Life is good!

Things have been going so swell around here I can't help but smile.  My sister found out today that a cyst that she found is not Cancer! Praise God! The kids have been doing great! Minimal fights between them.  Praise God!  Been working at rehearsal for an event that is coming up at Northside called Perfect Love and the music is coming along very well.  I had a very hard conversation this week that seems to be strengthening the relationship and I couldn't be more excited.  Double praise to God!  My husband is home bound and should be here around Friday he said.  Today is Day 19 of him being gone. :(  Things are looking up around her and I like how that feels.

I won't mention that I got locked in the front bathroom for about 15-20 minutes this past week and had to get myself out by yelling at Victoria in the bathtub on the other end of the house to get my library card out of my wallet.  I got myself out after a minute or two of panic.  :)

Routine

Hooray the big yellow bus came this morning! The only problem was that we were not there to get on it.  Victoria had apparently been playing with her alarm and the time was incorrect.  Her alarm went off at 3am.  It woke up her, Addison and myself. Addison is now wide awake and it is 3am. She is wanting breakfast and a story read to her.  I pulled her into my bed and rubbed her back until she dozed off again.  I had trouble going to sleep as I was catching up on all my TV watching that I had been missing due to the busy Spring Break schedule and fell asleep on the couch around 1:30ish.  I had my alarm set on my cell phone and apparently had it set on vibrate.  So at 7:08 I had a panicked Victoria standing next to my bed worried that she would not make it to school. Once I got up she moved at a turtle's pace to get ready.  Frustration set in early.....around 3am this morning.  Ugh! glad to be back to routine but does it have to resemble a train wreck?

I love my soldier and my sister

I met up with my sister and niece at the Scottsburg Walmart to begin our trip to the Indianapolis Children's museum.  We almost didn't think that the trip was going to happen as Addison wasn't feeling too well the day prior.  After a long nap she woke up good as new and saying she felt much better.  My sister and I have been looking forward to the trip for a month or so and we never do anything together just the two of us with the kids so we decided to take advantage.  I am so glad we did. 

Like I said we met up and my sister got out of the car and handed me a bag.  "Here you go.  Just a little something for you." I opened the bag and immediately became puzzled.  The script was really swirly and I read "I love my soldier"  What?  Am I reading that right?  Maybe it says Savior?  Nope that definitely says soldier.  "Um, I love my soldier?"  My sister turned immediately red and said "I THOUGHT IT SAID SISTER!"  I fell to the parking lot in laughter and told her that I will cherish it forever and will wear it in hopes to get military discounts at different places.  LOL.

The drive up was fun, no problems at all and we found the place without any difficulty. First thing we see when we walk in is a full size Bumblebee from Transformers.

Then onto the lower level to take in the blown glass exhibit. This was so pretty.  You can stand under the floor and look up to see this. Awesome isnt' it?

As we left the blown glass exhibit "something" caught Anthony's eye! Hmm wonder why?

 Really fun times were to be had by the kids in the Dora and Diego exhibit.  Lots of interactive play.  Pirate ships..

 Rock climbing...

 Some flower planting...

 and a ride in the car with Addison behind the wheel.

 One of the neatest exhibits was the costumes that they had on display including Darth Vader, I dream of Jeanie, Dreamgirls, Terminator, Indiana Jones, and the kids favorite and actual hat worn by the wicked witch of the west in Wizard of Oz. The kids stared at this for quite some time. 

 We visited Egypt and rode a donkey.

Looked underwater to see what there was to see in a creek.

Played in a "Addison sized doll house"

and said goodbye to Bumblebee before we left. 

The kids had an absolute blast and they were so incredibly well behaved that I was beaming all day long.  So glad we went and will be making a trip back.  Next time I will ask for a military discount with my T-shirt on.  :)

Ariel's Sweet 16

Happy Birthday Ariel!  Can't believe you are 16 years old!

She really liked the painting I did for her.

Addison really liked the painting Aunt Punkie did for her.

Anthony really liked Aunt Punkies glider foot stool, and he always does! 

We had a ball. Such a fun party.  It had a twilight theme and we played a crazy detailed trivia game that had questions like how many bites of granola bar did someone take in the movie.  That led to crazy laughter and good made up stories about the movie Twilight.  The house was decorated so neat with candles and red Christmas lights.  We really had a good time.  I tried my hand at Proud Mary on the Wii and my heart rate is still coming down this morning.  Shew!

St. Patty's Day in Irvington

Road trip!  I surprised Victoria by telling her that her brother and sister were in town to see their Grandma.  They made the trip up from Florida earlier in the week and the weather was too beautiful to not drive ourselves down to see them in Irvington.  We had a great visit.  The kids were wonderful and it was so nice to see Becca, James and their dad Hunter.  After taking a walk down the country road by their grandma's house complete with walking sticks we found along the road we came back to the house to rest a bit and play some music.

Victoria with sissy Becca.  Doesn't she look like Marisa Tomei?

Hunter and I posing for our pic.  Love this guy to death!  Such a great family.  Glad to call him part of ours too.

On the way home we stopped in Corydon and ate at Culvers.  Even though the twins were too young to understand completely I explained to them that Culvers food is what they are made up of as I ate there every time I had a doctor appointment while pregnant.  :)  We moved back inside shortly after this pic was taken.  The weather was incredible but the wind was too and Anthony didn't want to chase his hot dog across the parking lot.

Such a fun day!  Love road trips.  Oh I almost forgot Anthony almost had his first peeing on the side of the road experience.  No matter how hard he bent his knees he just couldn't get anything to come out.  lol.  No accidents in about a week and we are not even wearing diapers to bed!  Woohoo Go Anthony!

Don't forget these days

I have found myself with tears in my eyes over how truly blessed I am lately. The twins are at such a fun age and I now look at them and know that is the age that I got Victoria and it shows me how far her and I have come.  Amazing how time flies.  The kids have been saying the cutest things and been so appreciative of stuff.  They will run up to me hours after we are home from someplace and one of them will run up to me and give me a big hug around the neck and say "Thanks for taking us to the library mom".  My heart turns to a puddle. 

Some funny things I don't want to forget...

*Addison was a little meanie and pushed Victoria in the chest because she wouldn't give her back a toy.  I spanked her and sent her to time out.  She screamed at the wall for quite some time and then suddenly got the hint that her display wasn't impressing anyone and yelled down the hallway to me "MOM SORRY I PUSHED YOUR DAUGHTER."

*Victoria learned that tomorrow we are heading to Irvington.  She was unaware of why and I was giving her clues why we would want to go to Irvington (to see her brother and sister up from Florida) and she said "Mom I don't know just tell me the only thing is know is Irvington Coat Factory."

*While leaving Kmart tonight the kids noticed that it went from dusk to night time.  Anthony looked up at the sky and said, "God used a dark crayon."

Ah those kids don't know what I would do without them besides less laundry.  Lucky girl I am.

Accomplished Artist.

I am so super jazzed!  Remember me posting the pic of my painting?  The red one with the David Crowder lyrics from "He loves us"?  I still have my original but I have sold 4 more of them along with a custom one of another set of lyrics.  I have never sold a piece of art before and I am overjoyed that people have liked it so much that they are wanting to  purchase.  Mrs. Rightly, my art teacher from high school, would be proud!

Yesterday I headed up to Salem to my sister's house to pick up some more wood.  Was so good to see her and give her a hug as she lost her sweet doggie Duke this past week.  That is always so hard to lose a pet. :(  We had a great visit and decided that she should head back down south with me and the kids as she was picking up furniture from a consignment sale this past weekend. She did REALLY well at it too!  The baby furniture is taking off like gang busters and all of the hard work is paying off.

We are getting prepared for my niece Ariel's 16th birthday party. She is doing a twilight theme and we hunted all over clarksville for the favors from Twilight.  My sister has some great ideas for decorations and Ariel is really excited.

While in the new party store in Clarksville Anthony reached down and grabbed his pants and said "I'm wet"  and wet he was.  My first accident outside of home but still very proud of my boy and his big boy underwear.  He told me he had to poop in Target a couple of days ago and it took him more time to decided if he wanted to pee like daddy and stand up (the stool was too high) or to sit down and pee (but the hole was "too big-a-me").  He finally decided that sitting down was the way to go and the faces began.  I wish I could get a video of those #2 faces.  My poor kid is going to have hemorrhoids at age 4 if he doesn't take it a bit easy.  lol.

Wow from the painting of christian song lyrics to 3 year olds pooping, this blog entry went all over the place didn't it?  Guess my coffee is working but my brain isn't. Good ol time change.

Jesus Christ Superstar

I had the pleasure of seeing Jesus Christ Superstar tonight at Derby Dinner playhouse.  I went in not expecting much at all. Not much more than a high school production.  I left quite impressed with the cast.  As soon as "Jesus" opened his mouth to sing I was tearing up.  The movie cast is some big shoes to fill and they did a GREAT job!  I recommend it highly if you are a fan of the show. 

Walmart rant...big time!

I will miss you but New Albany Walmart you have lost my business!  I am still not sure about the others I am still waiting for my blood pressure to come down.  After the bus came I headed to Walmart to get a bit of grocery shopping done.  While in there I wandered past the lingerie department and found thigh highs, panties, garter belt, stilletos....ON A CUSTOMER.  She looked to have been around 18-19 and I have to say it appeared to have just gotten off of her "shift".  There she was only wearing undergarments from the waist down and wearing a jacket to cover her top half.  I was completely shocked and appalled!  This isn't even the most shocking part!  Three Walmart employees were assisting her in finding a bra size!  Anthony and Addison gave her a look and Addison said "That lady is naked!"  I diverted the kids attention and hurried away to get my yogurt. 

Once I got up to the front of the store I asked to speak to a manager.  The check out girls were saying that he managers were contemplating if they could ask her to leave as she was "covered".  All of the women up front were disgusted and she was the talk of the store.  The manager walked up and I said "I am sure you are already aware of what my complaint is."  He responded "Yes, we are aware and believe she has left."  I looked him dead in the eye and said "She shouldn't have been able to come in the door dressed like that.  My kids or anyone else needs to be seeing that and nobody else is going to deal with my kids saying that they saw someone naked at Walmart. It is completely inappropriate and should have never happened." He kind of brushed me off and apologized.  I told him that I would NOT be back and turned to walk away as my blood pressure was rising beyond my comfort level.  I realized that I was heading toward the wrong door I turned and guess who was walking right across the front of the store?  Miss garter belt.  I looked her dead in the eye and said "Com-plete-ly inappropriate.  My kids do NOT need to be seeing that." If nobody else was going to confront this girl out of fear I would.  Someone needed to stand up for what is right.  Whatever job, dress she wants to do is her own choice and not mine but it needs to stay in the places where children are not able to see such things.  I have chuckled at the whole "People of Walmart" pics but to actually see that was a bit more than I could handle.  I wrote the head manager an email and explained that "lower prices is not worth my children's innocence and fear of running into that at 7:30 am.  Meijer is just as convenient and I am well aware that if it was a figure like mine that walked in I would have been escorted out of the store without hesitation.  This is disgusting!

Just following the rules....

On the way home from a fun night at my parents house Victoria was going over her excitement of wearing her glasses for the first time at school.  She asked me where her case was and I asked why.  She said I need to take it to school because I need to take my glasses off when Mrs. Bowden reads to us.  I scratched my head and asked her to explain a bit.  She said "The doctor said I don't have to wear them when reading, so when Mrs. Bowden reads to us I need to take them off." :)

Changing her tune

Watch her tune change when she sees that mommy's facial expression changed...

Well lookie here!

When Victoria got her glasses today I asked her to take them off and read the words on the door across the parking lot.  She looked and said "Uh uh uh"  Then she put on her glasses and said "4652 Grant Line Rd........(GASP!!) I can see that!!"  It was so cute.  She had no clue what she was missing out on.  She even told me that the traffic lights used to be so much bigger.  How funny.  That was all that she had known and never knew to say that she couldn't see.  She just thought that was the way that it was.  She is so excited and ended up getting in a bit of trouble tonight by trying to sleep with her glasses in her glasses case.  Had to explain to her that you don't snuggle with glasses.  :)

On a different note I dropped the twins off at Mamaw's house so that I could attend the kick off to the RIF program at Victoria's school.  I ran by Kroger and bought a coffee cake to take with them for breakfast to share with Mamaw.  When I picked them back up Anthony was bouncing up and down and pulling on my shirt.  "I want more coffee pie! coffee pie! coffee pie!"

What an awesome day!

Today I decided after my hour or so of cleaning that I was going to get out and enjoy my day with the kids.  I ventured out to the public library for toddler story time, just me and A&A.  I could not have been more proud of them. They were SO well behaved (I am sure that this will not always be the case) and Anthony turned to me mid story and rammed his head into my chest, his way of giving a hug, and said "Kank ooo (thank you) Mom this is cool!"  We loaded up on some books and grabbed a stack for my budding book lover Victoria.  Even found her one that was titled Beautiful Peacocks.  :) 

After heading out of the library with no problem whatsoever (who's kids are these?)  we headed to Target so that Mommy could go and get that quilt that I have had my eye on (Thank you Felicia!) for our bedroom.  I purchased a silver comforter a while back pretty cheap at AJ Wright and the kids have destroyed it in a few months.  It had puckered stitching and every time that the kids grabbed a hold of the comforter to hike themselves up on the bed it would rip the stitches out.  Super comfy and warm but with spring coming ever so quickly (How many days left?) I wanted something that would last longer than a few months and was a bit lighter.  Plus it matches the curtains that I have been unsure about. Win-win right?

Happy meals after the Dollar tree and we were sitting in the driveway at their little table eating chicken nuggets and climbing in the wagon to walk up to the bus stop to get sissy. 

The night ended with the windows being open for a bit of fresh air and Victoria and I sitting on the couch starting a book called The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski.  Victoria got a kick of of listening to a chapter book and felt like big stuff getting mommy all to herself with a book that would be too grown up for A&A to listen to.  :)

Ah I am going to go to sleep with a smile on my face. This is one of those days that God gives me where I can lean back set the cruise and enjoy what blessings I have in those little faces.  Lucky girl I am!