Lexy & Mommy Day

The girls were out of school today. 

Mike was off of work but was on call so couldn't do anything. 

Brooke had plans with Lindsey to go shopping for things for their formal dance. 

SO...

Lexy and I had a Mommy & Me Day!

We ate lunch at Lexy's choice (McD's)

We went shopping at Lexy's favorite stores - American Girl, Build A Bear and Target

We bought a skateboard (for her Koala) and Legos

We DID NOT shop for clothes b/c that's what Lexy wanted)

We talked

We laughed

We snacked on ice cream (belgian chocolate YUM)

I'm so glad that God made me her Mommy!

Last Week

Last week was spent "babysitting" my mom after her neck surgery.  It wasn't too bad though, kinda like watching a newborn baby, she pretty much slept anytime she sat down. :) 

Mike was on call for work all week so on Saturday Brooke, Lexy and I headed up to the city for some shopping and a movie, I love spending time with those girls :)  We stopped by McDonald's for lunch first because Lexy had seen a flyer that Ronald McDonald would be there...

Then we headed up to the mall for some shopping, Brooke got soaked looking at movie times at another theater, we ate dinner and then went back and watched the movie Spy Kids, All the Time in the World at the mall.  We had so much fun the whole day and laughed so hard!

For Labor Day we didn't do much.  Lexy and I made blueberry muffins and sausage for breakfast and Mike cooked steak on the grill for dinner...and we all lazed around the house in between.

The end of school year 2010-2011

I can't believe another school year has flown by!  I'm in shock that come August I will have a 2nd grader and a sophomore!!!  I am really hoping there are more little ones in the house before that to make me feel needed around here! :)

Brooke had her last day on Friday, May 20th since she didn't have to take finals, if they miss less than 4 days during the year they don't have to take finals at the end of the year and get out two days early!.  On Monday while Lexy went to school (for a movie day), Brooke and I had a little Mom and Daughter shopping day!  We both found new swimsuits for our upcoming vacation and a few other odds and ends.

On Tuesday Brooke and I joined Lexy at school for her last day.  They have a field day with lots of games and fun, eat a sack lunch outside and get out early!

We haven't done much since school has been out, the weather has been stormy, rainy and gloomy but we did have a couple of very leisurely days sitting at home.  Lexy and I had a fun day with Robin and her kids today at Jumping Jax (inflatable place).  I am putting together a Summer Fun Jar with slips of paper with craft/science/baking/fun things to do at home and then on a different color of paper, places to go.  I don't want the summer to slip by without having as much fun as we possibly can!

Snow?

We woke up to SNOW this morning...even Lexy is done with this snow thing!  When I told her it had snowed she said "enough already, I want Spring!" haha!

I wish I would have taken pictures this weekend, I've been lazy about that lately.  Friday Brooke and I went for a girls night out.  She asked if we could on Thursday night and I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do then spend time with her!  I was a little afraid that this was a ploy for a shopping trip but not only did she ask for nothing (she even spent a little of her own money on some makeup) but she told me of a couple of invitations she had passed up that night to spend time with me. :)  We ended up not getting home until almost 1am after having chinese for dinner, doing some shopping and seeing a movie!

Saturday Brooke had plans so Mike, Lexy and I headed up to the city for some fun.  Lexy had gotten three different coupons from build a bear workshop for her birthday so we headed there first.  She ended up making a cute little dog that she named Brownie, a collar/leash and a pair of glasses for him...all for FREE!  Then we headed to Toys R Us to return one of Lexy's birthday presents and we walked out of there with two toys and only spent $4 more!!  What a cheap fun day!

We have no new updates on our adoption situations.  Our worker said that all homestudies were to be turned in by last Friday on the almost 2yo little girl.  Hopefully they will narrow the families down and set a date for a best interest staffing this week!!  They have given families about two more weeks to submit homestudies on the sibling set of three so we'll be waiting a while longer to hear on them..

A movie and a pretend beauty salon

Since Lexy had Thursday and Friday off this week, we decided to have a little Mommy and Lexy time. We went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D.. It was actually a pretty good movie. Lexy has already asked for it when it comes out on DVD.


Stylin' in our 3D glasses from the movie and holding our oh so wonderful Spongebob and Patrick watches from Burger King! (Daddy took the wonderfully fuzzy pic :-)



When we got home Lexy decided that she wanted to play beauty shop with Rex. Thank goodness that dog loves her :-)

Sew Special

Last night Brooke and I attended our sewing class that Brooke asked for and received for Christmas. We made a fun night of it, going for dinner before and ice cream after...what a fun time!

Brooke has never sewn before and while I have sewn basic stuff for sometime now, I think Brooke surpassed my skills last night :-) She is quite the natural at the sewing machine, picking up on everything taught with ease. For our project last night we both made 18" pillowcases from fabric we chose...Brooke chose pink monkey fabric and I chose a fabric with dogprints (this will be part of a surprise for Lexy next month).

Brooke has definitely gotten the sewing bug now and we are both looking forward to saving up for another class, this time one on how to use patterns! I love spending time with my girls doing something we both enjoy!

Our Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend, it started with...

Last year for Christmas, Brooke & Lexy gave Mammaw & Grandpa Tom and Papa & Grammy one of these "Spoil Your Granddaughters Jars" that they made by themselves (see directions here)...


On Friday, Mammaw & Grandpa Tom brought their jar back to Brooke & Lexy filled to the top. They all (I had to work) went to the bank to cash in all the change and to the surprise of everyone, Brooke and Lexy ended up with $77 EACH!!! It was unbelievable that there was THAT much change in that jar! Mammaw & Grandpa Tom have said that if the girls put a new piece of fabric on the top of the jar and give it back to them for Christmas this year that they will fill it again...you can bet the girls are going to do that...Mike and I just may make one for us too :-)

On Saturday, I had to work most of the day but Mike and the girls met me in Olathe after work and took me to the buffet for dinner!

On Sunday, Brooke, her full wallet and I went for a Mommy & Me Retail Therapy Day together! We went to several stores, bought lots of neat stuff, ate a great lunch and had a wonderful silly time together...

Brooke bought a ton of clothes and even a pink Christmas tree and ornaments for her room with her money and still has quite a bit left...I've taught her well when it comes to bargain shopping :-)

Lexy spent a few dollars on a new snowglobe and a plastic candy cane but hasn't decided yet what she wants to spend all that money on!

Spring/Easter Fun

We're getting ready to go to the town Easter egg hunt and then to our nephew's bake sale/lunch fundraiser but thought I better post about the past couple of days since I'll hear about it if I go too long without a post (mom!).

On Wednesday afternoon we actually had spring weather and the girls were able to get outside for a little while (before the weather turned cold again)...

We've done some baking...

And some Easter crafts...

And yesterday Brooke, Lexy and I did a little retail therapy for our mommy and me time! So there is our last few days in a nutshell! Happy Easter!

Family Fun Day

For family fun time this weekend we split up and did...

Daddy and Lexy time...they played at home, went to McDonald's and ate dinner together, went to the park and then played outside at home! Lexy said she had a really fun time playing with Daddy, Daddy said that Lexy scared him with how high she can swing herself on the swings now!

Mommy and Brooke time...Brooke and I joined Robin and Kenzie for lunch at a new place (Beach Bums, really cool, Lexy would love it!), some shopping at Kohl's (new purses for all!), a movie (Bride Wars, very good!), some more shopping at the mall & Target and then a little dinner at Wendy's before heading home. We had a great time and the bigger girls got some much needed mommy time and leisurely shopping without little siblings around!

Family Fun Time and More

For family fun time this past Saturday we had a Girls shopping day. Daddy was on call (and worked all day Sat.). Brooke, Lexy, Kenzie and I went to a mall that we normally don't go to and spent the day walking and shopping and shopping and walking...we were exhausted by the end of the day! Then we had dinner at one of our favorites...chinese, YUM!

Also, I wanted to let you in on a great giveaway going on at a blog I visit, here. She is giving away a GREAT purse, check it out! Brooke would absolutely LOVE this purse so I'm kinda hoping to win!

Now to Not Me Monday...



I did NOT make dessert twice last week just because I wanted it even though it's not on the diet!
I did NOT skip my workout yesterday because I was too sore from walking around the mall and shopping on Saturday!

I did NOT leave both my kids with my great friend Robin on Friday while another friend and I went shopping for Robin's b-day party supplies. Nope I wouldn't do that, and I didn't let her feed them dinner either!

I did NOT leave my poor wonderful hubby to work all day out in the freezing cold while I went shopping with the girls to spend the overtime he was making!

I did NOT keep my mouth shut when Brooke came to me yesterday to say she wanted to do six chores (instead of her normal two) and I did NOT love every minute of watching her and Kenzie do almost all MY chores!!!

I did NOT tell my dear little four-year-old "oh yes you will!" this morning when she said "I won't go to school today because I have to do all that boring stuff".

I did NOT do ANY of these things, nope not me because I am the best wife, mother and friend, right???!!! Now you can go over to MckMama's to see who else is playing along in Not Me Monday.

A fun time at the park

On Thursday afternoon Lexy and I took advantage of the 60's outside to go to the park and have some mommy and me time. The park is one of Lexy's favorite places to go, she could run and play for hours, I think maybe she is part monkey! Speaking of monkeys, Sock monkey was Lexy's playmate for the day and got to try almost everything that Lexy did.

Family Fun and cleaning day project

For family fun this week we took the girls (plus a friend of Brooke's) to Chuck E. Cheese for a fun filled afternoon. They had a great time playing games and being silly. Daddy even splurged and got them all an ice cream!

After coming home Brooke, Brooke's friend and I played board games (Truth or Dare, Pictureka and What am I) until 11:30pm. The girls had played Truth or Dare the night before and we saw some silly hairdos, etc. but our game included me standing on my head (sort of) singing Old McDonald, each of us having to "meow" randomly for 5min., and pretending to order pizza in pig latin...we laughed SO hard!

For my cleaning day project Brooke and I tackled the playroom that had been severely abused and neglected since Christmas. Basically we just wanted to get it organized enough that someone could go out there without getting lost. Our plans are to totally redo the playroom in the summer but for now it's straightened up and you actually might be able to find what you're looking for!!

I forgot before pictures but here's the after...

The weekend

Here's a *new* post for the junkies...yes I'm talking to you Dad!!! haha!

This weekend on Sat. the girls and I had "mommy and me" time as Mike was on call and stayed home working on some of Brooke's Christmas presents for her room. The girls and I went shopping at a few stores, walked around the mall and then headed to Chuck E. Cheeses for dinner and fun. We all had a fabulous time but we were all wore out by the time we got home from all the walking, fun and jostling from the crowds! We sat down and watched a Christmas movie as a family after getting home.

Here's Lexy after our outing...

Brooke with Lexy's new "friend" that she had to have! I know Mom, I wouldn't let you buy her a big stuffed dog for Christmas b/c we don't have room...this one was ONLY $5 (I have no better excuse!)

Lexy talked me into a Happy Birthday balloon yesterday too...one of those poor parenting moments when I bought it just to apease her so we could get out of the store :-) She decided to dress it in her pajama shirt (and we ALL thought this was hilarious, must have been the tiredness)...

Sunday was spent cleaning the house, putting some of the presents under the tree (see Brooke I DO listen to you), playing and having the girls help me cook dinner (Brooke's favorite, popcorn chicken kabobs) and make dessert (Lexy helped make peanut butter cup blizzards!).

Poor Lexy had a rough evening tonight when she fell off of her chair she was sitting in and hit her upper lip and then her forehead on the TV cabinet. Then somehow the icepack that she was using for her boo boos busted open all over her new favorite jammies so she had to change...poor baby!

Hmm, I wonder if the girls will have school in the morning. We have ice and some snow AND the wind chills (on the news just now) for tomorrow are suppose to be -10 to -20 BBBRRRR!!! They probably will have school just because that will make me have to get out and drive them to school and I HATE to drive in this kind of weather! The girls have five more days of school (if they go tomorrow) until the beginning of Christmas (I mean Winter) break. Lexy's party is on Friday morning. Brooke is having a choir concert on Wed. night and then her cheer squad is having a little Christmas party/gift exchange sometime this week.

The Weekend, The Tree and Mrs. Claus's Visit

On Sat. Mike was invited by Mamaw and Tom to a wresting event so while he went to dinner & the event the girls (and Kenzie) and I had some "Mommy & Me time". We went to Zonkers and spent 3 hours riding rides, playing in the tubes and eating a not-so-healthy dinner. It was snowing pretty hard on our drive home but it didn't stick much to Lexy's dismay!

We got the Christmas Tree put up yesterday!! Brooke and Lexy had a good time putting on all the ornaments...


This morning, as per tradition in our home on Dec. 1st, Mrs. Claus left a note, ornaments and a small gift for the girls. She and the elves will leave small gifts/activities and notes throughout the season!

Brooke received a set of small "fashion" ornaments (a purse, cell phone, laptop & skirt) and two pair of knee socks that were pink and brown with monkeys. Lexy received a penguin ornament and knee socks that are navy/lt. blue with frogs.

Mike got some of our outside lights put up yesterday and hopes to finish up in the next couple of days, I'll post pictures of that when it's done. My project for this week is to organize my gift area downstairs and to get some of the wrapping done (so I don't put it off until the last minute).

Mommy and Me day

Lexy and I took a Mommy and Me day yesterday! Mike was off of work for Veterens Day so he could be here when Brooke got home from school. Lexy decided she wanted to see Madagascar 2 for our day so we did a little shopping, ate lunch out and then saw the movie up at the mall. Lexy and I both really enjoyed the movie and the snacks!!! It's nice to be able to spend a little one on one time! Brooke wasn't left out though...after dinner last night her and I went to Wal-Mart to pick up paint, etc. for redoing her dresser (for her room makeover) and she ended up getting a new pair of comfy pajama pants too.

I don't think I say it often enough but I LOVE being a mom. Sometimes it's not the most glamorous job or the least stressful but I wouldn't change it for the world! When I was younger (talking teens here) I used to tell everyone that all I wanted to be was a mom and have 14 (yes that's 14) kids...if you count all the foster kids we've had in our home and loved then I'm WAY over that total. Sometimes I worry about being responsible for teaching them all the values, morals and life skills that they must know and wonder if I'm doing it right (or screwing them up for life) but I just don't think there is a more rewarding job then being a mom!