TV

Okay, so I don't love TV, but there are certain shows that I absolutely have to watch. I don't turn it on during the day, unless I'm in the kitchen and no one is home and then I watch Fox News to catch up on everything, but there are certain shows that I HAVE to watch each season. I DVR them so I can get through them faster, but I LOVE THEM, so I guess maybe I do love TV. So, right now this is what I watch:

The Hills

American Idol

The Biggest Loser

America's Next Top Model

Survivor

Lost

Oprah's Big Give

I stumbled across Oprah's Big Give (I think that's what it's called) and I LOVE it. I really, really don't like Oprah (gasp!) but I think that show might be the best on TV. I was going to post about it, but my friend Jessi beat me to it and did a better job saying anything I would have said, but I was also going to include another show that I stumbled across...it was the Primetime: What Would You Do? series. I think that's what it was called, but anyway, it was awesome.

If you haven't seen it, what they did was set up situations where some sort of wrong was being committed and had hidden video cameras to see how people reacted. Some examples: A white store clerk refusing to serve a Muslim woman in a deli, a man crying in a park, teenage girls picking on another girl, and also teenage girls making fun of a very large woman at a beach, and so much more. Anyway, it goes on and on...it was amazing to see people's reactions and whenever someone did something great, I would find myself sitting their bawling. It was just so touching.

Anyway, they had this one scenario where these two girls were parked in a handicapped parking space and an obviously handicapped driver with a van had no where to park and they wouldn't move. Some people just walked on by but others started YELLING at the girls to move and even offered to help the other lady park her van.

I have never parked in a handicapped spot, but I have used handicapped restroom stalls before and let me tell you something that happened. One day I was in Macy's and the girls were VERY young. I went into the restroom and nearly every stall was open, except the handicapped one (which I probably would have used and brought the stroller in). So instead we used a tiny one and were washing our hands when a lady in a wheelchair came in. She had NO WHERE to go. There were ten open stalls, but the handicapped one that she needed was occupied, so she had to sit and wait. When the lady came out of it (obviously not handicapped), she looked a little embarrassed, and I was glad that I hadn't used it! It was a good reminder to me that maybe those stalls should be saved for people who need them.

Anyway, this was not a very deep and profound post, but I just wanted to share!

It's Spring and Mikayla and I are doing yard work all day! I even had Dave take the car so I could use his truck to load mulch. Wish me luck!

Happy Easter!

I just wanted to share some photos of our weekend fun! The egg hunt was a blast!

The Easter Bunny did a treasure hunt after the kids found eggs and left all the kids big bouncy balls. It was super fun, but the little kids only lasted half-way through!

This picture of the girls and their best buds just makes me happy!

Coloring Eggs

Mik's Preschool Party

Amelia's Kindergarten Party --her teachers are so awesome. They really can't have "parties," so her teachers call them "Spring Centers" or whatever the season is and have them anyway!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Overheard in March

Mikayla: "Now that it's Spring, when can we go climb-walking?" (hiking)

My mom took all these photos. I didn't have my camera at the infamous "Hannah Montana Tornado Birthday Party" so I thought I would post this one here for you to see! She had to paint nails and didn't even sing one song because it was dark and there was no power...I hope her mom got a discount!

Amelia: "Mom, I think cotton is made from clouds, not t-shirts!"

"Mom, I know why you married Dad. ‘Cuz 'C' is next to 'D'.” (She is learning about alphabetizing!)

I can't believe Easter is Sunday. My kids have wanted Leapsters (I think that's what they're called) for a VERY long time. The Easter Bunny will be coming through with those along with a chocolate bunny. I am having an egg hunt at my house on Saturday. For all of my local friends, I'd love to have you! Email me if you want to come at 1:00 so I make sure I have enough prizes at the end of the treausure hunt. (Yes Dad, in your honor I have a treasure hunt. It's not so difficult though...we don't step in snake holes, and twist ankles, and walk for miles in sage brush and have to figure out Dr. Seuss rhymes.)

Mom and Dad's ATL Highlights

There is just too much to post, so here is my mom and dad's trip in highlights:

• Celebrating Dad's birthday.... I painstakingly ordered the cake a week before...pistachio almond from Coldstone, with a very special Marsh Girl birthday wish....enough to feed 12. However when we picked up the cake, it was the size of a tea cup plate, seriously.
  This led to a lot of fun, such as me asking the girl, "12 people???? This feeds 12 people???? I guess you don't know my family!!!!" We lovingly refer to our ice cream portions as "D bowls" which is easily half this cake.


• Amelia just said, "Mom, I think they made that cake for leprechauns." The next day they were reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and had to write a little story about what else the caterpillar would eat. This is what Amelia wrote: he ate a cak. it was the smolist cac evr. Her teacher had no clue what she meant, but we laughed for five days about it.
• Friday we took the girls to the American Girl Doll Bistro. We had a fabulous time and a yummy dinner. The dolls got make-overs and new outfits and we had a blast.
  

• Saturday Mom and I decided to go ahead and take the girls to a birthday party. I mean, this was a BIRTHDAY PARTY! It was at the police lodge (a tin, manufactured building on Spot Road) complete with DJ and dancing for the first hour, a Hannah Montana impersonator for the second hour and food, cake and presents the third hour. After finally finding the place in a serious down-pour, we went in and started jamming. Twenty minutes later, we can see all the parents and their friends (all police officers) on their walkie talkies. We knew SOMETHING was going on. The next thing we know, they hurry all of us into a tiny hallway--like a closet---and tell us that a tornado is heading our way.
• My mom and I realize that we need our purses and cell phones. So, I leave the shelter into a complete hail storm and retrieve them. I also ran into "Hannah Montana" being dropped off by her mom, but they hid her until we could come out of the shelter.
• Then, the storm hit. It was the worst, scariest thing in the whole world...20 5-6 year old girls, some without moms there, and the rest of us adults trying to be calm for them, huddled in the closet. The power went out; the girls were so scared. None of us had phone service anymore, so we gave the girls our phones to give them some light and all said our silent prayers.
• We could see all the officers on their walkie-talkies....and HEAR the dispatcher saying that it is headed down Spot Road and would be at our location at 1:38. It was the scariest five minutes of my life.
• My friend called (not sure why my phone only got an incoming call) and said that the tornado was hitting Hampton (my subdivision). I knew my dad was reading upstairs and Dave was at the gym. I had no clue how we would let me dad know to take cover, and we were sick with worry about him.
• The storm went over and the girls came out. There was no power for Hannah to sing, so she painted nails and the party went on. Then "Hannah's" mom comes running in screaming and crying because she had just gone to Kroger and they moved all the people to a back room and told them the tornado was on Spot Rd. and heading that way....she had just dropped her daughter off at the party on Spot Rd., so she jumped in her car and faced the storm to make sure her daughter was okay.
• Mom and I started noticing that all the officers were getting on their walkie-talkies again, so we decided to leave. Amelia inisted on putting up her umbrella to get out to the car, which got Mom drenched trying to get it in the car. We got all settled and knew we had fifteen minutes to get home before the next one hit. THEN, one of the officers comes RUNNING OUT to the car, screaming for us to get inside and grabs Mikayla to run her in.
• Once again, we were in hiding. This time a mom and daughter came in off the road...that's how bad it was. She couldn't even see and just ran into the first building she saw with cars.
• We made it home and watched the news and realized how devestating it all was. Ricky Sixx was okay, and Dave was home and we were all traumatized.
• Sunday we were sure that we couldn't go downtown to the aquarium. Dave kept telling us that the baluga whale had probably blown out of his tank and was flopping in the middle of Main Street. However, it was up and running and we had a fabulous time and it was a beautiful day!

• Please take note of the girls' fabulous outfits....Mom's only comment: "Ya know Chaun, I don't think I dare buy your kids clothes ever again. They sure have their own fashion sense, don't they?" Oh, and while we're on our attire, Mikayla really loved Granddad's. She kept asking him, "Why do you have flowers on your shirt????"

• The Sea Lions were my favorite because it was beautiful outside and the trainer was so good and so patient with the crowd. She asked if anyone had questions, and of course both my girls raise their hands. After answering all the adult's questions, she turned to Mikayla who asked, "What do they drink?" which was a great question...it turns out, that they don't. They get the water they need from squid. Then it's finally Amelia's turn and she asks, "Do you just catch the fish in the aquarium and feed them to the sea lions????" Mom and I were laughing so hard, that we were crying, but we couldn't let her see that. I think maybe you needed to be there, but it was so dang funny.

So, it was adventurous and crazy, but so fun and full of love that I never wanted them to leave. And guess what? When we are having scary times, don't we all just want our moms? Well, mine was here, and I was so glad! I'm also grateful that we still had so many good times to make up for the scary Saturday!

Adventures in Kroger

I called my mom to tell her my grocery shopping adventure today, and she said, "Now that's one you need to blog about." So, here I go:

Amelia decided she wanted to come along, so the two of us started off for Kroger. I decided to stop first at Kroger Fuel and fill up. Then we proceeded to the store. While in there, I remembered that I better start getting a few things for our annual Easter egg hunt, which has always ended with a treasure hunt where I (the Easter Bunny) gave the kids chocolate bunnies or kites or whatever I could find. So, this year I found big bouncy balls. Since I was going to purchase all that stuff for the party, I decided this would be the trip where I spent $200 because I had a great coupon ($20 off $200). I usually don't spend that much, so I also picked up the gift cards that I need for Mik's teachers for Staff Appreciation and also my sweet babysitter and the girl I tutor who both have birthdays this week.

We started looking kind of funny because I had ten big bouncy balls in the buggy, which filled it up really fast! When we got to the check out, there was a cute kid helping us. At the end he asked me for my Kroger card...oh, shoot, oops...I couldn't find it ANYWHERE! Then it dawned on me that my DEBIT CARD was also gone. Then I remembered the gas and that I had left them in the car after I paid. So I left Amelia there and ran out to the car to get my wallet.

I came running back in breathless and embarrassed...and then I looked at the total amount that I had just spent... $325!!!!! I had no idea that I had spent so much and I was freaking out, but I had already made a little bit of a scene with the balls and running to my car, that I just handed him my card, along with the 21 coupons I had for the trip. Then he said to me, "I put the ball that your daughter wanted and all of her gift cards in her own bag."

"Excuse me? My cards are all right here," I said. "No, the ones that are for your daughter," he explained; very patiently, I might add. I took a peak in Amelia's bag to find gift cards to Claire's, Build-a-Bear and Limited Too!

I was like, "AMELIA, WHAT WERE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THESE?" She just looked at me and said, "Mom, I was going to play store in the playroom."

By this time, I didn't even know what to do. I asked the kid if he could please take them back, and after figuring out how to do it, he took the money off and gave the blank cards to Amelia to play with. So my grocery bill ended up being about $220, not bad for the week's groceries, our Easter party and four gift cards.

The sweet cashier ended up helping us out with our buggy (buggies, I should say, since we had two). As Amelia and I crawled into the car, exhausted from our adventure, I looked down and saw the $20 off $200 coupon and realized that in the chaos, I had forgotten to give it to him.

I grabbed Amelia and we started laughing and walked back into the store to customer service. I didn't know if she would do anything, but I knew I wouldn't spend this much for a long time. She took one look at my receipt and handed me $22.80 in cash....it was super easy, and we both left with smiles on our faces and laughter in our hearts...what an adventure!

BTW, today is my dad's birthday! Give him a shout out please! I can't wait to see you Dad. We'll celebrate on Thursday!

It's March

Random March Thoughts by Miandmiksmom:

Time is just flying by. I had some time yesterday to clean out my kids' drawers and box up winter stuff (not sure why because it is literally snowing right now...in Georgia). Anyway, my kids (especially the oldest) kind of rotate the exact same outfits every couple of days, which means the clothes that are never worn are always at the bottom of the drawers. So, as I was cleaning out clothes, I realized how much they both have grown. I was sad. All of Amelia's clothes from last year fit Mikayla and Mikayla's are all too small...crazy. They are just getting so big and time is going by too fast!

This is a picture of the girls at Emma's birthday party. Emma and Mikayla have known each other since Mikayla was 3 months old...and now they are turning five! Also, check out the leotard on Mik...my old Super Stepper outfit, another sign that my girls are growing up! I couldn't believe it finally fits. It has been in the dress up box for three years!

I got a phone call from the school on Thursday from Amelia's teacher. I picked up the phone scared out of my mind, but it turns out that Amelia was determined that she was going home with a neighbor that day because it was the day that I was going to get Nana (AKA "Nana Montana") at the airport. I explained to the teacher that she was one week off, and Amelia was so sad; I mean, she was seriously devestated.

I miss my family, especially my little brother on a mission. I'm so excited to see my parents next week...WAHOO!

We had such a fun time on our deluxe tour of the Cumming Police Department. Here's a hint: If you have a mom who is a Sargeant in the PD, then let her plan it all! (She's the mom in the background, and she's awesome!) The girls got to do so much...tour the jail, see the 911 room, try on the SWAT gear, get in the police cars and turn on the sirens, and so much more. It was a blast!

Amelia won the Silver Comet award at school Tuesday night. We had to keep it a surprise, so look at her face when they called her name:

My friend Jen is having her baby March 17. I can't believe that time has come already. We had a nice shower for her, and I'm just excited for her! She is one of those girls that only gains about 20 pounds while she's pregnant, but I still love her. :)I am reading "Eat, Pray, Love" right now, but I don't like it. I don't understand the hype. Is anyone else with me on this? However, this book below is awesome. For those of you that have read "These is My Words" this is the sequel. I stumbled across it, so maybe I'm behind on this, but it was awesome.And I guess that's it. Happy March!

Goals

It's time to report on those February goals. I didn't do so hot, but I really tried on some of them!

1. Fire Marshall Fight: I got a grandma of a girl at our school who is going strong on this, but we keep running into problems. Now our goal is to just get money for rugs or fire-retardant rugs for all the kindergarten rooms. It's a mess though.

2. Lose those #$^%^ five pounds that I put on in December. I keep fluxuating so much, I don't even know for sure. I think I still need to lose a few.

3. Update my emergency backpacks and plan three days of meals and put them on the storage shelf. Also, replace the water storage (a year overdue). The only thing I did was update the backpacks, but I couldn't believe the stuff I had in there...size 18 month clothes, for example.

4. Be a better wife. I still need to work on this one. We have the hardest schedule during the week. I go to the gym in the morning before everyone wakes up, and Dave gets home to eat dinner and then put kids to bed and then he goes to the gym, but by then, I'm tired from waking up so early, so we get no quality time together! We do make up for it on the weekends, but it's not enough....

5. Get rid of current credit card because we never use the companion ticket because they make it too hard to redeem and find a card that has good rewards. Good bye AMEX! We got another card for emergencies, but at least we aren't paying an annual fee and geting rewards that we won't use.

6. Trim those rose bushes that I didn't do in the fall, but find out how to do it first and if it's too late. Yes, it was too late, but I trimmed ALL of our front bushes and ALL OF THE NEIGHBORS with their 6th grade son!

7. Clean up the backyard...get rid of sand table, organize toy bench, new pad for the trampoline, clean playhouse and get new flags for the putting green. Oh, and buy a new grill for Dave...seriously, if you saw ours (the same one I wheeled down the street three years ago from neighbors who had it out in the trash) you would see why. Hey, also look at a new umbrella and seat cushions, but if they're to expensive then that doesn't count against my goal!!!! I got a new pad for the trampoline, but that's it!

8. Start violin lessons or at least find a teacher. I tried so hard on this, but it was impossible. I found one music store that had lessons, but only on a Saturday. I even had my neighbor whose in a symphonic band ask around for me.

9. Finish 2007 scrapbooks and start 2008's on line. I went on a retreat and got everything done except for the second half of December. I can't wait to do my books digitally and I did get started.

As for March, I'm simplifying:
1. Decide if I can really take on this PTA treasurer position and then feel good about whatever decision I make!

2. Transfer video camera to DVD.

3. Update water and food storage.

4. Finish 2007 scrapbooks.

5. Have a weekly date with Dave...even if we don't leave the house!

Some hints...

Okay, so I'm not the world's best blogger, and this may be old news to you, but my friend Jessi showed me this cool thing and I thought I would pass it on:

Go to reader.google.com and copy and paste all the addresses of the blogs you read. Then just log on to reader.google and it will put the blogs in bold that have updated. It saves you from having to open all the blogs that you read. I love it! You can't comment from that page though, so if I've slacked on comments, you know why, but I do read because I love to know what's going on in my friends' lives!

Second, have you ever gone back and read your blog???? Well, I hadn't until Saturday night when everyone was asleep and I was bored. I had no idea how many comments I had never read on my own blog. Some were hilarious and some were sweet and some were really helpful and I wouldn't have even seen them! If I do a new post, I forget that some people were still commenting on old ones. Anyway, they were fun to read!

Have a great day! It's pouring rain here, but yesterday it was 72 and we took the Girl Scouts to the park (to pick up trash, but mostly to play!!!)

My mom and dad are coming next week and I can't wait!

Mikayla had nightmares all night about getting on a plane. She ended up in bed with us and is still asleep! Poor kid!

One Year Ago....

Kate tagged me, so here goes.....

What were you doing 10 years ago? Dave was getting his MBA. I was finishing my first year of teaching....8th grade English and 9th grade Drama at FJH. We lived in a cinderblock apartment at the U in married student housing.

What were you doing 1 year ago? Pretty much the same thing, except for teaching at the girls' preschool three mornings a week and also teaching tennis at the Parks and Rec.

We still love INK (our closest children's museum) but it's bigger and more expensive now.

Five snacks you enjoy: Dots, trail mix from Wal-Mart, pretzels, edamame, Diet Coke

5 Things I would do if I was a millionaire: 1. Pay for my house 2. Give my neighbors who have five boys the $360,000 to get their house out of foreclosure 3. Get Lasik 4. Give Dave's parents the best 50th wedding anniversary party ever 5. Save the rest.

One year later, and my girls will be wearing these exact same st. patrick's day shirts...just wait!

5 Bad Habits- 1. Biting my nails. 2. picking the skin off my thumbs. 3. taking my wedding ring on and off and trading fingers with it. 4. putting my hands up on my face 5. not getting enough sleep.

5 things you like doing? 1 - Being outside. 2 -working out 3 -seeing my kids happy 4.-Meeting new people 5 - being with friends

Mikayla told me today that she missed her old preschool and really wanted to go to "Donuts for Dads" like last year. It was this day last year that Mikayla's dear friend Kristen was diagnosed with Leukemia and is already growing her hair back and cancer-free!

5 things you would never wear again: 1. fish nets 2- pegged leg pants (or even "skinny jeans" for that matter) 3- Overalls 4- acid wash jeans 5- parachute pants

5 Favorite Toys - 1. Dave's ipod (why don't I have my own????) 2. My girls' American Girl Dolls (thanks Mom) 3. the computer 4. hmmmmm, maybe the big ball at the gym that you do abs on???? 5. The remote control on American Idol nights.

We were at Jen's baby shower this morning and just happened to be laughing at Miki and this brown dress that she wore her entire pregnancy. On this day, nearly a year ago, I called her in need of a "stand in Mom" at the preschool egg hunt because I was teaching my own preschool class. She showed up 9 months pregnant in the fabulous brown dress...what a friend! She is now planning Max's first birthday...crazy!

Thanks for the fun Kate...now I tag: All cousins, sisters, and friends that will play!