Playing Dress Up

I believe that you are never too old to play dress up. At our Relay for Life Rummage Sale today I had a little fun with some of our merchandise. I think I like my new look. Not so sure if my family will be seen with me in public but that's a risk I'm willing take for the sake of fashion.

Things I Love

I love journals and notebooks. When I say I love journals and notebooks what I actually mean is I have a crazy obsession for them. When I say crazy obsession I mean I can’t walk into any store without checking out the stationary aisle for notebooks, journals, or notepads that might want to come home and live with me. I love to use them for taking sermon notes, Bible study notes, keeping prayer journals, using them in church to keep my kids busy, random note taking for projects I’m working on and I think they are just so darn pretty.  I buy all sizes, all types, I don’t discriminate.  I keep them in the kitchen, my nightstand, my purse, my van, with my Bible and stacked on a bookcase. I love when I’m at the end of a journal and it’s time to get a new one. I always agonize about which one to choose next.  I mean I don't want the other journals to be jealous or get their feelings hurt. Am I crazy? Do I need to get counseling? Do I need an intervention?  Please tell me I'm not the only one.  Do any of you love journals as much as I do? And dont' lie, Jesus knows. Just saying.

Here are just a few of my favorites.  

Laundry we meet again

Hello laundry. I see you came back.  Oh and you brought some friends too. Well, I'm not sure what you're trying to prove but you don't scare me.  I will be done with you today and you can count on that.  Seriously though. How does a family of four accumulate so much laundry?  It's never ending!  As soon as I feel like I'm all caught up, the hampers are all full again and eveyone is wearing whatever they can find in their closests and drawers and we end up looking like clowns.  All mismatched, pants too short, sleeves that look they shrunk about 2 sizes and well last time I checked my magazines that look was not trendy.  It's safe to say that almost everyday around here is laundry day.  I don't like laundry day.  I like "read a book uninterrupted" day, "gettin my hair did" day or "kids are at grandmas, woohoo!" day.  But laundry day, no, laundry day is no friend of mine.

Guilty Pleasure

I admit that I have an addiction. It's been something I have struggled with for years.  I have this uncontrollable desire for magazines. Their glossy pages and bright beautiful photos have a hold on me.  I can't help it.  They call my name when I'm at the checkout stand. They say "Hello again friend, don't forget to take me home today. We have so much to talk about."  It's horrible.  I can't resit their loveliness.  My favorites are home decor magazines and fashion magazines.  They pull me in with promises of budget decorating and clothes that will flatter my figure.  So I fill my cart and anticipate bedtime when I can snuggle up and read my magazines. 

Easter Baskets

I made Easter baskets for the kiddos today. I filled them with yummy treats (chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and chocolate malt eggs), their favorite snack (Slim Jims), and summer essentials (swimsuits and bubbles). Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Girls Day Out

Yesterday Isabella and I had some girl time. We hit the mall looking for a dress for her to wear on Saturday when we celebrate Easter with my parents, my brother and my niece. We hit the Starbucks for some snacks before we hit the stores. We did most of our shopping at Old Navy. She picked out some dresses to try on and we went into the dressing room and started the fashion show. Isabella doesn't just try a dress on to see if it fits. She spins and twirls and checks to make sure it's just the right length. She has definite opinions about what she likes and doesn't hide her feelings when what mom has picked is all wrong. She picked a really cute summer dress and then decided that shoes and accessories were needed to complete the outfit. I fear the day when we have to go shopping for school clothes (she wears uniforms now and will until 8th grade). I might just have to get a job so I can afford this girlie girls taste. We had a nice day out and I look forward to doing it again soon.

Church and Goldfish

At our church when your child turns 3 they graduate from the nursery to big church and children's church. Since Ian turned 3 in February we've been struggling with ways to keep him engaged during big church until the kids get dismissed for children's church. Snacks have been a lifesaver for those first 40 minutes. Ian has a friend who sits in the pew in front if us with his family. Last Sunday they set up camp under the two pews with their snacks and color pages. It was one of the easiest Sundays we've had.

Crafting

Today I had some girlfriends over for a craft day.  I made this little scrapbook with a bunch of supplies I had recently purchased.  I will be adding some photos to it soon. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I think I need to have more of these craft days. We ate some yummy food, talked, laughed, and spent time working on projects we've been meaning to do but haven't had the time to do.  I think I will be hosting another one of these craft days soon.

 

I"m linking this post here:

From Picture Books to Chapter Books

I was feeling a little better today so I thought I would tackle Isabella's room. She had laundry piled high that needed to be put away and a bookcase that was in dire need of attention.  Books were falling out of every shelf and stacked to the high heavens on the top shelf.  As I began to go through her books I realized that it had been a long time since any of those picture books had been read.  She hasn't shown any interest in Dora or Little Quack for some time.  She hasn't asked about Harry the Dirty Dog or why those Five Monkeys keep jumping on the bed.  No, she no longer chooses a picture book from her shelf at night for a bedtime story.  She spends most of her time reading chapter books.  Books about that rambunctious Junie B. Jones or that pesty Ramona Quimby.  She loves reading about Ralph Mouse and his awesome motorcyle and we've collected books about the fairies of Pixie Hollow. When we do have time for a bedtime story we now take turms reading pages from said chapter books.  The same books I read as a child. The same books I cherished and loved and could read over and over.  Now I get to read them again and share them with my sweet girl.  She loves being read to and I truly believe it's because I was still teaching kindergarten when she was growing in my belly and I read to my students every day. As I read to them she was also able to hear the words and enjoy those stories.  She loved books as a toddler and would sit in my lap and let me read to her over and over the same stories.  She would also make me read to her when she was in the bathtub.  She also likes to enjoy a good read while she takes care of her business on the toilet (don't tell her I shared that with you, she would kill me).  Books are always gifts around here for birthdays, Christmas and Easter.  She gets excited for each new book and it quickly becomes her favorite.  I'm thrilled she loves books as much as I do. I can't wait until she comes home today and sees all of her books lined up and ready for her to choose as her next read.  Here are some pics of some of our favorite books.

It's a sick day for mommy

It's official. I'm sick.  I'm really sick. I usually don't get sick. I like to think I really built up my immune system when I was a kindergarten teacher.  I can count on my fingers how many times I had to call in sick the 6 years I was a teacher.  So I have always felt really blessed that I have been really healthy and when my family gets sick I never seem to catch their coodies.  Well, this week was different.  I had two sick kids all weekend into the school week so when I started to feel yucky on Tuesday I knew that it was going to go all downhill for me.  My kids were better but now it was my turn.  After toughing it out all day I decided Tuesday afternoon to drag myself to the Urgent Care to see what was wrong.  After an x-ray and strep test it turned out that I had a sinus infection.  So prescription in hand I headed over to the Target pharmacy to get my meds.  That trip is a whole other story. I was about to get all crazy on someone after making me wait over an hour for my meds.  Turns out it was the insurance's fault. So after a few phone calls and eye rolls to the pharmacy tech I was on my way home ready to start feeling better. Yesterday I thought I was feeling okay, I even made my way to dance class to practice for our performance on Saturday.  I think I overdid it.  This morning I was not feeling any better.  I'm praying that the anitbiotics kick in soon. My weekend is jam packed with so much stuff that I really don't want to cancel or miss anything.  Did I mention that we are potty training Ian this week too?  Yes, one more thing to add to my already crazy week. But it's going so great. I think I can safely say that he is potty trained. We had one awful poop accident on Tuesday but I will spare you the details.  It's going great and I think it's the container of m&m's in the bathroom that we use as a reward that have him going all the time. Hey, whatever works right?? Anyway, it's days like today when I'm feeling so bad that I can't even get out of my pj's that I'm thankful that I am a stay at home mom.  It's not easy taking care of kids when you're sick but God really does help them to be more obedient and easy going when mommy is sick. Being sick also gives me a chance to lay around and not feel guilty about taking time out from my household duties. Everyone helps out and at the end of the day it's only a couple of days of fending for themselves.  So I'm taking today to call in sick from work. No laundry, vacuuming, making beds, washing dishes, or running errands. I'll be back to work in a couple of days.

Sick Day

At 6:30 am watching cartoons in bed.

Isabella is feeling good enough to play the Wii.

Ian is playing with his toys.

I've been taking care of sick kids all weekend. It started on Friday when I picked Isabella up from school early because she had a headache and tummy ache. She would start to feel better and then a few hours later she was feeling yucky again. That lasted all weekend. Then I woke up this morning to a sick toddler. His sister thought she would be kind and share her germs with her brother. Why should she have all the fun of taking medicine and dealing with the ickiness of fevers and headaches? It's more fun when someone else is sharing in your misery.  After sleeping at the foot of Isabellas bed last night and getting a total of 4 hours of sleep I was awakened by a tiny toddler at 5:45 am who was feeling not so hot, actually he was feeling really hot since he had a fever so he was pretty cranky.  So we've been up since about 6am with fevers, runny noses, headaches, coughs and plan old crankiness. I pray they feel better soon and I pray that I make it through this day in one piece. I think it's going to take lots of coffee to make it through the day, lots and lots of coffee.

Planet Dance at Relay for LIfe

Our dance studio had the opportunity to perform at a local Relay for Life event yesterday.  This was our second year dancing at the event and it was a great success.  I was able to perform last year with the dance team and this year both Isabella and I danced with our hip hop classes.  She had been feeling a little under the weather but like the true performer she is she pushed through and did a great job.  Here a some pictures I took before we took the stage. We will be performing again next Saturday at the local Asthma Walk.  I'm hoping that Mr. G will be able to get some pictures of us on stage. He was busy video taping the performance and trying to keep Ian happy in his stroller with promises of cotton candy and soda when we were all done. 

Here I am with some of the girls I take hip hop with.  Isabella took the picture thats why we are all bent over and squished together.

This is Miranda and Sylvia.  Miranda and Isabella go to school together and take dance together.  Sylvia and I are in taking hip hop together too. Who says moms can't get their groove on?

Irene, Sylvia, Christine (she teaches the dance team, ballet and jazz, and takes hip hop), Jacob (he teaches tap and takes hip hop) and Lexie (she is an extraordinary dancer and we danced together on the dance team last year)

Christine and Jacob, they are brother and sister and the best dance teachers I know.

The three of us right before we take the stage.

Jacob and Irene.  Irene and I went to the same high school together and attend the same church.  She takes hip hop with me too.

Jacob and Isabella.  She took tap with him last year and thinks he is the bomb.

Miranda and Isabella. I dont think they ever met a camera they didn't like. They are in the same class at school and take hip hop together. This is their second year dancing together.  They are very talented if I do say so myself.