Before and After -- EMBARRASSING!!

BEFORE

AFTER

And to think I actually get after my kids for the way their closets look!!  

Like Totally, Fer Sure!!

Well, Kyndal's 80's Murder Mystery birthday party was a success!  I was a little stressed about it! I had flashbacks to her 10th birthday party where we did a "game" theme.  It was tons of work and all the girls did was complain and fight.  That was the last organized party I let Kyndal do. Since then we have just gone to the mall, etc., with a few girls.  But this year she begged for a party, so we picked the theme and went for it!  But, I was really afraid the guests would think it was lame and that she would be embarrassed!  Then we couldn't get any guys to show up, except for two, so me, Dawson and his friend Bennie had to fill in to play the guy parts.  I had spent hours preparing the clues and food, etc.  Like I said, I was stressed!

But, it went great!  Everyone played the parts and mingled and had fun.  They all participated until the end without any grumbling that it was stupid!  Alligator Dundee (Dawson) was murdered with a Rubiks Cube to the head by Lindy Lauper (our neighbor Kristina).  Two of the guests guessed the murderer correctly, so they arm-wrestled for the prize.  Wee Pee Verman (Blake) walked away with a Ms. Pacman Plug-n-play game.

We were completely done with the party an hour earlier than expected, so the kids just played basketball in the gym of the church until parents came to get them.  It was a great group of kids.  And Kyndal had a great time!

I have now taken a large sigh of relief ... and launched into planning the last birthday party of the year.  Eli's construction themed party is December 13th.

Kyndal's Birthday (3 days ago)

Kyndal's birthday was on the 18th ... 14 years WOW!  She had a great day, I think!  I've tried to post a picture, but it's being ornery, so I'll have to try to add it later.  My camera was acting squirrely so I don't have any very good ones.

Hopefully tonight I'll get some good pics, though!  Kyndal's birthday party is tonight.  We are having an 80's Murder Mystery party, complete with a three-course meal and a murder of one of the guests.  We have 8 required characters and have had trouble getting enough 8th grade guys to get macho and accept the invitation.  So, I have to be one of the guy characters as well as Dawson and his friend Bennie.  Dawson volunteered Bennie to help and it kind of reminds me of the movie "Father of the Bride" when Matty and Cameron are at the wedding parking all of the cars in the front yard.  Kyndal really didn't want Bennie to come, but I was still reminded of that same movie when Matty says, "Don't worry, Cameron won't even eat."  

I hope we have a good time and that the kids don't think it's too dorky.  We have spent a ton of time preparing for this and I do think it will be a lot of fun if everybody gets into it.  We're having "Radical Rotel" for the appetizer, "Totally Tubular Tacos" for dinner and "Pretty in Pink" cupcakes for dessert.  We have a cd of '80s music.  Lots to do!

Sign of the Times

Yesterday when I picked Brynne up from school, we ran to Kohl's.  I was carrying her in and she was up over my shoulder playing with her pink cell phone, dialing numbers.  I said, "Who are you calling?"  She said, "I'm not talking to anybody .. I'm texting."  Oh, dear.

Happy Birthday to Kyndal!!

Well, the biggest baby is 14 years old today.  Wow!  That's weird!  

I woke her up with my annual song, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, you look like a monkey and you smell like one too!"  They actually look forward to that song!  She woke up and immediately said, "I want to open my presents!"  Since I still have to pick up one this afternoon, I let her open the one I did have.  On her dry erase board for the past few weeks she has had her birthday and Christmas lists.  She had listed "spa day".  Then I noticed that later she added "pro" to it.  I know she did that because she knows how "frugal" I am and she was probably afraid she would come home from her school on her birthday and I would be dressed up in a spa outfit with all of my homemade potions ready to give her a facial, manicure and pedicure.  She's probably right.  Since I can't afford a $200 spa day, I did made arrangements to take her to the Broken Arrow Cosmetology School for a facial and pedicure on Saturday.  That's about as "pro" as I get.  She was happy with it, though!  

Rick took her to get donuts before school, although she was so caught up in herself that she was almost too late to get to go .. "everybody keeps calling me!!!"

I always cook the meal of their choice on their birthday, although they would always rather go out.  She requested juicy hamburgers (not the frozen patty variety), corn on the cob (hmmmm... do they sell that this time of year?) and cottage cheese.  So, I'll do my best.  I'm also going to make her a cheesecake.

Her birthday party is Friday night .. an 80's Murder Mystery Party.  We have lots to do to prepare for that.  And I'm actually a little nervous that no one will show and it won't work. We'll see.

Be a Part of the Legacy

Okay, this is a cool thing!  I don't know that I will be able to make it down to do it, but wish I had the time!  If you can spare the time, how cool to have your handwriting in a handwritten version of the Bible to leave as a legacy for your family.  Neat.

Mmmm .. What a Nice Weekend

This post is going to be all about me and what a great weekend I had!  Steph and I left home at 9:30 am on Friday and drove to Branson, Missouri.  We made a short stop in Springfield to surprise my Ozarks Pal, Linda.  It was so good to see her!  She hasn't changed a bit!  We ate some Chinese food at my old favorite restaurant and then headed on to Branson.  It poured the entire way, but that didn't dampen our spirits!  We arrived at the Stout's campground, Lakeview Campground, at around 2:00 or so and unloaded the van into our tents ... JUST KIDDING! Actually we stayed in the park model trailer, that was really nice!  We had full use of it ourselves, so we set up our scrapbook tables and supplies in the little living room, got the dvd player all hooked up, layed out all of our snacks and immediately got to work.  We scrapbooked from 3:30 pm until 3:00 AM, only stopping to eat dinner!!  In that time I caught up our vacation album (finished our trip to Baltimore and Great Wolf Lodge) and had a good start on Eli's album.  We collapsed into bed and were back at it by 9:30 Saturday morning. 

Steph made her world-famous cinnamon rolls and then we were at it again!  We scrapbooked until about 3:30 pm and then got gussied up and headed to The Landing for dinner.  It is so pretty there this time of year!  The little brick-layed street and trees with lights is so fun!  We did a little window shopping, and slipped into a couple of stores to warm up .. it was FREEZING!  We ended up eating at a Mexican restaurant (can't remember the name) and then headed back to the campground.  With stuffed bellies we put on our pjs and got back to work! I was EXHAUSTED by this point, but still had so much I wanted to accomplish.  I had gotten Eli's album caught up that morning and was wanting to make a dent in my biggest project I had brought, which was Dawson's album.  We worked from 8:30 pm until 1:30 am.  At that point my mind was mush and I had not an ounce of creativity left!  So we gave up and went to bed.

Sunday morning we just got up, showered, cleaned up our stuff, cleaned the trailer and said good-bye to the Stouts.  We went to Tanger Outlet for some shopping before we left town. After lunch at Hard Luck Cafe, we headed back to home to our eagerly-awaiting husbands and children. 

Of course getting 50 PAGES scrapbooked is paramount on a trip like that, and eating junk food in my pjs all weekend is a close second.  I enjoyed watching movie after movie without interruption (and none of which were cartoons), although most of them were horrible and not worth our time!!  But really, what I enjoy most of all, is spending a weekend with someone who loves me for me!  Steph and I solve all the world's problems in those weekends, lift up each other as wives and moms and encourage each other's faith.  I need those weekends to survive. It was awesome and I loved every minute of it!  I can't wait to do it again!  I need to look at my calendar!

Outta Here!

I say that with such confidence and joy!  But if you had seen me yesterday you would think I was just trying to convince myself.  Maybe I am.  My day yesterday was set in red ink on a piece of notebook paper.  I had myself scheduled to the half hour from 6 a.m. until I collapsed in bed last night!  I did my usual preschool deliveries, went to Wal-Mart, Aldi, Reasor's, Hobby Lobby, The Scrapbook Store, the bank, the bread store, Brahm's, Papa Murphy's Pizza, McDonald's TWICE (to get two different Madagascar 2 toys) .. did I leave any place out?  I made a meal for a friend, fixed our dinner and started Chili for Rick to eat this weekend (until I realized that I don't have chili seasoning .. a vital ingredient for chili!)  I washed sheets, cleaned the upstairs, helped Eli with homework, organized my scrapbook stuff for the weekend, got out clothes for all kids for all three days (down to the coordinating bows for Brynne), wrote notes for Dawson's various activities, packed a movie bag.  I feel like I'm leaving something out! Yes, this all happened yesterday!  I know you're thinking, "Good grief, let Rick handle this!"  And he graciously would, but that's just not my style.  I'm a control freak and it freaks me out to leave my domain without KNOWING they have all of their normal comforts taken care of!

Then at 11:30 p.m. last night I woke up with a sicky stomach and my heart was racing.  I said, "Oh, please, Lord!  Please don't let me get sick!  I REALLY want to go this weekend!"  It seems the whole town of Owasso either has a violent stomach flu or strep throat.  I thought, well, if I do get sick at least everything is in order so I don't have to do a thing!  Except I'd have a broken nose because Steph would punch me for getting sick and ruining out weekend!  I got up and put some Phenergen gel (my absolute best friend) on my wrist, prayed for healing and went back to bed.  I am pleased and grateful to report that I woke up this morning feeling fine!  Now I need to go shower, get my clothes packed and be ready for Steph to pick me up at 9:15 to head to Branson!  

I am sorry you won't get to read any of my rantings until Monday.  I will have a book to write after a weekend away with my crazy BFF .. wait a minute, most of it won't be suitable for print! Just kidding! (maybe ..)

A Smartie!!

Okay, I don't like to brag .. well, maybe I do a little.  So here goes:  You win a prize if you can read what this says.  Of course, it says "Brynne".  And she wrote it herself.  This one is her 3rd try.  She and I were sitting in the office and she said, "Look, I wrote 'Eli'!"  Sure enough, she had.  And it was perfect!  So I said, can you write 'Brynne'?  She said, "I don't know how."  I told her to just think of the letters in her name and write them on the paper.  And, here you have it!  I was shocked!  In case you have forgotten, she just turned 3 in August!!  As you can see she needs a little help on her 'e' and she does hold the pencil in her fist instead of the correct way.  But, please!  Eli has handwriting assignments every week, to practice his letters, and he can barely scribble his name.  Yes, she is an over-achieving girl.  But, please!  I just had to share.

Better today!

Brynne is all better today!  The fever is gone and so is the tummy virus.  She's back to normal .. irritating Eli at every opportunity!

Rick is leaving for California right now.  We won't see him until Friday morning, briefly, and then I'm leaving for the weekend to go scrapbooking so I won't really see him until Sunday night!

Today it's cold and rainy.  I just want to curly up and take a nap!

I am so excited!  I have the majority of my Christmas gift bought!  That's quite an accomplishment for me since I usually don't really even start until the 1st week of December.  I really only have my kids left .. all extended family is pretty much DONE!