Easter?

Not to disappoint, my family has already managed one Easter celebration. Why pay attention to calendars? We plan holidays when they're most convenient. :)
We had some family in from Europe for a few weeks, so we decided to do our big bash a month early. I mentioned this in a previous post. And I think I jokingly said there would be approximately 200 eggs to be found between the 6 kids. Well, I was wrong. The top 5 egg-gatherers collected, respectively: 85, 84, 71, 67, and 64 eggs. I didn't add it up, but I know that's more than 200! Plus there were two little ones that had maybe a couple dozen eggs each.
This event is all about good food, good fun, and good company. We had to get on the road early this year, so we missed hot tub time, but the kids had plenty of time to swing, run around, assault each other with their mini-marshmallow blow guns (a first for me!) and feed the horses.
I saw a certain three little boys attacking their sweet and innocent great-grandmother with imaginary webs and force shield something-or-others while she was guarding the door during the "big egg hide".
I even enjoyed a leisurely swing myself while watching the kiddos dig up a dog grave. Come on, I didn't know it was a dog grave until I actually got off my rear and walked over to where they were so quietly "working". ;)
Some of my favorites:

My Girls.


The loot.



Cutie Pie.

****Operation Arrival!****

Last weekend we all trekked in to DFW Airport to surprise Uncle Shawn with a big welcome home from his 10 month assignment to Iraq. And when I say "we", of course I mean...

my girls and me
my sister and her 3
my other sister (his wife) and the new babe
my parents
my grandparents
one cousin, with his wife and 2 sons
4 pairs of aunts and uncles
one family friend (considered an aunt)
3 of my parents' cousins and one of their kids

I'm sure I'm leaving someone out, but you get the picture. We had 30+ people there. My sis had made arrangements through a USO rep to get us all through security and to the gate. The kids had made signs with their classes, and all the little ones had t-shirts that read "Proud Niece/Nephew of an American Soldier".

This guy didn't know what hit him when he walked through those doors. He was overwhelmed, relieved, elated, and in shock all at once! He gave my sister a big hug, then was handed his little boy for the first time ever. The little guy was half asleep, and on the transfer, snuggled down in his daddy's chest. Precious.

He had a great welcome then we all drove back to my parents' house for a big spread. Lots of his favorite foods, plus more.

We are so glad to have him home!
Here are some of my favorite pics:

The kid crew.



My girls going through security. So cute!


Emma with the sign her class made.


A kiss.


Daddy and baby

Whew!

I'm going to throw a post together while I wait for a phone call. My week has been crazy and it's not slowing down yet. If I don't get to pics today, stay tuned...

Monday-last minute Dr. Seuss playgroup event that turned our kids into green-egg-and-ham eating, blue haired "Things"!

Tuesday-beginning of Dr. Seuss week at school. Had a class full of blue haired "Things", painted Cat Hats, ate Cat Hat snacks, played with rhymes all day. After school, had a call from MIL that she needed to be in Temple ASAP and could we come get the cats????
Drove MIL to Temple, brought cats and all paraphanelia home (except the all important scratching post...who knew??? more on that later)

Wednesday-continued Dr. Seuss stuff at school. All about fish today. Read One Fish Two Fish, graphed colored goldfish and made fish-sickles. Came home to one missing cat, later to be found IN the lining of my GOOD couch!! Swatted other cat for scratching on my GOOD couch!
Actually made a balanced meal for dinner.

Thursday-culmination of Dr. Seuss stuff at school. All about feet today. Funky Feet Day!
Got to school and realized I left my foot shaped cookie cutter at home. Drove home, got the foot, drove back to school. Read The Foot Book, and Fox in Socks. Ate Toe Jam, made foot art. Witnessed the rescue of a huge turtle in the parking lot (we named him Yertle. Get it?).
Realized I will be going to Emma's class tomorrow to help make a poster for Uncle's arrival from Iraq.....start researching ideas for poster for Uncle's arrival from Iraq...
Got home to discover that when I ran back this morning for the cookie cutter, I left my house key on the end table. Tried the back door. Locked. Tried the garage door. Locked. Luckily...remembered I had MIL's keys still in my car and she has a house key. THANK YOU!
Got in the house to find the cat in the couch again, and my heavy glass bowl with plastic fruit on the floor in front of the china hutch. I'm going to skin a cat!!

Waiting on the call from Grandmother saying she and cousin and cousin's new baby are finished with the Dr. appointment and ready for pizza dinner.

***there's the phone!!***

--------------4 hours later------------------

Took pizza to cousin's house and saw the beautiful baby. Had a nice visit w/Grandmother.
Girls in the tub. Emma convinced that she's going to make the dolphin costume for her QUEST fair when she gets out. ;)

Friday-must pack for the weekend away! Laundry, house cleaning....jewelry making playdate in the AM for Miss Ally. Quick lunch then to Emma's school for poster time. We'll probably leave early to pick up visiting Grandmother and head to Ft. Worth.

Saturday-BIL's arrival at DFW around 3. Big crowd expected to greet him then head to Mom's for huge spread.

Sunday-early Easter w/extended family in Denton. Probably have 6 kids there and a total of 200 eggs.
Okay, I may have overshot, but I promise not by much. This crowd does eggs w/money, eggs w/numbers for door prizes, etc. Lots of fun for the kiddos.

Wow. If I make it back, I'll update next week. :)

Heart Breaker

I am officially the meanest mom ever. I "grounded" Emma from all crafty projects and using any crafts supplies for a day and a half (which, mind you, was more of a punishment to me seeing how the full day part landed on a weekend).
Her reaction:

"NOOO!!!" (stomp, stomp, sob, sob) "That's not FAIR!" (more sobbing, storming out of the room...)

and then returning with:

"You just broke my heart into a million tiny pieces!!"

I couldn't make this stuff up, folks.

She stormed to her room, slammed the door, and continued to wail and yell things somewhere along the lines of "I would never treat my daughter this way if I was a mom!"

Yep. Meanest mom ever. ;)

Here's the best part. Ally went back to check on big sis, and was quickly sent out with a message for me. Which she delivered impeccably:

Her hands on her hips, eyebrows bunched up: "Mama!"

"You broke Emma's heart into tiny piece all the way to her foot!"
(picture me trying to look concerned)

and then the finale:

"You better be nice and make Emma happy. And you better be a good widdle grown up!,
OKAY?!"

priceless!

I'm Sorry....

I figured I'd better apologize right off the bat to my sweet baby girl for this one. She's gonna hate it later, but I just have to blog her funnies. :)

My Ally girl. The poor thing. She was on the toilet this morning. And with her, it's never a quick visit to the bathroom. She has so much trouble in this department. Anyway, knowing I had at least 5-6 minutes, I went around to the laundry room to start the washer.
Once I got some clothes in and shut the door, I could hear that she had been yelling for me at the top of her lungs!
I rushed to her with a panicked "What?!?"
And her emergency:


She tells me, with a very defeated look, "I can't get my poo-poos out, Mama. Come squeeze me as hard as you can!"

I nearly fell over! LOL!

Junie B!

The day finally came! Emma and I enjoyed our first "special day" yesterday. We saw a musical production based on the Junie B. Jones chapter book series. Emma has enjoyed these books for a long time, and we were thrilled to find out about the play!
We got all gussied up and ready to go:



And it was so much fun! Such a cute production! It was held at one of the older downtown theaters, not a big event center. I enjoyed it so much-it was more intimate and special. The cast is out of New York, and has been travelling the states with this show for awhile. They were very good! I love, love, musicals and this one was adorable. It made me laugh out loud countless times. Emma had a few giggles as well, but she spent most of the show literally on the edge of her seat, leaning forward, a fixed gaze on the stage and everything going on. At her age, I guess it is still a bit overstimulating, but she had a great time. She came home and was singing some of the songs from the show, and retelling her favorite lines to her daddy.
No shots from the show-it was way too dark (oh, how I wanted to get a picture of the 6'2 mid-twenties men that played twin girls, all dressed up in frilly, hoop skirt/pettiskirt dresses and Goldilocks curls!!), but here's one as we were leaving (you can see the marquis on the far right):



I love doing things downtown. So beautiful and so much history!

Enough is Enough

I have to start somewhere. So many things to blog, so many thoughts, stories and pictures swimming around, and I just can't make myself do it.
So...here's a start.

A couple of funnies I heard today:

Miss E:
(as we are SPRINTING for the bus this morning. I swear it was a whole minute early!!)
I say: "Girl! You are faster than I am!"
She says: "I know. My legs are skinnier than yours."

Thanks. lol!

Miss A:
(as I am drilling her on whether or not she went potty when she got her p.j.s on. She insists she did, I don't believe her.)
I say: "When did you go??"
She says: "Thursday."

Needless to say, she went straight to the pot! And I got a big 'ol belly laugh out of it. :)