Afternoon Movie

Today has been a terrific day for me and my sweetie. We started our day with brunch at Cafe Brazil...SO.YUMMY. I love Cafe Brazil and he doesn't but he took me there anyway. I love going there and getting all the yummy coffee I want not to mention the YUMMY fried sweet potatoes I had today.

We bought a newspaper and sat and read it like we had nothing else better to do. It was so fun. The art of doing absolutely nothing and really loving it. It has been way too long since we have had a morning like that together. Chris read the funnies and I read the front page and looked through the coupons!

After about two hours we left and went to the movies to see Cop Out. It was HILARIOUS! We also drank a gigantic slurpee. It was truly the best time we have had in a long time. Now back to the real world, but it is nice to have the memory of our life before kids.

Don't get me wrong our life is so much better and richer now that they are here, but it is fun to remember what it was like before they came along and what it will be like when they leave. It makes me excited to think about our life together in a few short years. I love this man.

Emily's first blanket

So this morning I was reading blogs and Emily was sitting next to me. We stumbled upon one that was showing fleece blankets and a new way to tie them. Emily got it in her head that she wanted to make one TODAY. SO...we headed to the fabric store and luckily the fleece was 50% off so we found some cute stuff for cheap!

I was amazed because from start to finish this project took us an hour. I cut the fleece for her and I helped with the pulling through. It turned out so cute! She is a girl after my own heart. Now she is thinking of all the people she wants to make one for. Maybe you will even get one! :)

Favorite Blog of the Week...

So I am sick today. I feel pretty crappy but I decided to spend sometime working on this blog o' mine. I have gotten a few new followers so I want to make it worth coming to the blog and looking around!

SO...here is my new favorite blog I found it by visiting IKAT bag which is another one of my favorite sewing blogs. Go take a look at Jill's blog.

Loving the Legos!

Yesterday we finally had Ben's party. It turned out to be the greatest party. We didn't have as many kids as usual, but i think it was one of the best. I was able to let things go and have some fun planning and participating in the party. Last year we had the pirate party and it was loads of fun but I was so stressed. I went insane with making it perfect and it wasn't anywhere near perfect. I had lots of help from wonderful friends and as unbelievable as it might seem they are still my friends. Most of the time my husband doesn't even want to still be married to me after the party is over. BUT... not this year.

This year I turned over a new leaf. This new leaf was due to lots of different things. One of those things was my mother-in-law. She offered to help and opened her home for the party. Every year she offers her help. I have a VERY tough time accepting help from anyone. But this year I decided that I was going to let her help. Her help was the key and not having to clean my house before the party was probably the best part of it all.

The second thing that contributed to my new leaf is my best friend Jeannie. She is really getting me to see that sweating the small stuff is just pointless and it is REALLY is all just small stuff. She is one of my heroes. She has been in the hospital with Caleb for a month now and she still finds a way to be positive and move forward every day. It is not that Caleb is doing poorly it is just being in the hospital for anything for a month takes a toll on anyone. I look forward to seeing her every time that I can and talking to her as much as I can because no matter how the day has gone for her I know I will find her laughing and joking around with everyone. It really is quite amazing.

The last but definitely not the least important is my husband. In the past year he has really taken the time to thoughtfully consider how the quality of my life could be enhanced. He has worked so hard to keep us going financially so that I could quit my 70 hour week job in the publishing world to take a part-time preschool teaching position that I love. I love it and it has been great for our family. It is the best decision that we ever made and he is also one of my heroes because without him working so hard it never would have been possible. He really is a financial genius among other things! :)

Okay...enough of the sappy stuff and on to the party. I created stations again this year. We had build a bridge, Lego races, build a mini, Lego coloring, and Lego estimation. We kept everything pretty simple. I made the cupcakes and put Lego candies on top of them. We used the pirate ship that the kids and Chris finished in just a week and a half as decoration and I made a banner. Here are the pictures to show just how much fun we had! Pictures are worth a thousand words! :)

Lego Estimation

Lego Racers

Build a Bridge

Lego coloring

Mini Building

Lego Races

Really...I try not to make it all about me....REALLY

See here is the thing even when life is really good and seems to be going along pretty much okay I still have an old invisible cloak that is wrapped around my shoulders all the time. This cloak is affectionately called Anger. My cloak of anger is always, always, always there. Sometimes the cloak itself is invisible and sometimes it is like that beloved cloak in Harry Potter and it makes me invisible.

The times when the cloak is invisible are my good times. The only thing I really feel is a little bit of the hood on my head. I can feel Anger surrounding my head but I can still manage to feel happiness and not strike out at everyone around me all the time.

The times when I become invisible are my REALLY BAD times. These are the times that I lose myself completely in the anger and everyone is exposed to me at my complete worst. I used to blame everyone and everything for my anger, but I take full responsibility.

I take meds that help me with the angry feelings that I have, but some of them still break through. I have been having some really bad days lately.

I am trying to get it under control with exercise and good sleep, but I HATE exercise, and I am not a good sleeper. I can sleep a lot, but I never feel like I have rested at all. I mean never. This is not an exaggeration. I have night terrors and when I wake up from a full night's sleep I still feel like I need to sleep about 12 more.

But everyone looking into my life would say...things are good, why are you so angry? That's a really good question. Why am I so angry? Why can't I let things go? Why does this cloak continue to hang over me and my entire life?

Well, I know the answer to why I am angry. But how to let it go is as elusive as that pot of gold I have been searching for at the end of that rainbow. Do I really love my cloak that much? Am I scared what life would be like without the cloak around me?

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Can you believe that last Thursday we got about 7 inches of snow here in North Texas? It was amazing. I realize that some of you live in places that get this kind of snow on a daily basis all winter long and I truly envy you.

I love snow. I love watching it fall, I love playing in it, I love looking at it on rooftops, but the thing I truly love is watching my children as they watch the snow. Seeing the pure joy in their eyes as they run across new fallen snow. Does this happen when you get snow every day? I hope so because it is the best!

Since it is Texas we got two days off for the snow. And I will tell you there is still snow sitting around today in yards and some snowmen still standing, but most of it is gone.

We took some pictures of the kids, but the most beautiful scene was on Thursday night when the snow had stopped falling and the light from the moon was reflecting off of the beautiful new fallen snow. I couldn't stop looking at it. I think that some part of heaven has to have new fallen snow at night with a full moon. It is probably the most lovely thing ever. Enjoy the pics of the kiddos!

The Boy Wonder's Sixth Birthday

The Boy Wonder turned six last week on the 3rd. His party is coming up this Saturday along with Valentine's day parties and the like. I think I am the craziest person on the planet right now. I am trying to plan the party for his class, get things ready for my class' party, planning last minute details for his party, making cookies for Emily's class party. What exactly was I thinking????

The Boy Wonder has become a Legomaniac! I mean complete and total maniac! His party is a Lego themed party, go figure.

So we decided that we would get him a set of Lego's that he really wanted for his birthday. I drove to the Lego store at NorthPark to pick up the gift the day before his birthday. Yes, I know this is a recipe for disaster, but do you remember my list of things for this week, well it wasn't any shorter last week. :)

ANYWAY...I go to NorthPark and I ask the Lego guy in the store if they have the $80.00 pirate ship. (the smaller one) And wouldn't you know it...they are sold out. YUP...sold out. Hmmm...who would have thought that there would be a run on Lego pirate ships the first week of February, but GO FIGURE.

He politely tells me I can order it online and have it shipped directly to my house and I say I don't think that is going to be possible because I need it tomorrow. He then politely tells me that they have the bigger pirate ship, which by the way is $180.00.

Sighing I pull out my cell phone and call my Legomaniac husband and ask him what I should do. I mean if it were up to me I would just some other Lego set and that would be it, BUT I know Chris will have an opinion, and I was sure I knew what that opinion was going to be.

We spent thirty minutes on the phone with me walking around the store and telling him what types of things they had and their prices. All the while I knew what the final verdict was going to be. FINALLY, when I told him I really didn't have all afternoon to spend in the Lego store he says to me, just get the big one. I KNEW IT!! I could have just saved myself some time and bought it in the beginning, but no I had to make the call.

So that is ALL we got The Boy Wonder for his birthday this year. And wouldn't you know it he opened it and said...is this all I am getting??? Gotta love kids! :)

Here are a few pics from the morning of his birthday...more to come after the party!

Emily and Vincent Van Gogh

Two Friday's ago Emily learned about Vincent Van Gogh. I know this not because I asked her teacher or looked at her teacher's lesson plans, but because she told me all about it. Normally when I ask Emily what she learned in school each day she says I don't remember. This is very frustrating because I know she learned SOMETHING, right? Anyway this is how the conversation in the car went on the way home.

E: Mommy, I need to paint my room.

M: You need to do what Emily?

E: I need to paint my room. It's homework.

M: Really? Do you mean you need to paint the walls of your room, or that you need to paint a picture of your room?

E: NO, mommy, just a picture of my room.

M: Why?

E: Because we learned about an artist today who painted his room. He was very sad mommy, he cried all the time. And he had a brother and they argued all the time then his brother he went away. This made the man even more sad. He got so sad mommy that he cut his ear off. He painted a picture of himself and of his room. Then he painted this picture called Starry Night and I think it looks very sad.

M: (listening very intently because this is fascinating to me) Wow are you talking about Vincent Van Gogh, Emily?

E: Yes! That's it mommy! Avery and I want to paint, and I have to paint a picture of my room to show Ms. Caroline. Do we have paint?

M: Yes we have paint, but we don't have the right paper let's stop and get some.

E and A: Yeah!

E: It's such a boring rainy day! I can't wait to paint.

I was so blown away by her memory of the lesson. She remembered details and she had an opinion about the artist and his art. I think Emily might be my little artist. Lord knows that she is emotional enough! :)

Here are some pics of the girly girls painting their pictures that boring, rainy afternoon!