Bowling and Teething

I think its official, we are on the last molar. Now I know they get some as the years go on but she is a late teether (she is almost three and getting her last one) so it won't be for a while. Therefore, I have to believe that my post from a few days ago Take a Deep Breath Everyone, JUST TAKE A DEEP BREA... was rooted in her teeth. We had a good morning yesterday and then, well, bowling was not so successful. Poor girl. She doesn't do that great with lots of lights and sound and people anyway. Top that with having been at church, going out to lunch (I'm surprised she napped ok) and then going out to dinner and then bowling in a bright, obnoxiously loud place that was totally new, well, we really were just asking for trouble. Oh and the molars, don't forget the molars. I won't go into all the craziness or the fact that R and I were warding off meltdowns literally every five minutes but will just try and highlight some of the fun.

We got the bumpers put up of course and B getting the ball down the lane only took about eight minutes before it lightly bumped some pins and maybe knocked a few over. She of course wanted to run after her ball down the lane and was a little sad when she couldn't. We bowled with another couple from church that has a little girl one day younger than B. It took the 6 of us 2 hours to play one game and that was with the guys hurrying up and playing for the girls at the end. Wow. So here's a little picture run down of the evening. It was fun to do a "first" in bowling.

She much preferred this machine to actual bowling.

Giving it a go with Daddy.

These activities were much more entertaining for her.

Here they Come......And there they Go.

Lucky Guy! He's got two blonde's in the bowling alley!

And why would her socks be dirty? Because they don't have bowling shoes in her size. Disgusting but Oh Well!

Brown and Pink

I've been in love with pink and brown together for several years now. I love the combination on my girl. I saw this shirt last year and bought it for this year. We did those cute pigtails again that we had to do by default here Hair Spray and Cuteness. I had a happy girl this morning and then we went out to lunch with some friends and she was even good at Steak and Shake! We are going bowling with the Church tonight which will be a first for her. That should be pretty fun. Oh and on the way home her song You Never Let Go by Redman came on. I had to video her singing along--I ran out of memory card space so it stopped early but its still pretty cute! Hope you have had a great Sunday!

PS Don't forget about the contest--guess the picture in this post (leave a comment) Take a Deep Breath Everyone, JUST TAKE A DEEP BREA... . I will let you know if there is a winner early this week.

Coffee Ramblings

Before I begin...My wonderful, awesome, amazing husband took my girl for a couple of hours to one of the Youth Kid's baseball games. Now what makes this more amazing is that our girl is struggling this morning. She didn't go to bed until 11:30 and has this cough/cold thing going on again and mixed with her, shall we say tempermental personality, at this point in her life, has made for some interesting moments. So the fact that he took her with him to the game and then she will come home for a nap...Well, let's just give him the Saturday Father award today. :)

Since she is gone at the moment I thought I would share some of my innermost thoughts...on coffee. Yep, we're going to get deep here people. I just want to confess/share/lay it out there, that I have a coffee addiction. I have tried to go to coffee annonymous meetings but they meet at Starbucks and my sponsor was a barista so it really was to no avail. I'm a social coffee drinker, a morning coffee drinker and a sit down during nap time coffee drinker. I have serious withdrawls (well, really bad headaches) when I cut back or quit.

It all started back in college. I had grown up with my Dad being a coffee drinker but I wasn't allowed to drink it. Because you know, back then the way they made coffee stunted your growth or something. So I didn't really start drinking it until college--because I'm such a rebel like that. I started working an office job and started hanging out with my Youth Minister's wife (whom I love and miss) from my home church. Both of which got me hooked on coffee. Through the years I have been a one cup drinker, whole pot drinker, a recovering drinker, an expresso drinker, you name it. At this point, I am a way too much drinker but not at the whole pot stage. You know, in case you were wondering.

My new favorite brand is Boston Stoker which is sold around here. It is yummy and soooo smooth. Love it.

I know I have an addiction for the following reasons:

-I wake up in the morning thinking about grinding some coffee beans.

-I get excited to open the package for the first time and smell that amazing smell.

-I get excited when I make a new friend who likes coffee

-A new local starbucks being built is a highlight for me.

-And finally, the reason which prompted me to write this post, and I hate to put this down in writing, but I have to tell a little story about yesterday... I put my girl down for her nap and made my usual cup for this time. I had forgotten that we were completely out of milk or half and half which I always put in my coffee. The only milk type substance that could be found was a little container of Weight Watchers Ice Cream that has been in there for about 2 months. It was chocolate with Brownie Chunks. And yep, I put it in my coffee. And it actually wasn't bad!

So see, I have a problem, but its one I think I can live with.

PS. Don't forget about my little contest down below! See what my girl has been up to!

Take a Deep Breath Everyone, JUST TAKE A DEEP BREATH!!!

So let's see, this may be one long post but the past couple of days have been a little crazy. Life in general and with the girl. Shew. So I've been trying to tell her to take deep breaths and myself and well, I guess its working, I feel better now. :) So here we go, hold onto your hats!

Let's start with yesterday morning. I woke up with B in our bed as usual. Because yes, she continues to end up there sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Someday, someday we will get her a real big girl bed and start working on all that. But that brings me to my next point. The evening before we started to figure out that the people who are suppossed to be buying our old house on contract are just not going to hold their end of the deal up. I mean, they've been lacking in the payment department since about 2 weeks into it but now are officially in default with not a lot of explanation and blah, blah, blah but that was how I started my morning. B in my bed (oh yeah, once we get some extra cash we will be buying a bed but you see we are short on cash BECAUSE THE FREAKING PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPOSSED TO BE PAYING US FOR OUR HOUSE ARE NOT!!!). Ok, deep breath, deeeeeep breath. That "freaking" was for you Debbie H. Such a nice word in my vocab... Ok, ok, on with the day... B in my bed and trying to figure out what in the world to do with my biggest investment in life and if I need to get a job, etc., etc..

In the meantime I had some items to ship for my addiction, aka eBay, and was researching eviction letters, etc. Against my way better judgement I let my girl play with some playdough while I drank coffee, packed packages and researched letters on the internet. Now let's take a moment to pause here. My very dear and best friend in the whole world has a little girl 3 1/2 months younger than B. She's not what you would call "Spirited", she is what you would call an "angel baby". Our girls are pals (well we like to think that and pray they will truly be friends one day) and my friend tells me about all her playdough time and how much she LOVES it and how her daughter loves it and she doesn't understand why people think its so messy, etc. Now, is it the what the Angel vs. Spirited does with playdough? Yeah, I think it is. BUT I ALSO FREAKING THINK LOSING MY MIND AND HAVING MY DAUGHTER PLAY WITH IT 3 INCHES FROM WHITE CARPET MAY HAVE A FACTOR IN WHY I AM SO BOTHERED WITH PLAYDOUGH NOW. Maybe. She was chatting away to me about what she was making and kept bringing me her cookie sheet and things she was making. I was aware that little bits were falling on the carpet but was sure that my dear friend was indeed right--they vacuum right up. Well guess what friend??? When your daughter has decided to rub her feet on the carpet with red homemade (that's with red food coloring folks) playdough underneath her feet and on top of the really nice 70's shag carpet while saying, "My feet itch momma!" over and over and it takes you about 30 seconds to look up and see that she is grinding it in the carpet because you are only half way through a cup of coffee and not quite awake and bothered with what is going on in your life at the moment, well, let's just say, playdough does not vacuum up so easily. We are left with a faint pink spot for those interested, I'm sure I can get it up with some cleaner. Sigh

Well, that was about 9am or so. We hung around for a while while I tried to get things sorted out and my eBaying done. Oh and tried to get my stiff back moving. Did I mention I threw my back out? That was monday afternoon. Playing basketball at the Y with my husband and two jr. high boys. Yeah, we won but something happened when I stutter stepped and oh dear, that old back that nags me most of the time went from nagging to serious, serious pain. Now I'm no weanie, I played Volleyball on a broken ankle in high school for example so I have a pretty high pain tolerance. But darn that back. Its much much better I have to say. Much. And yes, mom and dad, I will be going to the Chiropractor soon. I should have already gone but have a few other things going on. So back to my day and away from my back. Haha... We took some things to R at the office and B got some Jelly Beans. She was playing with them in this jar thing and it was time to go so I tried to get her to take the beans out so she could take them with her but she was convinced I was taking them and threw a huge fit and could not pull it together so we left. All the way home she SCREAMED about those stupid jelly beans that I was going to let her have in the first place but no, not now. No way. She was out of control screaming and thrashing in her car seat and then, she peed her pants. I LOVE the peeing pants tantrums. Love them.

So I took peeing, screaming girl inside and threw her, well not really, got her in the tub. Water always calms her down and is something I read to help Spirited kids when they have lost control. Well and the fact that she had peed all over herself. I felt like a bath was in order. I got her some lunch and thought for sure, for sure she would take a good long nap and I could take a deep breath. But seriously, I have parented this kid for almost 3 years. I don't know what I was thinking. She was so keyed up from all of this that there was no way she was going to sleep. So I spent the afternoon with a no nap, overstimulated, Spirited girl. Now when I say I spent the afternoon, that clearly means that I turned on Noggin and let her mindlessly watch the TV until R got home. There was no way I was going to mess with anything else with her. Oh yeah, and I got all the playdough cleaned up during that time too.

The rest of the evening I've either blocked out or wasn't as bad as the first half. She did pose for these pics before we headed to the Y to work out. Do you like that purse? That's an eBay nightmare I tell ya but I'll have to post about it another time. Just so you know, its not authentic--I don't buy Louis Vuitton purses on a regular basis--esp. the real ones.

Then she had a horrible night with night terrors and screaming and thrashing in her sleep which often happens on no nap days. And today was a new day when we got up. We have a standing visit with my small group mom's on Thursdays and today we headed to the play area at the Y. She was a little more Spirited than usual but nothing like the day before. There was one really fun thing that happened today. Fun in my realm of, "Oh good, now I have a fun blog story." But I'm going to have a little contest before I let you know what that was. The prize will be something very very special that does not sell on eBay. That's right, I'd love to buy a gift card but if you remember THE PEOPLE SUPPOSSED TO BE BUYING OUR HOUSE... oh never mind, deep breath, deep breath... So I'll take something from my eBay stash, there are some cool things in there, and it will be a fun surprise! Leave a comment and guess what in the world this picture is and I'll let you know the story behind it soon... So take a deep breath and give a guess!

PS To those of you asking about what part of the picture to guess about... Come on now! This is a contest! I can't give any hints... That will make your cool eBay reject prize all the more valuable!

Singing with Spirit Again

So after we played with babies she was all about the video so I got her to sing some songs. She cracks me up with her singing. Puts her heart into it for sure!

This is Veggie Tales: Oh Where is my Hairbrush & Barbara Manatee

This is some more Veggie Tales: Barbara Manatee & The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

This is You Never Let Go by Matt Redman. This was the first song she recognized and would sing along with on the radio.

:)

Playing with Babies

I told B to go get her box of babies and we would play this evening. Now, I meant this box that has her small snap n' style dolls that we could sit on the couch and play with all at once. She thought I meant get out all her babies. I heard numerous crashes upstairs and went to investigate. She was throwing her babies down the stairs for us to play with. Oh dear, at least she's not putting them in the microwave anymore. Sigh. She is sweet with them once she is playing with them and is a good little "mommy" she just brings her Spiritedness into the mix when reving up--hence the babies at the bottom of the stairs. So anyway, we sat and played with them for a bit and I asked her what their names were. Here is what she said, "Bryleigh, B...(her name), Mommy, Puppup, B... H...(Our last name), & Pup. Hmm, I guess she likes creative names too! :) Here's a video of her with them...

We Interrupt Regularly Scheduled Broadcasting...

Ok, seriously, I have the cutest nieces in the world!!!
My SIL sent pics to me yesterday so I thought I would share.
They are such little doll babies!
And almost turning one! I can't believe it!!!

Love them!

Easter

We had a good Sunday. We took naps and are still exhausted. Not enough sleep and all the hussle and bussle of Easter can wear you out! We had a moving service and a full house so that was great.

Now on a more shallow side, here is my girl, all dressed up. I have to admit, I LOVE dressing my girl up. I'm addicted to Gymboree, Gap, and just about anything cute for my girl. She is so much more fun to buy clothes for than myself. Add to that my eBay addiction and the fact that I can literally sell her clothes used for more than I pay new and well, nothing more to say, its an addiction! This is my favorite Easter Dress of the three so far in her life. Its Gymboree. I was a little sad to have to add a sweater and tights but it doesn't seem to matter if Easter is early or late, its freezing so out come the sweaters and tights!

On a fun note, today was the first time R and I wore jeans to church on Easter!!!! LOVE THAT! We do like our casual church. I helped lead worship and was up there with 3 other people in jeans. Our bass player had a hoodie. Too bad our music minister didn't get the memo--he wore dress pants. Sorry Rob!

On an even more fun note, I knew B's tights were too small, mainly because she is so long waisted, but I stretched them out, put the matching panty cover with the dress over them and hoped for the best. She complained every now and then about them but I didn't realize it was that bad until I picked her up to put her in the car and my hand went on a bare bottom! Poor thing! Those darn tights had pulled down her panties, the tights and her diaper cover. I guess she had been walking around with it all mid-thigh! LOL!

Oh and here is my girl at her first and second Easter. Too bad I didn't get good pics last year. That was our first sunday at the group home. Ugg, ugg, ugg. Speaking of tired.... Oh well! Hope all had a great Easter and were able to reflect on what it means for our lives! Our family is thankful for the new life we are currently living! And of course of the new life we get to have in Christ every morning.

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He is Risen! Happy Easter!

My New Blog

Sooooooo, what do you think??? I'm so scited (excited) as B would say! I've been wanting to spruce it up and thanks to Don Clarke at http://customtoons.com/ and trendymommy I think it looks great! Not too much to post. I did buy some batteries today so I will get back to taking pictures. I thought I would post this one I found the other day on my computer. This was before she was 2. Nice hat baby girl.

What a Good Girl

So I have to brag on my kid a little. As "Spirited" as she of course is, she has really evened out these days compared to our days at the group home. Its slightly scary to type these words because even though I don't believe in "jinxing" ugg, it just seems like things turn sometimes when you write things down or say it outloud! Oh well. So while we continue to have life filled with her spirited ways, she is doing great!
I haven't taken pictures the past few days due to losing our remote. I had to buy a new remote and then donate my camera batteries to that one because I forgot to buy batteries. Geez! And for pete's sake we have NO IDEA where that thing is!!! Not sure if I did something with it or B. Or both. We have searched and searched. So, until I remember to buy new batteries, here are some pics I took last week when the weather was nice. We got out her bike. She's on the verge of being able to ride it with the training wheels. Our slope of a drive makes it slightly hard but we will be at it if Spring would HURRY UP and get here for real!
Enjoy the pics... Oh and I'm not sure what important business she was taking care of on the phone. Something that had to do with Courtney! You are not forgotten!