Our exciting week!

This week we were visited by the fairy Godmother! She even waved her wand and turned Amanda into Cinderella!

We had so much fun acting out the story of Cinderella. I am sure you can figure out who played the part of Cinderella and who played the Fairy Godmother.

Amelia also played the part of the handsome prince but I couldn't take pics of that since I had to fill in for her when she left Cinderella standing at the altar!

We also acted out Sleepy Beauty with Amelia being baby Aurora and Amanda playing the part of the sleeping Aurora. Amelia was once again the prince and she made it through the wedding ceremony that time.

I feel like our home is a live theatre these days. It is so much more exciting around here than Broadway!

But just when we thought our week couldn't get more exciting...............daddy came home with some exciting news! He was given a promotion at work, one very well deserved for such a hardworking daddy and we couldn't be happier or more proud of him! So we made him a brownie train that said CONGRATULATIONS.

Congratulations daddy! We love you and are so proud of you.

Lost? Get Chicken!

Our happy Monday didn't start out too happy.....we were on the road to meet some friends from our moms group to bounce away all of our excess energy. We were going to the same place my girlfriend and I met at when we took our kids to play this summer but.........that time I used map quest to find it and had absolutely NO problem finding it which is HUGE for me since getting LOST is my middle name.

This time I figured we would use GPS and I thought it was taking us the LONG WAY since it seemed to take forever and we were on all of these delightful, back, curvy, country, roads..........after an hour of stopping and reprogramming GPS several times we just said forget it. I was so sad for Amanda since she was so excited and felt so bad for her to miss it. The guilt kicked in big time and so did all those little voices in my head saying, "you should have used map quest idiot! Now your child has missed out on having fun and it's all your fault."

So I looked for a solution to end the guilt and what do you you think it was????????????

If you guessed Chick-filet, then you guessed right! (sorry no prizes since anyone that knows me knows I go here when I need that "mommy hood lift") There is nothing like nuggets to melt away any guilt. I must have apologized to Amanda a 100 times and she was so sweet about it and wasn't upset at all.

She asked me while we were eating, "Do you still feel bad mommy?

I told her "yes" and she said, "when life gives you lemons mommy, MAKE LEMONADE!"

(God really knew what he was doing when he gave me Amanda)

Ballerina Girl!

Our little ballerina started taking ballet on Saturdays. She has taken several dance classes with some ballet in them, but this time she wanted to try "just a ballet class."

Ever since she was two she has been taking various classes on Saturday mornings with her daddy. What we like about this is they are inexpensive, and only 10 weeks (most of them) long. So, she can try out different classes to see where her interests really are without a long term commitment and without us pouring a lot of money into something that 2 weeks later she is no longer interested in. So, it has been great! Not to mention her time alone with daddy is awesome and she really looks forward to having him all to herself on Saturday mornings! (I can totally understand why she wants him all to herself!)

I have heard she listens extremely well and follows the teacher's directions. Umm......maybe I should pretend to be a ballet teacher at home.

? Who is five months old?

Someone who now drinks water from her special cup..........










Our precious penguin
































Our precious little panda





















Our favorite little Minnie Mouse




I wonder if she will ever forgive us when she is older for dressing her like animals and a rodent?

Amanda's first haircut

Right before Christmas Amanda had her very first haircut. Yes, you read that right. Her mom never allowed a set of scissors to touch her head until.............she was four years old! (We actually hide scissors in our house for fear she will give herself a haircut because we have heard that every girl does it once)
Her mom loves long hair and so does Amanda! Plus, Amanda's hair didn't really get real long until the past year or so and we thought about going but just never got around to it. Considering Amanda just now starting liking stuff in her hair to "look like a teenager" I think the hair cut came at the perfect time!

Before....
She was sooo nervous and I could tell because she was so QUIET! She did the same thing at the dentist.

Our new favorite hairdresser for kids came highly recommended from the most beautiful mom I know that goes to see her too. She had a perm that day and yes, we have pictures of her also, but we wouldn't dare post them out of respect and love for her. (not to mention we know she still keeps a stash of wooden spoons handy in the kitchen)

The

hairdresser gave her a special kids cape and even wore a special Santa hat that day just

for Amanda. We thought that was pretty special.

She put Amanda's hair in an up do just for fun. (Amanda has only allowed me to do this once when she was two for a wedding)




She eventually warmed up and started telling her knock knock jokes. Amanda loves knock knock jokes and will tell the same jokes over and over again.........so if you know any good knock knock jokes please send them our way!

She loved checking out her new do..........doesn't every gal love to go to the salon?

Amanda was dressed in a different outfit that day but right before we left the house to go she told me she wanted to "dress up" for the haircut so we threw this dress on. The hairdresser liked that also. She said she felt special to have someone dress up to come and see her.





After pic-

As you can see she didn't stay nervous for long and warmed up towards the hairdresser. On the way home she told me she was just nervous because she "thought it was gonna hurt" Which is something I never thought about. But when I actually thought about it........I have told her, her entire short life, that we only cut with scissors, and only when I am right there, and we only cut paper....and to hold them down when walking with them since they are sharp........so I guess it makes sense that she would think something sharp that you can only use when mommy is right there coming towards her head would hurt! Oh the things this child keeps teaching me will only make me a better mommy for Amelia!

My next goal is to talk her into letting me curl her hair. I tried a week ago and she wouldn't let me. I will try again but that's not a battle I plan to pick since my goal isn't to have her in the latest episode of Toddlers and Tiara's. If you haven't heard of it....just a show about a bunch of nutcase moms putting their little girls through eyebrow waxing, highlighting their hair, applying makeup to their little three and four year old just to win a little pageant. I watched it for five minutes once and that was enough to make me never want to see something like that again! Plus, since I wonder about people that watch stuff like that I wouldn't dare watch it again!

The final product!

Marriage talk

Yesterday I played a song that we played at our wedding for Amanda since the recent weddings have been on her mind. Apparently finding her future mate is on her mind as well!

Me-"This is a song daddy and I played at our wedding."

Amanda- "How did you meet daddy?"

Me- I told her we met through a computer dating service and she LAUGHED!

Amanda- "Well, when I get married I am going to go up to a crowd and if I see my husband I am going to grab him and say, you are my husband!"

umm.............not sure this approach will work but if you are one of my single friends reading this, try it and let me know how it works!

Last month, Amanda told me she was going to marry this adorable little friend at church. His mom told us a few months ago that he asked her if he could marry Amanda and now she is talking about marrying him. They are some of our dearest friends and we adore their family so maybe we should just work on the arranged marriage agreement to avoid the whole running up into a crowd and grabbing a future hubby thing!

Thank God Amelia isn't talking yet because I can only take this marriage talk from one girl at a time!

Broken resolutions, blame the box of chocolates!

We hope everyone is loving the New Year in a New Decade as much as we are! We are keeping some resolutions around here, like getting back in the water for mommy! Hubby has been so awesome at coming home and saying hi/bye to me as I run out the door and taking care of both girls after a long day at work, just so I can get back into the water I love and have missed! (You rock babe!)

I have to admit it was really strange walking back into a water aerobics class and not being the instructor! I really wanted to be back up there so bad teaching the class, but that will come in time. I am going to just enjoy the classes and the way the other instructors teach, learn from them even if they don't teach the way I do, and get into shape, and then we can re-evaluate our schedule and family needs, and whether it will work for me to start teaching classes part-time again.


I have to say this week has been awesome and I have really looked forward to the workouts and just feel healthier already! I have even made a new friend which is why Amanda told me I wanted to go to class. ha
I told her it would be nice to make more friends but that wasn't my reason for going but she insists, "no you want to make new friends!" ha ha Kids crack me up! The cute things she says really balances out the temper tantrums and days where I feel like all I did was DISCIPLINE the day away. :)

We did see one resolution go out the window though and it is all hubby's fault! No, I can't blame him for buying the box of chocolates, it really is my fault for not being GENEROUS and I had TWO chances to do so!


Hubby bought a big box of chocolates to give the trash collectors for Christmas which really was sweet I think. However, we kept missing them and the day I planned to be home and run out and give them the box........they didn't come until 7:00 at night! By then I was a little ticked off because I had already had to go outside and pick up all the trash and bags, and boxes that had blown all over the street since the wind has been intense lately around here! So, I decided not to share the chocolates with them because they came sooo late, which wasn't real nice of me and my hips are regretting it!


I had another opportunity to share those chocolates sitting there... looking soooo lonely for days on the wall by the door.........I almost gave them to the PeaPod delivery guy since I didn't have any cash to tip him I was going to give him the chocolates.....until he told me I could add the tip to the credit card so I did to make things easy of course!



I still am pretty amazed that I actually had some WILLPOWER to not open those chocolates for days............and I wasn't even the one that opened them up! I came home from class and there they were sitting on the counter open. I told my hubby I couldn't believe he opened them and he said, "well, Amanda wanted them and you didn't want to give them to the trash collectors so..." UMMMM.......I told him since I am trying to get in shape and be a HEALTHY mom, that I would leave the room and to hide those chocolates in a place I would never find them.



So he hid them for me. It worked until I had a chocolate attack late one night and just had to have a chocolate so I am ashamed to admit it.......... but I went on the hunt.
I figured I was safe since hubby was asleep........ I searched all the kitchen cabinets.....the pantry.......I couldn't find them so I moved to the next room and just as I was walking out of it to search room number 3......my eye saw Hershey's Pot of Gold! They were on a shelf with place mats on top of them. I tore that box open and ate 2 chocolates and then went and woke my hubby up and told him his hiding place wasn't very good. (I know I have to stop waking him up in the middle of the night to tell him stuff but sometimes I just get so excited and want to talk to him and the middle of the night is a great time for talkative me!) Him not sooo much so, he's a morning guy if his sweet wife lets him sleep through the night! One of our differences, but opposites attract now don't they.

Thank God tomorrow is another day and the box of chocolates are gone! I think if chocolate is brought into our home, it is best if I not know about it!

Snow much fun!

Sleeping..............................

Sledding..............................

Allowed to play in the street..................

Snowmen making............................

Sledding.............................

Snow angel making............








more sledding.........

Could life get any better than the 5 S's?

Sleeping, snowmen, sledding, snow angels, and street walking. We don't think so!

We had "snow much" fun and love the change of the seasons well, with the exception of Amanda, she doesn't like the wind and asked me today, "why did God make the wind?" I told her I didn't know but maybe to dry out the land from the snow, and rain. If anyone has a better answer let me know!

This was a fabulous snow, it kept us snowed in for a few days and then the rain came and took it all away. We look forward to the next storm and are hoping to have a snowy winter because the girls that are old enough to play in the snow at our house love it! So much so daddy had to yell for us to come inside because we had been out too long!