Funny sayings

A few more funnies for the day:

I was exercising this morning to a video on YouTube. The exercise required a dumbell which I didn't have...rather was too lazy to go out to the garage to get. Olivia came over to me and gave me a pretend plastic McDonald's cup and said I could use it as my "arm pull".

Just now she colored a picture for me "for Valentine's Day" and said Daddy can "knock it into the wall" when he gets home!

Naomi colored a picture of Pooh on a dooder (scooter) for Sr. Me Ard (Sr. Marie Bernard).

We received a stainless steel water bottle with a screw on pop top and a cover in the mail the other day (another freebie!) The girls were fighting over it, but Naomi had asked for it first so I let her use it. After a bout of pouting, Olivia decided to try another tactic...."Naomi, it's good to share! (Real cheerful) I know (light bulb goes off!) We can share the water bottle! I'll drink out of here (the pop top) and I can pour some in here (the cap to the pop top) for Naomi to drink out of! That's a good idea! (Trying to muster up the most convincing face possible!)" I informed Olivia that, no indeed, that was not a good idea as the water would very quickly fill up the cap and spill over, causing a big puddle on the floor and more mess for Mommy to clean up! I must give her credit for her creativity though, as conniving as she can be! Makes me think of one of my fellow sisters...any guesses who? ;-)

Husbands

Olivia to Naomi (both of which are "dressed up" in princess clothes): "Come on...We need to go find some husbands!"

Later...Olivia to Naomi "You're a boy and you need to be my husband!"

Sledding

On a whim Sunday afternoon, we decided to go sledding at Dexter Drumlin (George Hill as we call it). I pulled Tim along in the orange sled along the base of the hill so we could watch the sledders. Naomi made it down one run, fell off and decided she didn't want to sled anymore, so she walked around and watched. Olivia and Pete went down several more times, then Olivia and I went down together! We all had fun and then went to McDonalds for dinner, which they loved of course! Thanks for the Christmas gift card Pam and Fred!

The Charm Bracelet

I LOVE this idea! I think it really shows girls just how important their purity is and how special they are. It makes them think twice about how much they are willing to give of themselves! What a great reminder it would be in the moment of temptation too!

The Charm Bracelet

Taken from the April 2008 Brio and Beyond Magazine:

The Charm Bracelet

By: Sarah Kistler

Sweet 16 had finally come! I never thought I'd make it. But I did. And it was amazing. My parents threw the birthday part of the century, and I had more people than I could count. The whole day had been awesome. But as I watched the sun begin to set, I knew the best part was soon to come.

It was late in the evening. Confetti had been swept up, helium balloons had started to sag and gift wrap had been folded neatly and tucked away for my mom's later use. As I sad at my window studying the dusky sky, Dad peeked into the room with a smile.

"Ready to go, Sweetie?" he asked.

Was that a trick question? I wondered as I scrambled to my feet. I'd been waiting for this night for five long years, and it was finally here! I was now officially allowed to date!

The plan was for my parents and me to go to my favorite restaurant on the night of my 16th birthday and officiate the agreement, go over standards and discuss rules and such. And now we were finally on our way.

I sat across from my parents in a quiet corner booth. Having just placed our orders, I figured it was time to get on with it. "So. I can go out with any guy I want to, right?" I squealed, hardly able to contain my excitement.

Mom and Dad chucked. Dad answered, "Well, we agreed to that, didn't we?"

"Sweet!" I exclaimed, doing a little victory dance in my seat. My parents had held me off for years, but now that the time had come, they would let me date any guy I wanted! Of course they knew I had a good relationship with God and wasn't too short on common sense, either.

"Now wait just a second," Mom interrupted with a smile. "You have to agree to a little something yourself."

I was expecting a lecture of some sort, so I was already prepared. "So what do I have to do now?" I asked, leaning forward on my elbows.

"Just open this," Dad answered, producing a small white box. He gave a mysterious smile.

I hesitated a moment before removing the curly pink ribbon. I slowly opened the lid and saw a beautiful silver bracelet. But not just any bracelet. It was a charm bracelet. And they weren't just any charms. They were gemstones, small but gorgeous. A dozen dainty charms dangled gently.

"Wow." I didn't know what else to say. I wasn't expecting this at all.

"Now you have to understand this isn't just any bracelet," Mom informed me.

"I know," I said. "It's so beautiful!" I studied it closer. There were six small charms alternating with tinier ones. The smaller ones were deep blue. Sapphires, I guessed. And the other six were each different. One appeared to be just a rock, one was pink, a white one, a red one, green... and was that a diamond?

"This charm bracelet is symbolic," Dad explained, leaning in closer to study it with me. "It represents you and your purity. This is what will guide you through your dating relationships. Your mother and I can only tell you what's right. We can't make you believe it yourself. Hopefully, this will."

I looked up solemnly. "I'm listening."

"This represents the first time you hold a guy's hand," Mom said, pointing to the gray one. "It's just a piece of polished granite. Seemingly cheap, yes, but it's still a part of your bracelet. This is pink quartz." She gently rubbed the next one between her fingers. "It represents your first kiss."

"This green one is an emerald," Dad continued. "This is your first boyfriend. The pearl is the first time you say 'I love you' to a man other than me."

I giggled. This was so amazing.

"The ruby stands for your first engagement. And the diamond represents the first time you say 'I do,'" Mom finished.

After letting it all sink in, I cleared my emotion-clogged throat. "What do the six tiny sapphires stand for?" I asked.

"Those are to remind you how beautiful and valuable you are to us and to God," Dad replied. "Now here's the hitch in all this, the only and only rule you'll ever have to follow when it comes to dating."

Only one rule. Sounded good. But little did I know...

"Whenever you give one of these actions of love- a kiss, an 'I love you', a hand to hold- you also have to give the recipient the gem to match."

I must've misunderstood. "I have to give him the gem?"

"You have to give it to him," Mom restated.

I was silent for a moment. I thought they must be joking. But they weren't even thinking of cracking a smile.

"But Daddy!" I suddenly shrieked. "These are insanely expensive! I can't just give them away!"

He gave a soft, loving chuckle, "Did you hear what you just said?"

I thought about it.

"Baby, your purity, your heart, they're far more valuable than a few little rocks. If you can't find it in your heart to give away your little charms, I don't think you should be giving away the things they represent."

I could feel my insides melting, ready to gush out of my tear ducts. One the one hands, it made me feel valuable and precious. But on the other, it made me furious. It made no sense. But it would.

A few weeks after that night, I was hanging out with my friends at the beach. Chad wouldn't swim because I wouldn't swim. I was more interested in reading than getting caked with sand, and he was more interested in sitting with me than swimming with his buddies. He was sweet. He was cute. And he tried to hold my hand.

I was thrilled for a nanosecond when a certain piece of ugly granite flashed through my mind and made me move out of his reach. I was severely annoyed- annoyed at my parents, annoyed at my bracelet-turned-handcuffs, but most of all, annoyed at myself. I was letting a little rock dominate my romantic life.

I furiously glared at it during the whole embarrassing walk to the bathhouse. But then God hit me upside the head with shocking epiphany. I couldn't give up my little chunk of granite. It was part of my bracelet, which in a sense made it a part of me. I wouldn't be whole without it. It wasn't a priceless gem, yet it was still valuable. It made sense after that.

Kevin came along eventually. We had fun. we hung out a lot. I thought I might love him. I thought I might tell him so. I thought of my pearl. It turned out that I didn't love him as much as I thought I did.

So my parents had been right. They couldn't make me believe the thins they wanted me to believe. So they let God and my bracelet do the work instead. Among the four of them, I figured out how valuable I was. How valuable my purity was. How not valuable guys were who just wanted my time and emotions. If they weren't in it for the whole bracelet, why should they get one part of it?

Nate. He thought my bracelet was awesome. So he never tried to hold my hand. He never tried to kiss me. But he asked me to marry him.

I never knew that so many years of torture could amount to so much happiness. I'd thought it was silly. I'd thought it was overrated. But now, I've never been more glad of anything in my life. As I gave my husband the charm bracelet in its entirety, I wondered why I had found it so hard to hang on to those little rocks when it was amazing to give them all to the man I truly loved.

But it didn't end there. Now our daughter wears it.

Funny sayings

Olivia to Naomi- "I'm the Dad...Mom's in the sharks mouth and I need to go save her!"

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The other morning Timmy knocked over my (thankfully empty!) water glass next to my bed. Naomi said..."Mommy, Timmy's knocking your glass over" to which Olivia replied to Naomi, "Good shot Nom's!" I said to Olivia, "Do you mean good catch?" and she said "Yeah...good patch Nom's!"

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Some of you have heard this story already, but for those that haven't....Last Sunday on our way to meeting up with everyone for Lindsay's birthday, I was telling Pete in the car about how I made a blunder in Lindsay's card when I said she had turned into a beautiful young lady...then realized she was a woman now. Olivia just about panicked and said "Lindsay's not a woman! I don't want her to turn into a woman!" This of course got Naomi upset too and she was quite upset that Lindsay was "turning into a woman". I tried to explain saying she just wasn't little anymore and that she was a woman like Mommy, and Nana and Jess and Kate. Naomi then asked "Is Bumpa a woman to?" On the way home, as soon as we got in the car Olivia said to me, "Mommy, you were right. Lindsay is still the same. She didn't turn into a woman!" The girls were quite relieved of that!!!

Lips!

The girls got a set of wooden blocks at the Give and Take and made houses today to surprise Daddy! They were so proud of it!

Thank you A. Pam and U. Fred for the lip lolipops! The kids had them today and LOVED them!

Happy Birthday Gramma!

Happy Birthday Grandma! May you have many, many more!

Grandma and her girlfriends

Tim enjoys a brownie!

I just love this picture!

Lindsay's Surprise 21st Birthday Party!

We all met up at Margarita's Restaurant to celebrate Lindsay's 21st Birthday in style! She was surprised and we all had a great time!

Happy Birthday Lindsay!

Auntie GG and Mr. Tim

The Lilybug and Auntie Kaite

Miss Lilybug right after she spit up all over her godmother!

Lindsay's first legal drink

Fast asleep (before she smelled the food!)

Little Bag Lady

Naomi reminds me of the bag lady in Confessions of a Shopaholic in this picture!

Snowblowing...the roof?!

There were several people who drove by the house while Pete was doing this and I could see them laughing, pointing, and staring! I guess it's not something you see every day! (And hopefully something we won't need to do again!)

Shaws

This post is mainly for Nana as she gets a kick out of my Shaws runs ;-)

Total Spent: just under $30
Total Saved: just a few dollars shy of $200

9 Cereal
11 Cans of Contadina Sauce
1 Tomato paste
2 PF Changs frozen dinners
25 cans of Del Monte Diced Tomatoes
7 Cake Mixes
10 Brownie Mixes

Not pictured are 6 gallons of Eddys Ice Cream I got for $0.16 each at Rite Aid
At Market Basket:
18 Wholly Guacamole= free
6 boxes of Old El Paso Taco Shells for $0.20-$0.40 each
16 cans of Old El Paso Refried Beans= Free

I do want to mention that I know I often compare myself to other bloggers and beat myself up over not being able to do what they do....so, for anyone that may be getting down on themselves for not scoring great grocery deals, we are all at different stages in our lives...this works for me right now for a couple reasons...I'm not working, I live about 2 minutes from Shaws, I'm not pregnant, and I'm able to go out at night when Pete gets home from work...and I have a decent size pantry to store this stuff! So don't beat yourself up if you're in a spot in life where you can't do this but wish you could!

And just a disclaimer...I did not wipe any of the stores out of their products! There were still plenty of products left on the shelves when I finished my deals!

Next Week's Commute...

This was in an email forward we received...thought it was too good not to share! This must be how our walkway looks to the kids!

Another "house" conversation

Today I set up the girls bedroom like a mini house. I brought their McDonald's in as a kitchen, their table, a chair, and made a living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc. They've been enjoying it and invited me to their house. The following is bits and pieces from our conversation:

Olivia: Oh, welcome to our house! Here's our baby...her name is Dorita Corina
Me: Oh, very nice. Your house is lovely...may I sit on your couch?
Olivia: Oh yes....would you like something to drink?
Me: I would love a cup of tea!
Olivia: Oh...no Mommy...you're supposed to say no thank you
Me: Oh...ok...No thank you!
Olivia: Would you like a cup of tea or something
Me: Oh yes...I'd love some tea
Naomi brings over tea then covers herself in her blanket: Mommy...open your present!
I pull the blanket off Naomi like it's a present and she gets all excited
Naomi is standing next to Olivia...Olivia says: This was the kid and now she grew up into our husband!
Me: Is that right?! Wow!
Olivia: Here, hold my baby...isn't she beautiful?
Me: Oh, yes, she's quite beautiful!
Olivia: Ok...so are you going to be going now?
Me: Ok...sure...thank you for having me over!
Naomi: Ok...good bye! and gives me a hug
Olivia: Come back soon!

For the snow birds....

Just thought we'd give the FL snowbirds a glimpse into what they're missing this winter! We got about another 9 in. today and are due to get more through the night and through tomorrow. I seriously do not think I'm going to be able to see out my kitchen window by Thursday! I also think we're still going to be snowed in until the 4th of July...or at least have patches of snow on the ground!

Playing House!

How do you keep children occupied when there are multiple feet of snow outside...too deep for them to play in...and you're snowed in AGAIN and can't leave the house? You play house! Olivia was the Dad, I was the Mom and Naomi was "the kid"....

Olivia in a deep "Dad" voice to me the Mom: Hi Hon...was kid good today?
Me: Yes, she was good
Olivia: No, she said she was bad and had to go in the naughty spot
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Olivia and Naomi pretend to have lunch.....Olivia starts to eat...Naomi says..."No, we have to say dwace! (grace)...the two start "Holy Mary, Holy Mary, amen" and begin to eat
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Olivia (aka Dad) says to Naomi (aka Kid) in the low Dad voice: Were you good today kid?
Naomi (Aka Kid): Yes Dad
Olivia: No, you were naughty...you had to go in the naughty spot
Naomi: I sowy (Sorry) Dad...I won't do it again

Visit from Jess and Lily!

Jess and Lilybug paid us a visit yesterday! We were all very excited to spend some time with Miss Lily since we hadn't seen her in a whole month! She has definitely grown since then! The kids loved her needless to say! And her godmother enjoyed holding her and spending time with her!

Naomi and Doll Clothes!

Auntie GG (Angela) brought down some doll clothes for the girls to play with on Sunday. Needless to say they LOVE them! Naomi has been waking up before everyone else lately, so she sat and played with her doll and the doll clothes and a beloved cat that came with the doll clothes until Olivia woke up! It kept her quite content for quite some time! She has entered into a new stage of imagination and is often found imagining...using anything from dolls/stuffed animals, to her fingers and toes, to forks and spoons!

Never too young to start....

....training them how to do chores! (Disclaimer...I do not make my 1 year old son sweep!)