A Visitor

We had a visitor yesterday - Flat Stanley.  My cousin J sent him to us so he could see the desert.  We decided to get some desert pics in our front yard.  Since we have three different types of cacti in our front yard, he wanted to pose with each of them.

Flat and a barrel cactus

Flat and a saguaro

A closeup of Flat on the saguaro

Flat checking out the Ocotillo cactus

A closeup on the Octotillo

Then we had to help Flat send a postcard back to TN to tell his friends about his travels.  I went on Costco.com and created two postcards with these pictures on the back and sent them directly to Mrs. Gore's class at Collierville Elementary.  I don't have a pic of the postcards but I think they turned out super cute - for the first one we used the top picture (barrel cactus) and on the second one (because I am a nerd and was having so much fun and it only cost a whopping $2.37 to create and mail both of them - can we say killer deal?) we put the two saguaro cacti pictures.  Cous J - tell your sister to let you know when they get there!  Anyway - Flat only stayed one night with us as he is heading to the Starnes house in KC!  Have fun!

Not Their Finest Moments

Our family has not had their finest moments this week... it all started with me losing it with Chatty Monday night. Shortly after that incident Mr. ESPN walks in looking like he got into a fight. He was at the gym and someone left the treadmill on ... unfortunately for Mr. ESPN he assumed it was off (i.e. wasn't paying attention too closely). Let's just say the treadmill won and he got a nice shiner just below the eye which turned into a slight black eye the following morning. He also scraped his leg, shoulder, etc. Not his finest moment! I felt so bad for him (and usually I don't feel too sorry for him). Luckily he was just a little banged up, mostly he was embarrassed! I told him at least it wasn't his regular time slot at the gym so hopefully those people won't be there when he works out. Sadly the more times I tell the story the funnier it gets! I know that isn't nice but I am being honest.


Tuesday at lunch I got a call from Chatty's teacher. Apparently Chatty hit a friend at school ... not her finest moment either. When I asked why she chose to hit her friend she said "My brain wasn't working". Needless to say she and I spent some quality one on one time together Tuesday afternoon discussing her behavior and subsequent punishment. I told her if there are certain friends that cause her brain not to work, then she can't hang out with them. I also made her write an apology note to the girl and one to her teacher for her actions. I feel like we take two steps forward and one step back each week!


Last but certainly not least Sweet Little Bia ... yesterday was not her finest moment unless you were trying to give an award for Crankiest Toddler of the Year! She had a fit all morning - screaming, crying, whining, tantrum throwing, you name it at home, on the way to school, at school (before Mr. ESPN left), at the end of school, and at home in the evening again. It was a bad day all around for her. Good thing she is cute!


Did you family experience some of their finest moments this week? If so what were they?

Conversations with Chatty and Trying to Be a Good Mommy

Last night on the way home from swim lessons Chatty announces "I'm so smart ... God made me so smart."  No self esteem problems here, but maybe we should spend a little more time on humility, just a thought.

Once we got home Miss Smartypants couldn't remember how to follow directions which resulted in a lot of yelling by me.  I am not proud of this and apologized later to the girls.  I told Chatty as I tucked her in that I will try to be a better mommy today if she can try to follow directions a little better today.  She agreed and all was well.  Fast forward to this morning when she wasn't following directions again ... In a stern voice (I wasn't yelling this time ... I was trying to be calm) I told her she needed to get her teeth brushed and clothes on.  She says to me "I thought you were going to be a nicer mommy today!"  God did make her very smart, so much so that she has figured out how to push every single one of my buttons!

Sweet Chatty

This morning I had a 6:00 am conference call at work, which meant I had to be out the door by 5:40 am (that's just plain crazy) which also meant Mr. ESPN had to get the girls up and ready for school on his own - no small feat, but one I am sure he can handle.  Their hair may be a little wild but they will get there in one piece.  So as I am running out the door and heading to the garage, I hear the laundry room door open and it is Chatty.  Sleep eyed she says "Mom - I am sorry I woke up late and couldn't kiss you goodbye!" - so sweet.  I reassured her it was extra early and she should go back to bed for a little bit longer and kissed my sleepy/wild hair/sweet girl!  Sometimes they really know how to melt your heart!  Please remind me of this next time she is driving me crazy!

Bribes

So this morning I bribed the girls in order to get some cute pictures.  I wanted some pictures of them for their birthday party invitations (and because I haven't taken any in awhile), so the nice mom I am I told them that unless they complied with my mini photo shoot that they would not have a birthday party.  Yeah they don't know we already paid the $50 deposit for the place and we are contractually obliged to have it at the railroad park already (they had a sweet - cheap deal) .. we'll stick to the "Need to Know" theory around here and as far as Mr. ESPN and I are concerned, they don't need to know that information.  Hope you are having a good weekend.  Chatty and I are trying to kick our colds! 

Below are the results of my bribe ....

Boobies, Farts and Church Ladies

That title sounds like a skit from SNL ...if only my life was that funny or interesting. A whole lot of nothing to blog about - busy at work and think I am getting a cold so have been going to bed early the last two nights. Last night after Bia got in her monkey pjs she looked at me and said "Wanna Cuddle Momma?" - she is such a cuddlebug and I love it. Sure beats the comment she had at Target while we were shopping last weekend "Look Mommy - Boobies" (pointing to the bras) ... she continued to repeat this phrase over and over .... Apparently she did this when she was shopping with Mr. ESPN in Costco and they saw the sports bras.


Bia's comment wasn't as bad as the one Chatty had all weekend, "Who farted?" Of course this was followed by lots of laughter by Chatty! See potty humor isn't limited to boys!

Yesterday in the snack area at work I went to open a canister to see what someone had brought in to share. As I pulled the lid off the bottom half slid off the table and all of the cookies flew on the ground.  Two guys sitting in a cube across from me saw the whole thing and made some comment to me. It was like the Diet Police were telling me "No Cookies for You!" I was a little embarrassed but it was funny and honestly they didn't look that great ... my homemade ones look (and probably taste) better.

I am supposed to have a girl’s night with the "Church Ladies" aka young moms at church. I was really nervous the first time I went out with them ... were they laid back, do they drink, do they only talk about church, are they like me? Needless to say I had a great time with them last month and am looking forward to this month if I am not sick (two of them are prego plus we all have kids so I don't want to spread anything). We are all supposed to bring a heavy appetizer. I want to bring the antipasto sticks that I think Coco blogged about. I e-mailed her to see if you would send me the recipe. BMB - don't you have a recipe for something like this too? Can you send it to me and I can compare them?

What I Learned in Kindergarten

Last Friday I was scheduled to volunteer in Chatty's classroom.  As soon as I walked in the room I could tell something wasn't right ... and then I got the news from one of the students ... "We have a visiting teacher today" (I guess they don't call them substitutes anymore).  Needless to say it was chaotic when I walked in ... the boys were all over the place and no one was listening to the "Visiting Teacher".  She had no control over the class and looked so relieved when I walked in.  The sad part was the whole time I was there she kind of looked to me to lead the class.  So being the Type A person I am I did just that.  When they wouldn't listen to the "Visiting Teacher's" instructions, I threatened to escort them to Dr. B's (the principal) office.  One kid said "All of us?" and I responded by saying "If that's what it takes" ... they settled down a little bit after that.  In the course of the 90 minutes I was there, I put two boys in STEP (timeout), one of which was the Mr. X who Chatty is no longer allowed to play with.  The little punk told me I was mean when I put him in STEP for kneeing another boy.  Further confirmation as to why Chatty will NEVER be allowed to play with him.   

Some other observations:

• One little boy went to the bathroom and was in there for quite a while.  When he came out he sighed and said "Man I feel better now" (mimicking his father I am sure).  I felt bad for the little girl who had to go in after him. 
• A couple boys in Chatty's class have longer hair than her. 
• One boy said to me "I get to go to The Turks and Caicos for my birthday" - umm what?  Yep that's right he is going on a nice little Caribbean trip with his family for his 6th birthday (aka family vacation).  Yes I am a little lot jealous.