Divide and conquer

Holy smokes, it has been SOOOO long since I have gone shopping. I am not talking about a lame trip to Walmart or Kroger for groceries, I am talking about the mall among other places. Ben took the boys to see "How to Train Your Dragon" which they LOVED, so I took the chance to do some shopping. Ben loved hanging out with his little buddies and wants to have a monthly outing with them. I had a great time shopping, which is wierd because I don't usually enjoy the mall, but it was time away and for me and the babe. I am not really sure that we can afford montly divide and conquer sessions though.

I spent entirely too much money all in the name of Easter, but it have me a good excuse to get my kiddos all fancied up for church. JT didn't have any church clothes to speak of, and DB had long since outgrown his church pants, so he has just been wearing school pants. Baby Girl was my big trouble, I wanted to buy SO MUCH, but I reigned myself in and got only one swimsuit and found an Easter dress for 5 bucks! I was pretty proud. I had fun snapping pics of my fancy kids this morning before church, but they didn't cooperate too much and smile all at the same time. I think that is like the Holy Grail....you think it is possible that a picture where they all look at the camera and smile is possible, but it always seems just out of reach.

WE are SUPER excited to get out of Dodge for Spring Break. We can't wait to see Mama and Papa Shoff very soon. We have big plans for the break this year. Spring break, Easter and Conference weekend all rolled into one? It's gonna be good.

a thousand words

Maybe really just 3 words that stick out...."Antannae Mom? Really?"

Leprechauns

We love St. Patrick's day at our house! Cleaning up after the leprechauns can be tiresome, but it is fun to see what they come up with every year. This year they forgot to sweep up their footprints throughout the house and left gold glitter and shiny green specks all over! They unrolled the t.p., turned the toilet water green, hung green leis on the ceiling fan, hung our keys on a chandelier, opened all of our kitchen cupboards and turned all the water in our fridge green! Sheesh! Those silly leprechauns. I think they came to our house because they thought a couple of leprechans LIVED here, as you can see below. Happy St. Patricks Day!

Funny Boy

I have noticed that JT has a funny way of signing his name. He will be drawing on a paper and then suddenly his whole body will get tight and he will start shaking like he is shivering, and he jerks the pencil in little jagged lines as he shivers. What a funny kid. Also, we have started taping gloves to him at night and he doesn't mind them so much because he just thinks they are weapons. He is getting pretty good at all sorts of gun noises, and switches between them at the drop of a hat. I swear, the kid keeps us all giggling all day long.

The ramblings of a Costco snob

We are just on our way to Memphis for a Costco trip, and since Ben is on the phone with all of his Redbox peeps (shocker, I know....) I needed something to do, and the blog was just calling out to me.

We are doing just great these days. We are all healthy and happy for the most part. Ben has been working insane hours with work and has been assigned to oversee the operations of about 400 machines and 23 employees. He has been quite stressed lately, but deep down in places that he is not willing to talk about at parties, I know he loves his job. I couldn't be happier about that either. It has been hard to have him gone so much of course, but we have experienced that before in our lives iwth previous jobs that he HATED and that compounded the stress exponentially. I am proud of his ability to take on such a project, and am impressed at how well he does it, too. Ben rocks, what can I say. I joke sometimes that we should trade jobs for a day, but I wouldn't ever do that. He is just too good at his job, and I could never fill his shoes. Plus, I really do love being at home with our babies.

I am desperatly anticipating the return of the humidity. Poor JT has really struggled with his excema this month. He wakes up with bloody fingertips and sheets from sratching his feet. We have even taped his jammies closed, but he gets to it in his sleep in his crazy itching frenzies. He still takes it in stride, though and is a happy kid.

One thing I am really looking forward to is buying a swim suit for Baby Girl. OH MY HECK!! Baby girl swim suits are SO CUTE!!! I can't wait to get one, and even Ben got a grin on his face when I told him that I would be buying one soon. Why can babies have chubby legs/tummies in their swim suits, but it is NOT okay for me to sport the same fashion?

We got a trampoline this week and have been able to spend a ton of time outside in the spring weather. I really don't know how we ever survived without a trampoline until now! DB and JT can't jump at the same time because of the size/jump differences, but JT gets it all day while DB is in school, and DB gets it in the evenings. It all works out.

The kiddos are all asleep in the back seat, thank heavens for a peaceful drive to Costco. I willingly admit that I am a Costco snob and refuse to shop at Sams Club. The kids tolerate the drive pretty well, the last half hour on the way home can get rough though. All worth it...especially since we are taking coupons with us. I am sure they will come to love Costco as I do. All in good time.

Yes, my DB is growin'!

He got his glasses on February 26th. The eye doc said that he isn't technically near-sighted yet, but he can see that after looking at something for a while, the muscles in his eyes start to tighten up and cause problems.....hopefully the problems he has been having at school! He has been a serious daydreamer lately. Anyway, the doc wants him to wear them straight until the end of school, and then we can take a break for the summer and use them just for reading and movie/xbox time. Then we will recheck after 2nd grade starts. I have been telling him that all the super heroes wear glasses to protect their identity, and he can do the same. He was super anxious to wear them to school the first day, and even prayed that his friends and students in his class wouldn't make fun of him. Too cute. I think he looks awesome in them and I told him that right now, my opinion is the only one that matters!

Also, today he FINALLY decided to ride his bike without training wheels. The kid has been terrified that he would fall and hurt himself (he watched his friend in St. George learn how to ride his bike which included some falls....) I consider it a personal accomplishment of my own that I got him to do it today. He won't ever understand this until he has children of his own, but each time I let go of that bike seat, my heart jumped a little and I worried about him falling too. Sometimes we just have to take that risk if we are going to accomplish something amazing. I am ridiculously proud of my DB.

Notice anything different?