Sweet Sophie is Three!

I will have to admit that this birthday has made me a little teary....my baby is 3! It just seems so much older than 2! She is not a baby anymore! Despite her silly Mommy, we had a good day. She took treats to school and as per our family tradition, she got to choose her place to eat dinner. Much to my delight she chose Pei Wei because she wanted "edamame and a diet coke." She ate her little heart out and then we had cupcakes and presents. Target has these cool dolls (Only Hearts Club) and one of the dolls is named Anna Sophia....so of course she had to have one! We took the remainder of our cupcakes to the ball field to share with her friends while we watched Elijah play ball. It was fun times and I am so grateful that one of the biggest "surprises" that Dann and I have ever received has brought us endless joy for the last three years. I love you Sophie girl!

Splishin' and a Splashin'......

with a special emphasis on splashin'! After our festivities last Saturday and all of the outside play the kids were dirty beyond words. Needless to say, a bath was in order. We decided to put Will and Sophie in together and the chaos ensued! We had to dry the walls and I had to change clothes! They thought it was a blast and they really liked their mohawks!

If you have a friend named Jessica................

and you shamelessly follow her to Food Lion..... this is what you can buy for $3.77!


Jessica is an extraordinarily talented couponer and I am seeking to learn all I can from her! We have spoken often of her setting up a blog to share her knowledge with us all at once instead of one by one as she is so gracious to do! When it happens I will be sure to let you know!

Happy Birthday to you and you and you..............

This weekend we went to Knoxville for a bit of fun and frivolity. It seems that we have 6 family birthdays in April so we decided to have one big party. This April was especially special because it was Jadyn's first birthday with us. The other birthdays included Dann, Sophie, Zac, Patsy (aunt), and Stacy (cousin). Amanda's friend Melissa made the cake and I thought it was extra cute! It tasted great too! Enjoy some photos of our day :0)!

Confession........

It is good for the soul....but terrible for the hips! I got a bag of this snack mix (and some others) for Dann for his birthday on Thursday. This morning before church he opened this one and asked me if I wanted a bite. I had a handful and then he left it sitting beside my computer and we went to church. Well..........this afternoon while he was fixing the bathroom faucet and I was doing our taxes I ATE THE WHOLE BAG!!!!!!! I really did not mean too, it was just SO good.

I confessed to my dear sweet husband and he was very gracious. He said "I wasn't THAT crazy about it!" Well, clearly I was!

I ripped this photo off of another blog because I could not find the bag in the garbage and was not willing to dig too deep. What this bag does not tell you (apparently I had an updated receipe) that it has all of these ingredients plus a kick of cayenne pepper. MERCY, that spice just took this snack to a whole new level!

Next time you visit our Super Target $3.00 will buy you a whole lot of happiness ;0)!

Honestly

We spent a little time under the Golden Arches tonight as a treat for our kids. We NEVER go there for dinner so they were very surprised when we pulled in and parked. It is more of a get the kids out of the house and talk to some other moms for lunch kind of place. As usual, the play place offered an interesting cross section of the population. My main observation of the evening was the amount of t-shirts with questionable messages. Tonight's fare included "If you don't get caught it does not count" (worn by a mom with 6 kids), "Naughty girls have more fun" (worn by a girl about age 11) "I want what I want when I want it" and "I won't tell if you don't" (worn by elementary age girls). I know this rude t-shirt thing is a trend and I am a fan of shirts with random sayings. ("I do all of my own stunts", "It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys attack", "Recess is my favorite class", just to name a few.) The rude ones really disturb me. First of all, I feel bad for the kids whose parents let them wear these things......especially the naughty girls one on the adolescent girl......what kind of message is this sending? Secondly, I really don't want my kids to read the shirts and think the messages are okay. I don't know that there is a solution to the problem because they are everywhere. The only thing I know to do is to continue to talk to my kids about what is right and wrong and to keep their bodies "rude saying free" until what they wear is out of my control (when they are 30 :0) ). Am I overreacting or does this bother you too?
P.S. I asked Dann if this post is too soapboxy. His reply"Isn't that what a blog is?" Huh!

(when he saw me typing the PS he said "Sheesh, you'll write anything!" :0)

~Good Night~

Happy Birthday Honey!

Happy 44th Birthday to the BEST husband and Daddy anyone could ask for!

We love you!

Thoughtful

Tonight we had the privilege of taking Johnny home from church. If you do not know Johnny, he is a man who attends our church. Johnny is blind and he has an interesting gift with numbers. He can remember most any one's birthday that he knows. He remembers the month, date and year you were born and when he learns your birthday for the first time he can tell you "You were born on a Friday" or whichever day applies. I have never known him to be wrong. Anyway, when Johnny was in our van tonight he was telling our children when they were born and on what day. They were pretty impressed! Macklin said "Mr. Johnny, when is your birthday?" He replied "My birthday is March 30th." In all of the 13 years I have known Johnny I have never once asked Johnny the date of his birthday. Macklin is like that. She is forever thinking of others. (She felt really bad for the crabs who lost their legs when Elijah and I were eating crab legs the other night). I am excited that she has this personality trait and I am excited to see how it develops as she grows. She is certainly teaching her Mom lessons every day! Maybe we will remember to send Johnny a card on his birthday next year :0)!

Root Root Root for the Home Team

Today was the official start of Elijah's baseball season. He is playing with most of the same kids from the last few seasons but now they are the Astros instead of the Braves. I thought he looked so handsome in his new uniform (he rolled his eyes) and I am so happy it is not white on white like the Braves uniform (Elijah is an enthusiatic slider and it is hard to get a white uniform clean!) It was a beautiful day and a great game! Elijah played third base for the first time and they won 9-1.