EATing Machine ....

I bet you thought I was going to tell you that Bia suddenly turned into one - not quite. But Chatty devoured almost two homemade beef and cheese quesadillas last night and an half a pineapple (yes as in half of a whole fresh pineapple) and was too full for dessert! Who is this kid? Oh yeah - this is the kid who started soccer yesterday. Way to work up an appetite in our kid Asst. Coach ESPN! Maybe I should send Bia to practice too so she can work up an appetite like that!

So tomorrow as Spark of the Week Chatty is supposed to bring in her favorite snack for the entire class. Not sure if she is like all other kids but she has lots of "favorites". I think we (as a family - mostly me since it is my job to purchase it) decided to go with Rice Krispie treats since the are prepackaged and most kids like them. I will be running by my favorite store at lunch to pick up a box for the class. This Spark of the Week stuff requires a lot of parental (I should rephrase that and say mom) involvement - but it is so worth it to see how excited Chatty is about it!

SPARK of the Week!!

Each student in Chatty's Kindergarten class is chosen as "Spark of the Week" during the school year. This is a special week for the student, they get to bring "Sparkey" the bear home for the weekend and take them everywhere they go. The teacher provided a scrapbook and each kid is allowed two pages to document the weekend's events with Sparkey. In addition the student (parent) fills out a poster all about themselves, they bring in their favorite book one day and their favorite snack another day for the entire class. Miss Chatty was selected as the very first "Spark of the Week". She was very proud of herself for earning this honor.

Before I show the pictures of our scrapbook pages let me first tell you I don't scrapbook. My mom does and she didn't pass down any of those genes to me, so normally I ask her to do all my scrapbooking for me - and she graciously obliges (thanks Mom!). Secondly Sparkey is the name of our arch rival's mascot. That would be like you LSU fans bringing home an animal named AL (as in AL the FL gator). Anyway, with that being said, Mr. ESPN was insistent that we document Sparkey's time with us with as much Arizona fanfare as possible. The funny thing is Sparkey wears a red and blue polo (U of A colors) and jeans. Lucky for Mr. ESPN the only scrapbook supplies I have (mind you they are 5 years old) is Arizona paper and stickers. We put them to good use. The hard thing about being the first kid to be "Spark of the Week" means I couldn't reference any other people's pages to get ideas from. I am sure all of the other parents are going to think we are nutty and that we have indoctrinated our kids into being Arizona fans ... oh well - we are a little nutty at times!

Here are pictures of Sparkey in Bia's car seat (she wasn't with us) on the way to the grocery store, in the grocery cart and then back at home helping us make chocolate chip cookies. I even grabbed one of Sophia's aprons that my mom made and put it on Sparkey. Note - isn't Chatty's apron cute? Mr. ESPN's cousin (who lives in London) got it for her years ago from Harrod's - I love it and want one of my own!

Is it bad that we staged the above family photo? We went to a friend's house for a party on Saturday and were watching the game but didn't get a family picture (we got a cute one of the girls, Sparkey and my friend's husband but Mr. ESPN didn't want to the other kids to think that was the girls' dad), so on Sunday I made everyone put on their shirts and our neighbor came over and took the picture! The other one of Chatty is from Sunday school, Sparkey got to participate in my first day teaching Sunday school solo! Lucky bear!

Our staged family shot -not to bad for last minute photo!

Bia had to have Monkey in the shot too!

My Favorite Store

So a few of you commented after my last post, trying to guess my favorite store. Several of you said Target. Yes I do love Target and spend quite a lot of time and money (much to Mr. ESPN's dismay) at Target but alas it is not my all time favorite. The funny thing is I hated my favorite store when I was in high school. My parents would go every week and I would dread going there. Not sure why, but it just didn't intrigue me back then. My love affair with this store started budding in college but my true obsession with this store didn't occur until I became a homeowner, and then it was all over! Mr. ESPN loves this store as much as I do (which is a good thing) and my children get excited for the treats they receive when we go there.

I am sure you can all guess it by now .... (drum roll please) Costco! Where else can you buy so many different things, get great customer service (re: returns and exchanges - they are like Nordstrom in this regard), awesome products at a great price and the best snacks while shopping? To show you all my love affair with this store I decide to take a few pictures of some of the items I have in my house from Costco. Mind you, we get a lot of food there, but these pictures are primarily non-food related items ...

I am not sure what I am going to do when Bia is potty trained, I think I may still buy these because I use them so often; We also buy diapers and pull ups at Costco

Pre-gym membership we purchased this ... it has gotten some good use

A glimpse into my pantry (absolutely love my walk in pantry)

Costco items that I can see in this picture - baggies (all sizes), paper towels (Casey-remember how i said I was a paper towel whore - here's proof), rice krispie treats, oatmeal, trash can, crock pot, Pam, BBQ sauce, 100 calorie snack packs, croutons, sliced almonds, Kleenex, pancake mix, plastic utensils, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fruit cups (I keep finding more every time I look at the picture)

Aren't these adorable? $5/each at Costco - for Bia next summer!

Chatty's radio ... Christmas gift from Nana and Poppa last year

Pictures - I upload them online and pick them up at my local store

Some of the books we've read (yes we need a bookcase)

Disclaimer - the Tax textbooks were not purchased from Costco

Bath towels - super absorbent!

Storage bins - I have these in every closet - they are great!

Suitcase that has traveled all over!

My wedding rings (the pic is a little blurry)

Picture Frames (note - these are last year's Christmas pictures)

Wine Glasses ... because you can never have too many; they also have great selection of wine!

Stars - makes me feel like I live in Texas!

These are actually from the Costco Home Store

This is just a small taste of what we have in our house from Costco ... there is quite a bit more. I seriously love this store and could go each week and leisurely browse through it. The nice thing is we have about 4 that are in close proximity to our house so I can always get my fill! So don't be surprised if you run into me at your local Costco!

Disclaimer - This post has not been paid for or endorsed by Costco

Blisters and Bunco

So remind me never to buy Asics running shoes. They do not like my feet and they cause me to have huge blisters on my heels! Lovely! As soon as I got on the treadmill yesterday I could tell there was going to be an issue and like a dumba-- I continued to run (fast for me) for 3 miles. I could barely walk when I got off and even took my shoes off (don't judge - I did leave my sweaty/green and white striped/with blood on the heel socks on) during the core class I took afterwards. Then I proceeded to limp out to my car!

Last night was my Bunco group. I ate way too much food. My neighbor had some fabulous stuff and I gorged big time. What can I say I like to eat and drink! Good food + good drinks + good friends = lots of laughter! Chatty is riding the bus home from school today (reward for behaving the past few days) so I need to book out of here a little early ... good excuse huh?

Stay tuned because next week (or this weekend if I get motivated) I am going to do a post about my love for a certain store! Don't ask me why I feel the need to post about it but is by far one of our family's favorite stores and both girls know it by name!!! Stay tuned ....

Surprise!

Wednesday evening when I walked in the door from the gym I was greeted with the following:

Bia: "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy"
Me: "Hi sweet Bia!"
Chatty: (Jumping out from behind the wall and yelling) "Surprise"
Me: "Hi Chatty - what's my surprise?"
Chatty: "I went diarrhea twice today!"
Me to Mr. ESPN: "Not quite the surprise I was looking for when I got home"

Yes my kids say the loveliest things (and get super excited about it) - but they were oh so happy to see me which is the best feeling in the world!

BTW - Chatty is feeling fine and shows no sign of illness other than her Surprise from yesterday!

Shoes and Prescriptions

So I bought two pairs of running shoes last weekend. The results:

1. Wore pair 1 (Saucony) yesterday to run 6 miles and my feet were sore after mile 1 ... I won't even explain the throbbing that occurred by the time I completed mile 6. Needless to say they will be returned.
2. Wore pair 2 (Asics) to No Limits Cardio (intense boot camp style class - non-stop for 60 minutes) and my feet were sore. Not sure how they would feel running, may try them again tomorrow on the treadmill.

I had also purchased some insoles. I am going to try them in my older running shoes (Adidas) and see how they feel in them. I wish I could find a good shoe without breaking the bank. Why is being healthy so freakin expensive? It would be so much cheaper to sit at home and eat McDonalds and drink Coke all day!

This is probably TMI but why oh why is Diflucan a prescription drug (which requires a co-pay and a visit to the Dr.)? Why isn't it OTC? And also why is the dosage only one pill when most GYN's prescribe two? Seriously - it's not like a woman can't self diagnose in this situation. And the other option - lovely cream! Those of you who have never had to use either of these, count your blessings! OK - sorry just had to put that out there because it has been annoying me for a couple days now!

Blessings and Such

We received the news this weekend that one of our closest friend's dad has bone cancer (or at least that is what they think he has as of now). Such a hard thing to hear and my heart breaks for our friend. He is Chatty's godfather and already has had to deal with several illnesses with his parents including breast cancer and kidney transplant. Heartbreaking. I know a lot of people are dealing with medical issues right now and my heart breaks for them too. I also realize how fortunate I am and have been throughout my life. So I want to try and remember to do a little more thanking of God rather than complaining - because you know what - I am blessed beyond measure!

Speaking of Blessings - the girls, Mr. ESPN and I all had a wonderful time at Princess A's party. We went over early to chat and watch football (it is going to be a long/tough year for our Alma mater - but awesome win by my Seminoles!!). Bia didn't want to wear her costume at first but once we got it on her (and threatened a nap if she took it off - yes I am that kind of mom) she left it on.

Don't you just love Bia's grin?

The Birthday Girl - Princess A - such a cutey!

Bia right after she put the costume on -she wasn't too happy with Dad here!

Princess Chatty with her ghetto fabulous (I love that phrase) Dollar store crown!

Two sweet princesses - too bad Chatty wasn't looking at the camera!