Fun February!

We had a pretty good Valentine's Day this year although Douglas and I are not really big into Valentine's Day. We had fun making yummy treats though. We made cute little candies and some dipped Oreos, which were quite delish! We also made some strawberry creme filled cupcakes, which I just kind of made up as we went along because I didn't really want to use just plain jam inside of them. I think they turned out pretty good, especially with the whipped cream icing. It complemented the filling perfectly. The kids had fun making their Valentines for all of their friends. I got to help with Brandon's class party, which was a lot of fun. I help in his class every Friday and I love it! I am going to get a substitute teaching license so I can be a substitute teacher, especially since we'll have a new school just blocks from our house next year. I'm just trying to decide if I want to do it now or wait until Katie starts school...decisions, decisions! Brandon was invited to Chuck-E-Cheese for his friend's birthday party. Of course I couldn't really walk the girls inside Chuck-E-Cheese with me to drop him off and then make them leave without playing so we had to stay and play :) They had a blast, as usual. It was crazy though because it was Saturday and it felt like there were a million people crammed in there. Fun times! I didn't get any pictures of Brandon because he was running around with his friends and I hardly saw him. It will be kind of nice when the girls are big enough that they can run around without me next to them the whole time too! We've started a "rock jar" at our house. On days when the kids are good and do their chores they get to put a small rock in the jar. When they are the little monster children that they can sometimes be then I get to take a rock out of the jar. Then when the jar is full they get to pick somewhere fun to go as a family, like Chuck-E-Cheese or Family Funplex or bowling or the zoo. They seem to be really excited about it so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully it will help with the bad attitudes that have been a little more frequently lately. It's worth a try!

Farm Show 2010!

Well we did the farm show again this year. It's almost like a second Christmas for Brandon. He absolutely LOVES it!!! He just can't get enough of all the big farm equipment. The kids all love all of the free popcorn too! Now I must admit I don't exactly look forward to the farm show every year. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my husband mysteriously disappears to talk to people he knows and even though he says he will be "right back" we don't see him at all. That wouldn't bother me too much normally but it's hard keeping track of all three of my kiddos around all of the big equipment and who needs help getting in what and down from something else...it's kind of frustrating! But I suck it up and do it every year anyway because they love it and that's what moms are supposed to do. One day we had fun blowing bubbles outside. Emmy did it in preschool and when the other kids saw her little bubble blower they both HAD to make one too. They had a lot of fun with it. They also made snow castles in the back yard together. I think they are missing their sand box. PS: I hope you enjoy the "farm show" music!

A Tribue to those "Shopping Moms"

So I went to King Soopers with my three kids the other day, which is always an adventure. We only needed to get a few things so theoretically it shouldn't very long, right? WRONG!! It feels like every time I go to the store with my kids we get sucked into some kind of time warp and no matter how hard I try we can't get out until what seems like days later. Why does it take so long? I was contemplating this the other day while I was driving home from the store, with my legs aching from walking around the store for so long. Then I figured out why. We have to stop and look at anything that is teeny tiny, cute, sparkly, cool, awesome, or gross. Of course that slows us down quite a bit more at Wal-Mart than King Soopers, but it still adds quite a bit of time to the shopping trip. Then we always have to stop and use the potty and maybe more than once if the store we are in has one of the "cute teeny tiny potties" that my girls think are the coolest thing in the world. So that always adds some time onto the shopping trip. Then no matter how hard I try it seems like there is always something I need near the toy aisles, which apparently have some sort of magnetic draw to my children. And I'm sure King Soopers is just trying to be nice with their free cookies and penny horse rides for the kids, but that just adds on even more time! Then, we have to do all of this at the speed of a 3-year-old because my children all insist on walking all the time. I guess that leaves me with one final word...TANTRUMS. Luckily I don't have to deal with big tantrums too often at the store but there certainly have been those times I consider leaving a child on the clearance rack for 50% off. I think there should be some sort of sympathy discount for every child you have to take shopping with you. What do you think?