If You Have a Blog...

don't forget how to post on your blog. I just spent a good 30 mins. logging into my blog under several different email accounts to try and type a post. Finally, I got the right combo of email and password and now I'm so tired that I can't remember what I wanted to post. Ugh. Maybe next time.

If You're Gonna Wish for Snow,

...wish big. Woohoo! Finally, a snow worth talking about. Sam is happy as can be and Sophie has enjoyed herself this time too. Sam had a great time sledding and making snow angels. Sophie like making snow angels, only when she finished she refused to get up on her own because she might step on her angel. She spent a lot of time scooping snow with her beach shovel and then licking the snow off. Eeew. I had fun running around with the kids in the snow today and tomorrow will be even better since Alan will be home with us. Stay warm and enjoy the snow with your family!

Do Not Eat Digiorno Pizza on a Paper Plate

Ingles had the Digiorno pizza and breadstick kits on sale for $5.98. I had (2) $1.50 coupons so I picked 2 kits up. I was so excited I'd just scored such a deal for lunch!!! We rolled up in the driveway and I nearly fell out of the car trying to get out so fast and get that frozen bad boy cookin'. Only too bad for me, when I reached the back door and realized I didn't have a flippin' door key! Ugh...it's only 2000 degrees in the deep south today. So I called Alan to come rescue us and in the meantime, I stuffed the kids and myself back in the car to wait. I thought I'd put the extra frozen pizza in the outside freezer (I was able to get in the garage via clicker). In the 30 seconds it took me to do that, Sophie climbed in my seat so she could flip down the visor and apply another coat of lip gloss. Now I'm drenched in sweat and my precious refuses to move away from the mirror. I finally pick her up and move her myself so I can get back in. And whew, my prince charming cruises up and rescues us! I'm so ready to sink my teeth into the frozen (well, not really frozen anymore) pizza that I head straight to the oven and get it started. In 15 minutes, the oven beeps and I remove 1 set of golden breadsticks smothered in bubbling cheese alongside a large pizza pie with little pockets of grease on top. Mmmmm...yummy. The kids eat and once they clear the room, I finally sit down with my grocery store prize to enjoy lunch. Trying to save myself a little work later, I decided to use a paper plate. About 1/2 way through the gourmet meal, I set the pizza slice down a little too hard apparently and the crumbs on the plate vibrated and can you belive one of them flew up into the air and landed in MY EYE??? Dang it, now I can't open my eye but I need to get the pesty piece of golden crumb out of my eyeball. Finally, I just swoop a finger in and manage to sweep it out. It was still an awesome lunch; thanks for wondering if I enjoyed it.

Lesson learned: Either use a regular plate for pizza or set the pizza down very carefully on a paper plate.

You Are Not God

Sophie and I got into an argument in the car today on the way home from Bruster's. I guess Sam was too busy shoveling his cookie dough ice cream in to participate in this one. All of a sudden, Sophie announced in her sing-song voice, "I am God. Yes, I am God." I said, very matter-of-factly, "No, you're not." In response, she sang the same phrase louder and louder until I screamed over her, "You're not God! He lives in heaven and takes care of all of us!!!" Then she squished her ice cream onto her lips and sweetly said, "Mommy, look at my lips. Aren't they beautiful?" Oh, the randomness kills me.

If You're Gonna Raise an Empathetic Child...

be prepared for a conversation like this...

Sam comes to me and tells me he'd like to talk to me in private after he got in trouble for driving his little sister's purple princess car around the yard. (He's not supposed to be in the car since he looks kinda silly and he has his own go cart to ride.) So we go to my bedroom and he drops his shoulders, looks at the ground, shakes his head, and sighs, "I feel like a bad kid. I just keep aggravating Sophie and doing things to her that I know she doesn't like." Whoa. I just sat there for a minute, my mind racing to come up with a sensitive, yet direct response. I finally admitted that my dear, sweet sisters were once monsters that annoyed me as well. And that as a child, it was very difficult to not do things to make them mad. Oh yeah, and that sometimes I feel that way about Daddy, too. I explained that any time you live with other people, they can get on your nerves but that doesn't make you a bad kid. Then we prayed for patience with our family members and forgiveness for the times we lost our patience. He said he felt better after our conversation but I felt tired. It's exhausting trying to explain things on his level without watering it down too much and skipping over the truth. But I'm thankful that at least he does seem to be developing empathy. Now if we could just get him to be empathetic about our lack of sleep, that would be great.

If You Win Some Money...

expect something to happen. My mom was interested in looking for a new car (after hers became a sinkhole for $). We are good friends with the sales manager of a local lot so I took her there to see what they could do for her. They had some awesome incentives going on and they had a great car for her. So she decided to buy. I honestly had no clue they were also running a promotion for referrals...since I took her and she bought a car, I got $200! Cool! We didn't know it, but Alan's parents also decided to buy a new car from the same lot and they gave the salesman Alan's name. So another $200! Really cool, right?! Well...maybe not.

Here's a breakdown of how we spent that fun money:
Sophie's 1st optometrist appt.=$75
Sophie's 1st pair of eyeglasses=$175
Replacing a broken window=$100 (the kid who cuts our grass threw a rock up from the lawnmower and busted out our living room window)

TOTAL=$350
*God providing for our needs= PRICELESS

If You're Going to Travel with a Diva...

expect a lotta drama. We took Master Sam (who now insists that we refer to him as "Indy" aka Indiana Jones) and Princess Sophie on a mini vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. They were beyond excited and I think our first shopping stop was more than anything they'd imagined. We stopped in Concord Mills and found the Lego store for Sam and the Disney store for Sophie. Their eyes grew to the size of saucers as they took in all the sights and sounds of their 2 most favorite play things. Sam began to enter panic mode as he tried to decide just what Lego set to buy. Yes, poor thing, gets all wound up like his Mama when he needs to choose just one thing in the store. See, he doesn't want to choose the wrong one just to be disappointed later. I left him with his Daddy to help with the selection process. I escorted Sophie to the Disney store and discovered to my extreme happiness that they were having a HUGE sale. Oh my! Our diva twirled and pranced from one princess toy to another...she stopped to try on flip flops at some point between handling a Belle glittery cup, a princess laden soccer ball, and too many pairs of pajamas/t-shirts to keep up with. Finally, she settled on a large Sleeping Beauty head with flowing blond hair and a smorgasbord of hair accessories to put on the aforementioned head. At this point, "Indy" and his dad returned with a Lego Land Rover and horse trailer set. You've never seen 2 children happier with their purchases. Next, we made a stop at the indoor carousel. Sam chose a stationary bench to ride on (until I made him pick an animal--are you kidding me??? I was NOT paying $2 for him to just sit there). Sophie selected a horse with a bizarre mermaid tail. Afterwards, I scrounged up 75 cents for the kids to squeeze in a kiddie ice cream truck ride together. Sophie "drove" while Sam screamed random dollar amounts out the window at us. We then bought dinner in the food court and as we were inhaling our chicken sandwich, I read a sign that explained how you could text a # and request a certain song to be played over the food court speakers. So Sam chose a song ("Hey Soul Sister") and was so excited to hear it playing for everyone within a 1 mile radius of where we were seated. After all that excitement, we took the kids to check in the Great Wolf Lodge. We immediately suited up and headed to the indoor water park. All 4 of us had a great time sliding and splashing around. I think Sophie spent at least 3/4ths of her time parading around in her ballerina swimsuit. We finally headed back upstairs and went through a vacation version of the bedtime routine. This is the part where the diva really reared her ugly head and caused a lot of stress. She refused to go to sleep and began barking all of her usual demands at us..."I need a snack; I need a drink; I don't like this bed; I don't like you; blah, blah, blah..." She was in our bed before either one of us realized what was happening. FINALLY at 11 pm she drifted off to sleep and Alan scooped her up to put her in her own bed. We thought we were good for a night's sleep. But that little princess woke up at 4:00 and began the list of requests again. Finally, after a pop on the leg, a fussing mommy, a growling daddy, and a whaling diva, she fell back asleep around 4:45 am. Thank goodness she did sleep until about 8:45 but oh man, we were wiped out! 2nd night...I massaged her back until she drifted off and she slept like an angel. So the diva likes back rubs...who knew???