American Girl Experience to Remember!!

It was a beautiful Friday. The sun was out, the weather was warm and the wind wasn't blowing. Everyone was well for one whole day around here and there was lots of excitement in the air. As we got ready that morning we finally told Rylee that she would be spending the day with me and her bestest friend in the whole world at the American Girl Doll Store in Atlanta. There would be Five of us total going: Me, Rylee, Emma, Callie and their mother who has chosen to remain nameless:) We had planned to leave at 11:00 am that morning to get our day started but there was a slight delay when Dena got lost coming to my house on the very roads that she has traveled:) It was funny to me but for her sweet daughter Callie, she wasn't thrilled and was actually praying that the Lord would get them to my house.

O.k...so everyone is in the car, we are traveling and making good time on the long drive to Atlanta. The girls are enjoying each other and asking are we there yet and me and Dena the one who shall remain nameless are having great conversation and making future plans for a double family vacation together. Just as we were in the Gwinnett area (I'm really not sure if that's where we were or not) there is a faint little noise from the backseat and I watched the nameless one begin to panic while looking for a bowl in the back floorboard of the car. Now imagine sitting in my seat...as I turned around and looked, in total slow motion Emma (Rylee's best friend) projectile vomits and 90% of it landed all over my child. If we would have been able to measure it I am pretty sure it would be a whole gallon of vomit! Well this germaphobe mom...that would be me...was shocked. As I watched Dena the nameless one spring in to action and try to figure out what to do, I just sat there...shocked and holding back my own vomit. I'm pretty sure the nameless one was thinking "why in the heck isn't she helping me get throw-up off her child" but I just sat there SHOCKED! So the nameless one quickly assures me that Sweet Emma gets car seat A LOT and very easily but that didn't stop me from watching her all day long praying that she didn't start to look weak and pale and appear to be real sick. We pull in to a Babies R Us, where I go buy some wipes and some sort of lavender spray stuff and then I run in an Old Navy and buy all new clothes for my little one. The nameless one gets the car clean and strips Rylee down out of her clothes. Emma is all smiles and feeling good and Callie is super funny as she walks past the front of Old Navy while I am checking out, holding a bucket of vomit wipes and smiling giving me a thumbs up. I laughed out loud and noticed people were looking at me like I was crazy.

END VOMIT SCENE!

So we finally get back on the road, only now we are running behind instead of ahead. We get back in to great conversation but I also kept one eye on Emma in the back seat looking for any signs of sickness. As we talk away, we get a little lost and then find our way only to realize that somehow we may have gotten there but have no idea exactly how we got there.

We had 2:00 reservations for a late lunch at the American Girl Bistro, we arrive at the front door at 1:50 pm. Me and the girls rush in while nameless one parks the car. We quickly navigate the store thanks to the old pros Callie and Emma. We find Rylee a doll in record time and get to our table for lunch. Little things happen around us...silverware is being knocked in the floor, cloth napkins are being dropped in hot chocolate, my daughter attempts to eat a paper product of some kind, and the nameless one tells the girls that I had just ordered turkey panties instead of the turkey panini that I was sure I had ordered.

$180.00 (just for Rylee's stuff and the two of us to eat) later....we are out of the store.

We begin the long ride home hoping for a vomit free ride right about time for everyone in the State of Georgia to get off work and try to get home on a Friday afternoon. We sit in some traffic but not to awful bad. Make it to 85 and pray for a smooth ride home. I'm pretty sure the nameless one saw her life fly before her eyes twice while I only got the luxury of experiencing it once. She was driving so she could see that at one point we were not only about to rear end the car in front of us but be plowed over by a large SUV that was hauling butt right toward us all while there was a block wall on one side and a wall of traffic on the other. We recover and continue forward. Then there was that thing with the two transfer trucks where one has to slam on his breaks so the one that was behind it but in front of us has to slam on his breaks only almost lose control. When I say his tires had smoke and fire coming out from under them...I am not exaggerating! The top of his truck was swaying and I was pretty sure it was going to land on us at any second. He regains control but never slows down. It was at this point that me and the nameless one were both saying that we would be so happy to be back in our own area. Her cell phone rung and she said...not now!!!

We make it home with some tired and ill little ladies in the back seat.

All of this made for a crazy day but I have to say it was one of the funniest days I have had in a while. Dena Nameless one is a laid back faithful lady and she helped to teach me to remain calm and laugh through it. As we sat at the Bistro eating, we laughed at everything and it is so true that laughter is good for the heart. Even though we almost got killed a couple of times, there was vomit, etc...we laughed our way through and made some wonderful memories with a precious little girls and with each other as friends. It was a good day, a great day!

Rylee got a really cute doll that although it looks a little dark in the light at home, looks a lot like her. To top the day off...she said this was the best day ever!!! Taking your daughter to the American Girl Doll Store at some point in her life albeit expensive, is a wonderful experience that you shouldn't miss out on!

Thanks DenaNameless one, Callie and Emma for joining us!!! You guys are awesome!

Me and my baby girl at the American Girl store! I'm thinking that me, Rylee and the doll all look an awful lot alike!

All three girls in front of the store!

Rylee and Emma playing with their dolls while waiting for our lunch!

Rylee Bug enjoying her hot chocolate...Fancy style of course.

Sweet Emma, looking well and happy! Rylee loves this little girl to death!

Callie, Emma's big sister, is one of the sweetest girls and never ever takes a bad picture!

Rylee and her doll are ready for lunch! I love how this place puts the dolls in high chair and brings them a menu and a muffin. They have thought of everything!

A Friday Funny!

INSTALLING A HUSBAND
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and Noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance,
Particularly in the flower and jewelry applications,
Which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0 .
In addition, Husband 1.0 un-installed many other valuable Programs,
such as: Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5,
And then installed undesirable programs such as: NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1
Also Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 Simply crashes the system.
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 To fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate.

DEAR DESPERATE,
First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package,
while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.
Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.HTML and
Try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to Install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed,
Husband 1.0 should then automatically run The applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. However, remember, overuse of the above application Can cause Husband 1.0
to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program That will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will Eventually seize control of all your systems resources.)
In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program.
These are unsupported Applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program,
But it does have limited memory and cannot learn New applications quickly.
You might consider Buying additional software to improve memory And performance.
We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.
Good Luck!
Tech Support

Holy Sickness Batman!!!

I don't have to tell you all that I am a germaphobe but I will.....I am a germaphobe. I fear touching door handles. I get sick at the thought of getting sick. It's crazy really and you can make fun all you want but it isn't my decision...I'm pretty sure that there has to be some sort of medication out there to help me but I just haven't found it yet.

Well it all started with Thanksgiving 09...Tegan had pink eye, then I had a cold, then Rylee had a cold, then Tegan had a cold, the week before Christmas Paul had strep, the day of Christmas I had strep, then Tegan had a cold turned sinus infection, then Tegan caught a stomach bug, then Rylee caught a way worse stomach bug, then I had a stomach bug (notice Paul didn't catch this b/c he goes no where near vomit!), then Rylee got sick again and has stayed that way for over two weeks now so it was finally determined by a Dr. tonight that she has a sinus infection, then Tegan started Saturday with sickness and it was determined by the same Dr. that he has strep throat and to round it out will be me...my throat hurts like crazy and I'm pretty sure I will be on my death bed by morning.

Can you top that???

Grey's Anatomy taught me about Choices

It is no shocker to most of you that I love TV. I talk about it a lot and yes, I am one of those people that talks about TV like it is real life. It''s not....Oh no, my whole life is a lie!!!

Anyways, Grey's Anatomy is one of my demons of choice when it comes to prime time TV. I love it. I live for it. I plan my nightly shower around it. But its not all bad, if you listen to the parts that Meredith are narrating you will hear advice. Advice about life and it is usually pretty darn good. This past weeks advice was about CHOICES and how everyday we make a choice to do things...for example: get out of bed, love the one you are with, deal with your kids like an adult and not sink to their level, etc... Now, remember everything I just said and let me fast forward to church on Sunday.

The sermon was about living and loving for God. He went on to talk about how in all things we do, it should be for God. His "story" for the day was about a time when him and his wife were having one of those three day long fights. She continued to do the small things for him that she always did every other day all while still being fighting mad at him. She went on to tell him that she was still mad at him, didn't like him very much right now but she loved God. So she moved forward only for God. Not don't take that as you should just stay with someone for God. When you have done all you can...you have just done all you can!

Now let's take what we learned from Grey's and what we learned from God's house and put them together. We make a choice. Some of us make bad choices and some of us good choices. I yell. It's what I know and it's what I do so when I get frustrated with my kids, I yell at them. I break their spirit every time I do it but it happens before I even know it is coming. I just yell. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I am pretty sure that they can't hear my voice unless I am yelling at them but in most situations I don't NEED to yell....I CHOOSE to yell. Would I yell at God? I prayed to God today to help me to learn to be a good parent for him. I need to do it for him...not for me or for you who set the standards for me. Of course I forgot all about that when I walked away from something cooking on the stove and came back to Tegan who had pulled a chair over, climbed up on the counter and was studying the popping grease that was coming from the pan. I also forgot all about it when Tegan was taking a yo yo and slinging it over his head which was then hitting our TV screen over and over again. Oh and I also forgot about it when while in the bathtub he took a giant cup of water, looked at me, smiled and proceeded to pour it in to the bathroom floor behind the toilet.

Then I started thinking about all the choices I make. I choose to worry about EVERY LITTLE TINY THING that God throws my way instead of just going with the flow. I choose to be totally unorganized. I choose to not give my husband credit for what he is doing. I choose to not be able to see my mom right now b/c the choice she made wasn't the choice I wanted her to make which in turn punishes her and me when we aren't the two who did anything wrong in the situation. Someone in my mom's life choose to make a decision that affects everyone. I choose every thought in my head. So maybe I can choose to change it. All of my choices should be made for God.

Romans 8:28 says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

So hopefully tomorrow I will CHOOSE to be a good parent for God and do a little better b/c bless my heart, today was a total wash!!!

Hank the Dog

Who says

that humans

are the only ones

who love to

play in the snow!

This Little Light of Mine...

I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine

I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine

Let it shine

Let it shine !

SNOW DAY????

So I had all these crazy plans to take a picture of the outside of my house today but the day has gotten away from me. I was going to show you the ground, you know...the ground that WASN'T covered in snow, ice or anything for that matter but yet the schools cancelled for the entire day. When I had this thought it was 1:00, more than half way through the school day, and yet still...nothing! So I was going to be all sarcastic and stuff but the good Lord above decided to play a joke on me at around 1:55 pm....

He stands just like my daddy!

she stands just like me!

and it is still snowing here at 7:17 pm!!!

All I see

This is what we have seen a lot of since Christmas...

So in an attempt to get her out of the chair, we bought a Wii. Now wii are all addicted!

Where is Supernanny when you need her?

Around Christmas my dad built Rylee a full size bed for her new "I'm not a toddler anymore" bedroom. Well we took her twin size bed and put it in Tegan's room with the hopes the he would smoothly transition right over in to it. Well he didn't like it at first and would ask to get in his baby bed...luckily we left it set up until we seen how he would do. Then he suddenly took an interest in the bed and now screams bloody murder wanting to get in it. Friday night he finally went to sleep in his big boy bed but then woke up at 4:30 am ready to start his day. Needless to say mommy put him in his baby bed where he screamed for a VERY LONG time. Then Saturday night he wanted to try again, so I said yes and put him in his big boy bed. Well we returned him to his bed over 20 times just as Super nanny recommends but it was so not working for us. At one point he stopped coming out of his room and it didn't take us long to figure out why, he had turned on the light and was playing in the toy box:) So I talked him in to going in to his baby bed and thankfully he slept all night and late on Sunday morning.
Yesterday as I was getting him ready for his bath he was having a total conversation with me about his big boy bed:
Teg: "I wike (like) my big boy bed"
Me: "You do? Well why won't you stay in it?"
Teg: with this surprised wide eyed look he says "I not know mommy. It hard to tay (stay) in my big boy bed but I wike it"
I couldn't help but laugh at him b/c it was like he was telling me that it is just to tempting to not get up.
So last night we tried it again. He went to bed at 8:30 and sometime after 10:00 daddy had enough and put him in his baby bed. He woke up at 3:18 am screaming and wanting to get in his big boy bed so I laid down with him thinking he would fall asleep there. No such luck. At 5:00 AM I bribed my 2 year old back in to his baby bed by telling him I would give him some juice! It worked, I went back to sleep and am preparing to do it all over again tonight:)

Big Yellow...

or orange yellow. Anyways, my little lady has been asking since the beginning of the school year to be able to ride the school bus in the afternoons. My answer was no no no...end of story!!! Well after much debate and thought I decided to do it. Tegan has been fighting me about taking a nap everyday which makes for a long afternoon and an even longer night. Most days he would finally be settling down to go to sleep and I would have to wake him up to go pick up Rylee. We would make the 10 minute drive and then sit there in a long line. Now I am not one of those people that get there super early to get in the front of the line. In fact, school gets out at 2:40 and I leave my house at 2:40 so I don't have to sit nearly as long as those people toward the front of the line that get there at like 1:45. But still...it was a process. To make matters worse, 4 out of 5 days we would get stuck behind the bus on the way home...the same bus she would be on. So yesterday I called the school, found out the bus driver and changed her from a car rider to a bus rider. I have to admit this was the perfect day to start it. It is cold and rainy here in Georgia and Tegan fought me tooth and nail about taking a nap. He settled down as always at 2:35 but today I got to let him sleep AND didn't have to put on real clothes to venture out to get her. Of course she acts like it is no big deal and nothing to it but I was all ready to hear about her trip home. Rylee:"Mom, it's just a school bus!" Yeap that pretty much sums it up. All that worry and torturing myself the past year and a half for nothing!!! So my little girl is officially a bus rider....sigh!

A RAP STAR IN THE MAKING...

So we were just sitting around the living room last night and Rylee grabs Tegan's hat and breaks out in full rap mode. Of course this is something she learned from Hannah Montana but it has to be the cutest thing ever. Unfortunately she had done it several times and did it great every time and the one time I video her doing it she got her words mixed up and then my dang camera battery went dead. But it is cute none the less...

Hope this makes your day like it made mine! My Rylee is the best thing EVER!!!!

Random Post...

Saturday we had this great idea that we were going to get on the Wii bandwagon and go get us one. We thought we had accomplished something great by not fighting the crowds looking for one at Christmas time...well no one told us they would be so hard to find a month or more after Christmas. On Saturday alone we went to 8 ( yes EIGHT) locations and every place was sold out. Paul and Rylee were slightly disappointed to say the least. Of course I want to get the wii fit thing but Paul says it will be a waste of money! As if he is saying that I won't use it...not sure where he gets that from?

I started a photography class at UGA last night. I already learned a few things about my menu settings that I didn't have a clue about. The only thing is that the teacher has a Nikon, so he keeps showing us his Nikon menu and it is not the same as the Canon. Luckily there are several other people in the class that have Canons too so they keep asking questions. I hope I learn a lot in the class!

I am attempting to potty train Tegan which he actually does pretty good at with a pull up on. I'm so tired of changing diapers!!! There has been some crying during this potty training process but I'm sucking it up and drying my tears:)

School...well I am hanging in the school thing. I have went from one program change to another while trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up:) I think I am finally going to go back to what I started for and focus on something in the health field even though I am pretty sure that is what 90% of all college students are going to school for now.

And that is all for this random Tuesday post...thank you for joining us and come back soon!