'dirty-ish' blue one


Both nights have ended up with her asleep amidst the mess her animals 



Hey as long as R does not wake up I really have no problems with pre-bedtime organizing/playing/whatever-ing as long as it is QUIET!


--- 7 ---

In case you missed my September update, here's a G-E-M from the beach that I totally forgot about...

E- What are you doing?
Uncle Kevin - Digging a hole
E - A rabbit hole?
Grammy - He's digging a hole to China
UK - To get Chinese food.
E - Oh, don't forget the cookies


And Uncle Kevin had his iPad at the beach and instead of being clobbered by E CONSTANTLY... He download this free drawing app... Here are a few of the more telling pics of the week. 

Uncle Kevin and E on the boat 

Uncle Kev, E and R on the boat except E was responsible the water, hair and faces.


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My morning in pics

1st day of winter hat weather