When will it end??!!

These are totally random but they fit the way that I have felt for the past two weeks.
Sweet Pea had the flu last week and on Monday, 20 of the 29 kids in her class were absent due to illness. Now, Pumpkin Pie has a sore throat and is complaining of not feeling well. Matt and I took turns staying home with Sweet Pea this past week. Of course she wanted to run wild when her fever went down and was clingy and lethargic when it was up. How did I entertain her you ask...we colored. I thought she did an awesome job on the Little Mermaid picture and she even took the picture of it by herself. She may have some artsy skills in her after all. It sure isn't genetic though.
I have the cutest dog in the world. This is now his favorite place to sleep and get away from Sweet Pea. He is under my bed on top of my summer shoe box.
We had the water bottle out this week to fix one of the kids hair. Matt decided to spray Bailey with it and Bailey thought it was a wonderful game. He kept trying to lick the bottle and he would push Matt's hand with his paw to get Matt to spray more water for him. I have a video but it is a little lengthy, so I will spare you.
Matt fried ham a week ago and this piece came out of the skillet like this. Can you see the smiley face?! I promise that we did not make this up.

Matt found the M&M in his recent snack attack and thought it looked like a heart. He had to share it with me, which was sweet since I LOVE M&M's. They are just so cute (and yummy).
Many of you may know the struggle I have had with Pumpkin Pie's hair. She has some wild hair that has this wavy, kinky thing going on. So I decided that I would be hair stylist for a day. I permed my daughter's hair! I used big rollers on it and didn't leave it on as long as the box said but she likes it and it has been way more manageable in the mornings when she is getting ready for school.

Another piece of ham...Sweet Pea thought that this one looked like a heart.

We have been very busy recently, between school, homework, music lessons, work, sanitizing the whole house every day to try to prevent sickness, doctor's appointments, etc... I will be glad to have a shorter week this week. I am off Thursday and Friday and am planning some activities with the girls (since they will be out of school). Next Friday, we are going to a water park for the girl's birthday's. We will also be celebrating birthday's with one of my best friend's and both of the girl's best friends. We are very excited! We also have the circus coming up and Disney on Ice coming up. I am currently searching for birthday outfits for the girl's birthday pictures and am really looking forward to those. It has been forever since I have taken any pictures of the girls (beyond everyday pictures). Let's pray that Pumpkin Pie doesn't get "sick, sick" and the rest of us can stay healthy. We have way too many fun things planned to get sick now.
Oh, and being the wonderful mom that I am-I have helped Sweet Pea extend her vocabulary. She recently learned the word "imbecile" and knows the meaning. I am just joking about the wonderful mom part!

Air bubbles

This story is a little embarrassing so be prepared.

We recently cut Bailey's hair again (to keep it short but allow it to get a little longer before Winter). Normally, I could handle questions from my kids without panicking. I guess I wasn't prepared this time. Sweet Pea happened to notice a set of private parts that boy dogs carry around. When asked what they were, I freaked at how to explain this to a young child (which is not the typical me...it could be the illness my body was apparently trying to fight off). I responded, "Those are air bubbles. He just needs to poot." She bought the answer but I have a feeling that I should prepare because the question is sure to arise again when he poots and the "air bubbles" don't go away.

I guess it had to get us...

Thought I would share a cute picture of Bailey snuggling with his favorite toy- the Mickey Mouse rattle.

So, I guess I could have expected that I would get sick. I see kids all day long and they carry in germs but I really tried to avoid it. I have them put GermX on their hands when they come in and I have sanitized my office several times in the past couple of weeks. Sunday morning, it started out as a migraine. Today, I have laid in bed all day long with a low grade fever. I am going stir crazy because I haven't felt like sitting up. I hope that I feel well enough to work tomorrow. I don't think I can stand another day laying in bed! I feel so lazy...
Pray that the rest of the family doesn't get this junk.

Counting

Everyone likes to think that their child is super smart. Mine are always proving me otherwise. As we were reading our Junie B. Jones books this evening, Sweet Pea wanted to count the footsteps on one of the pages. It went something like this...
SP:1...28, 29, 20
Me: 30
SP: ...38, 39, 20
Me: 40
SP:...48, 49, 20
Me: 50
SP:...58, 59, 20
Me: Child, when are you going to catch on that it ain't 20!
Sweet Pea and Pumpkin Pie bust out laughing and I'm left wandering if either of my kids can count past 20. (It must come from their dad!!!)

An Ode to Mrs. B

As we were shopping today, we came across a sign that I had to purchase (you will be receiving it soon). The sign reminded me so much of Mrs. B that we had to get it. It is confirmation that you are now officially a southern redneck!

Dollywood

As many of you know, school starts back this week. It will also mean that my youngest starts Kindergarten. Each year we get a gift for the kids as a "have a good school year" and we love them kind of present. This year, I probably did a lot more than usual because it has been a rough few months (ok, maybe a rough whole year). We took the kids to Dollywood today and I obviously caught this picture of Matt attempting to stop a car with no brakes. He can be such a dork! The girls had a great time and my mom joined us for the trip, which allowed for more rides with the girls individually since mom could be with the one we were not riding with. Sweet Pea rode Dare Devil Falls for the first time this year. I thought she would be terrified but she was ready to go again. We had the traditional funnel cake and went by a store on the way home because it was the only store that had the one thing that Sweet Pea really wanted as a gift.

So, for the gifts... 1. trip to Dollywood, 2. a silver bracelet, 3. a monogrammed heart charm and necklace and another silver necklace with a charm that says "Daddy's Girl", 4. the newest Junie B. Jones book, which happens to be an activity book about going to school (because we adore June B. in our house), 5. Sweet Pea got a new computer game and Pumpkin Pie got a new DS game, and finally 6. Sweet Pea got a ring with a flower (the thing she really wanted) on it and she added to her collection of stuffed pigs today. We spent the same amount of money on the girls even though the number of gifts are not even. I know that some people get hung up on that issue but the girls understand the concept.

Here are a couple of pictures...the ring and the Junie B. Jones book and the pig-





Just for the record, I am having a really hard time with Sweet Pea starting school. Although we plan to have more children, health concerns are putting that on the back burner. That leaves me with feeling like it may be my last one to go off to school. I do cry every year when Pumpkin Pie goes to school for the first day, just for the record. But anyway, it is a sad thing for your youngest to go off to school and makes me dread Pumpkin Pie's teenage years rapidly approaching. Although it is still several years away, it seems to be coming at me like a freight train.
I also thought that I would show off the girls backpacks. Sweet Pea insisted on having two backpacks this year (polka dots from Gymboree and black/white Damask print that her cousin was able to get for us). She actually wanted more but I insisted that two was more than she could carry at one time. Pumpkin Pie has three backpacks that she has accumulated over the past few years that have proven to withstand HER. We typically have to purchase at least two backpacks per year (and we are not talking cheap backpacks) because she is so hard on them that they fall apart. These have managed to outlast her, although the Limited Two backpack is giving in.

Breaking it Down

I know it has been a little bit but I will make up for it over the next few days. I will try to break this up into a couple of smaller posts so it may make more sense. I can be a little random in my thoughts right now.
So, for starters...just a picture to show off how much Bailey is growing. He is really into stuffed toys and squeaky toys right now. We are trying to teach him how to play fetch but he may have ADHD. He can only fetch about three to four times in a row before he gets distracted. Who knows...maybe that is normal for a 5 1/2 month old puppy!