Our Weekend

We had a fairly busy weekend. It started off early on Thursday when I went and picked up my friend Ashley and her kids and brought them to my house. Aaron had been on vacation all week and I was so ready for someone else to talk to.

Friday we did absolutely nothing. I got a girls night invite but it was just me and Ashley with all of the kids, so that was a no go. Instead, we watched Wall-E with the kids and then put them to bed.

Ashley went home on Saturday morning as I had to take Emma to the birthday party of one of her classmates. Here she is with all of the kids. Well, some of the kids. They weren't posing for me and I was at a bad angle to take a pic of all of them.

After the birthday party we went home and Aaron and I took Sara shopping with us at Central Market. It was the Thrill of the Grill weekend so they had all kinds of good stuff to try out.

We ended up with some natural hot dogs (in natural casings, interesting) that didn't taste like hot dogs at all, but they were good....and some beef sausage. We are grilling them tonight for dinner and we even picked up some sauerkraut to go with them, yum!

Then we moved on to some grocery shopping at Tom Thumb where I found these super pretty dishes that I now want. The plates alone are $10 each and even if I could afford to buy a full set, there is no way I would pay that much! I'm so cheap that way. But they are pretty to look at.

So we finally get home, exhausted and Ashley calls me to see if Anthony wants to go to a carnival by her house with her little brother Travis. Ashley and Travis had already been and Ashley didn't want her unlimited rides wristband anymore, so I said sure and Anthony and I headed over there.

The boys went to the carnival and I hung out with Ashley and her parents actually. It was quite entertaining. I left my house at 6 p.m. assuring Aaron I would be home by 7 but I didn't make it back until 9:30.

I find it funny that my best friend has a little brother old enough to play with my son. Not only that, but my son is almost 3 years older than her brother! But, Ashley is 7 years younger than me...although I don't think most people realize that.

Anthony ended up staying the night with Travis, where they stayed up until 5:30 in the morning playing video games! lol

The boys came back from the carnival with lots of fish they had won. Good thing Ashley had an aquarium and I don't, so Anthony's fish had to live at her house!

Then we went our separate ways. Ashley went out with a friend and I went home to my hubby, who was watching boring sports with his dad. So I cleaned...woohoo exciting Saturday night! lol

This is Ashley's parents dog, Blaster. He loves to harass me but when it was time to take a pic of him, he kept running away from me.

Sunday was just another cleaning day and that was it. So how was your weekend?

Book Fair Books

The kids schools are having book fairs this week so I went up to the girls school this morning to check it out. I left with 4 books for about $20. Not too bad. One of the books was for Anthony even though he is bringing me home his wish list today and it's not a book he asked for. I just thought he would like it.

The first book is Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble by Judy Schachner. I really can't review these book because I haven't read them yet.....but tomorrow I will let y'all know what the kids thought of them.

I chose Me and My Mom by Alison Ritchie because it is a beautiful book. I have to admit that I am drawn to books that are pretty. A good story is a plus, but the illustrations get me.

Now Sara picked The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. She LOVES Eric Carle books. I have to admit that I too am a fan. I find his artwork interesting.

And if you like Eric Carle's work, then you have to check out Lois Ehlert, because her stuff is so similar. I will list some of her books at the bottom.

And for Anthony I picked The Tapestry: The Hound of Rowan by Henry Neff. The story sounds really interesting and the boy will read anything you put in front of him so I'm betting he will love it.

Here are some of Eric Carle's books that we love:

The Grouchy Ladybug
The Very Busy Spider
A House for Hermit Crab
The Very Quiet Cricket
Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?
The Very Lonely Firefly
From Head to Toe
Panda Bear, Panda Bear What Do You See?
1, 2, 3 To The Zoo
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

And here are the Lois Ehlert books we love:

Eating the Alphabet
Wag A Tail (illustrated by Michel Slack)
Feathers For Lunch
Leaf Man
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

So if you haven't read any of these books, go check them out!!

**Just wanted to add that we have since read the books and they are adorable! I love Me and My Mom...it's a sweet book and the art is so soft, I love it!

My 3 favorite children's books

Today I thought I would share my 3 favorite children's books and why they are my favorites.

I will start with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett. This is my all-time favorite. Basically it's about the town of Chewandswallow, where the food falls from the sky. That is how the town gets its food to eat. Ultimately the "weather" gets too crazy and the people have to abandon the town ad go somewhere else. I used to crave pancakes because of this book!

There is even a follow-up book called Pickles to Pittsburgh by the same author. It's cute, but not as good as the first. I had to get both of my copies on Amazon because I couldn't find them in bookstores. BUT...they are coming out with the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs so I'm sure that the books will once again be easy to find. I am really looking forward to seeing how they adapt it for the big screen.

My 2nd favorite children's book is Weslandia by Paul Fleishman. I was at the library one day and it was on top of the shelves on display and it looked so colorful I picked it up and read it and was totally hooked!

The story is about Wesley, an outcast at school. Summer comes and he finds these unknown seeds and plants them in his backyard. They grow into these huge flowers and Wesley finds tons of uses for them, food, shelter, clothing....just about everything you can think of. He creates his own civilization and even his own language.

Soon enough the classmates who once tormented him want to know more about what he's doing and they end up becoming friends. I think it's a great lesson to be yourself. You don't have to try to impress anyone to make them your friend. A good book for self-esteem.

Plus, how cool would it be to create your own little self sufficient world for the summer? I think that would be awesome.

The last book is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends author). I have a copy of this book that I had bought for Anthony while I was pregnant with him and I didn't know if I was having a girl or a boy. I dedicated it to my baby in January 1996 and he was born in May. I have read this book to him so many times in his life, he should know it all by heart.

Just the other day I read it to the girl's and as soon as Anthony heard me start the story he ran over and jumped on the couch, snuggled up to me and told me that this was his favorite book and he wanted to hear it too. My baby is so sweet.

I actually have something good and something bad to say about the book. First the good...the story is about a tree and a boy. The tree loved the boy. As the boy got older he came to visit the tree less and less and when he did come, the tree offered whatever she could to help the boy out. It's just a nice story to read. It's a story about love, how can you go wrong with that?

Okay...so the bad. Man oh man does that boy seem selfish to me. He takes and takes but doesn't seem to give. Yeah, that doesn't change throughout the book. The tree just gives and the boy takes.

Back to some more good. Even though it seems that the boy is selfish (maybe it's just me who thinks that), I see the tree as a mother. A mother gives and gives to her child as they grow, no matter how old they get. She only wants her child to be happy in this world. A mother does it because she loves her child, not expecting anything in return. Sometimes we, as mothers, don't have much to give, so we give all that we can. In the instance of this book, each time the boy has a need, the tree fufills it the best she can and it's enough.

That is why it is still a favorite book. I read the underlying story. I know as a mother that as long as my children are happy, it's enough. I mean, that is the ultimate goal right? To see your children happy?

So there you have it. I might not be the best at describing the stories but I didn't want to paste and copy the storyline from Amazon! I am always looking for awesome children's books to read to my kids, so please let me know your favorites!!

I won!

Awhile back I posted about the Barefoot Books book Earth Tales. Well, they were having a contest to win a free copy and I was one of the 3 winners! Yay!!

I am really excited to get the book because all of Barefoot Books are BEAUTIFUL!! And they all have some type of good moral lesson. Yes, I am a Barefoot Books stallholder...hence the links on the right sidebar (click on them and they will take you to the website)....but I joined so I could get the discount, not to sell.

Now I'm thinking it's time to kick it in gear and make use of my stallholder-ness...hehehe

The books are just so pretty. I think they have some of the most talented illustrators and storytellers working for them. So go check them out, trust me, when you see them, you will want to get some!!

kite flying with daddy

The kids got kites for Easter and Sara insisted on daddy helping her fly hers when she got home from school yesterday. Then Emma came home and got hers. Unfortunately the wind would pick up great then all of a sudden stop and the kites would crash down.

Anthony came home and flew his kite too. I wanted to get a pic of it but I had asked Sara to take my camera into the house for me and when I went to get it I couldn't find it. By the time I did, Anthony had given up on kite flying. Oh well, next time.

Easter 2009

We didn't do too much for Easter today, mainly because of the weather. It started raining last night and continued on this morning so the kids didn't get to do an egg hunt.

Here is the loot from the Easter Bunny. Really, they only had a couple pieces of candy and a couple books...until I went to the garage and found the stash I had bought back in February and had completely forgotten about.

So they got some kites, bubbles, puzzles, stickers and various lunch items. Oh, and since the Easter Bunny couldn't hide the eggs because of the rain, he left them for mommy and daddy to hide when it was dry. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

The Easter Bunny is too busy to remove price tags. hehehe

Here is Emma's loot.

And Sara's....the Dora should have been the giveaway! lol

I love these eggs. They are so pretty and come filled with candy. Perfect!

So that was it. The kids opened their junk and then played the rest of the day. Tomorrow (hopefully) we will dye eggs and do an egg hunt. We were gonna dye eggs today but since we couldn't actually hunt for them, I put it off. Oh yeah, and we were supposed to make cupcakes. Man I had a lazy Sunday!!

More Easter fun to come in the next couple of days when the weather cooperates!

Rainforest Cafe and Build-A-Bear

Emma's Girl Scout troop did so well on their cookie sales that they are able to take the girl's on some fun field trips the next few weeks. Today was their trip to the Rainforest Cafe and Build-A-Bear.

Here is Emma as we went into the mall.

A girl came by making balloon animals for the girls. Emma chose a red and white elephant.

Here is Emma and Haley. They are inseparable. Haley is always so excited to see Emma and they never leave each others side!

Here is all of the troop.

Emma with her bears heart. This was our first trip to Build-A-Bear and we had a lot of fun. It's a little pricey, but the girl who led our party was awesome. She had the girls play games and she really went out of her way to make sure they had a good time. You can always spot the people who really enjoy being around kids and she was definitely one of them.

Emma stuffing her bear.

Emma chose the Hannah Montana bear. It's got white fur with sparkles and comes with a Hannah Montana necklace. And guess what she named her? Hannah Montana! lol

This is the girls lined up to give their animals a bath.

And then they picked out outfits.

And of course Emma chose a Hannah Montana outfit!

We can't forget the sparkly shoes!!

The troop.

Leaving the mall, we went past the Rainforest Cafe again so we got a picture with a giraffe.

Afterwards we went grocery shopping and Hannah had to ride in the cart!

We've already made plans to go back to both the Rainforest Cafe and Build-A-Bear for Emma's birthday. Emma doesn't want another animal, she just wants more clothes for her bear!!

Spring School Pictures

Here are the girl's spring pictures that were taken at school. I love Emma's, she looks so pretty with a headband.

Sara's picture is a different story. I have no clue what is up with that smile!! lol She did it that way for the group picture with her class too. Silly girl, I've ruined her for other photographers!! hehehe And I had no idea she was going to wear her scarf for the pic either. It's always a surprise with that one!

I am still waiting for Anthony's. He didn't tell me that he had pictures until 3 days after they were taken. I was not pleased with that. So we will see how that turns out and I will post it when I get them back.

Spencer Bryant

Spencer Bryant

April 2, 2009

Our friends Jeff and Heather had their baby boy on Thursday and I went up to the hospital on Friday and got to hang out with baby and mama 1/2 of the day. Jeff was out of town for work so wasn't able to be there when Spencer was born, so that breaks my heart a little.

Spencer is so perfect. He looks just like Jeff and has the cutest, most pathetic little baby cry. Heather let me hold him as much as I wanted (most of the time I was there lol) and take as many pictures as I wanted of him...which was a lot!

So congrats Jeff and Heather!! And congrats to big brother Dylan too!!