Baseball Vs. Pei Wei

On Saturday one of our neighbor girls was having a Birthday party that she invited our kids to. It was a princess party though so we suggested to James that the girls go to the party and he could go with Dad to do some boy stuff. He decided the boy stuff would be better and even let me tag along for a while, even though I think he really didn't want me to.

James has suddenly become very interested in baseball so we took him to a batting cage to let him hit some baseballs. Baseball is probably my least favorite sport to watch, but if it is the sport my son loves, than I'm willing to give it a try.

After the batting cages we were on our way into Cold Stone when Josh got a text from one of his attending doctors. He has season tickets to the Detroit Tigers game but wasn't going to make it to the game that evening and the first person to respond could have his tickets. Josh texted back right away and scored him and James two seats 7 rows behind home plate.

After the girls came home from the birthday party we decided that we weren't going to just sit at home bored, so we went out to do some back to school shopping and had dinner at Pei Wei per Samm's request.

This girl loves her lo mein!

We didn't get much in the way of school clothes other than some pants and a few shirts, but we did have a post shopping fashion show once we got home. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures, but it did bring back some good memories of back to school shopping with my sisters.

The Parable of the talents

As we were driving home from the store this evening Macy decided to take the opportunity to cry about everything she could think of that was not fair. None of it had to do with anything really, she just likes to cry sometimes.

Finally after a few minutes Josh said "Your right. Life is not fair! You get what you work for though so if you work hard you will earn more."

Then Samm chimed in from the back seat "Ya, like the three men and the parable of the talents."

Seriously?

I wish we could take credit for her, but I think she just came that way!

There's a slight Harry Potter obsession going on at our house right now

I actually had my heart set on him being He-Man for Halloween, but today he was giving me detailed instructions on how to make him a real Harry Potter costume. Apparently Dad's old glasses, a batman cape and a pencil just won't cut it for the big day.

Here is what I'm thinking about tonight

1. My husband ROCKS!- He was on call last night which means today he only had to go in for a few hours this morning (so far 2nd year of residency rocks as well!) After he got home, he came in the kitchen and asked "what do you want to do today? Do you need some alone time?" And yes, I very much did, so I went and bought myself a new pair of shoes and then went and got a pedicure since I can no longer touch my toes.


2. I hate paying people for things that I can do myself- Even though it was really nice to sit in a massage chair and have someone else make my feet pretty, I keep looking down and thinking "If only this big belly wasn't in the way I could have done it myself and saved $30!" It's for this very same reason I refuse to pay someone else to color and/or cut my hair.


3. Staying up late does nothing but make me hungry- I really tried sleeping but I just couldn't so I came downstairs to read blogs in hopes that it would make me sleepy(not that any of your blogs are boring) and now I am a little sleepy but I'm also really hugely hungry!


4. Never ever go to the mall in the last month of pregnancy- I WANT MY WAIST BACK!


5. Not having a camera is like not having an arm- OK that might be slightly dramatic, but I'm so mad that I've taken it in twice and I still don't have any pictures from our summer because it's still not fixed. Part of me is ready to just shell out 100 bucks for a new lens rather than take it in a 3rd time and risk not having a working camera when the baby comes.


6. Very much still hungry!


7. I hate blogger- What good does it do me to have a blog if nothing happens when I hit the publish button? Maybe next week someone will be able to read this.

Seriously people, Big Lots is a magical place!

I had to go to Big Lots again yesterday. I went to the brand new one close to our house this time since I knew they had what I needed so there weren't any "interesting" people there. However, just as I was walking in the door a lady passed me on the side walk and said "Aren't you pretty!" And then she kept on walking.

So I'm pretty much convinced that Big Lots has some sort of magical powers and only nice people go near it. And I'm also thinking about making weekly trips just for a little pick me up!!!

Bigger is Better Beach Bag!

If anyone wants to know how to make their own hugely enormous but awesome beach bag, I'm posting instructions over Here today. Sorry, no instructions for the cute kids, they just come that way!

Big Lots is a strange place

As most of you know I have weird things happen to me while I'm at stores. For some reason I attract mean, crazy people at grocery stores who like to yell at me and make me cry. At Big Lot's I also attract strange people but at least they are nice so it's not so bad. It probably doesn't help that this one particular Big Lots is in an "interesting" part of town, so there are always very "interesting" people inside of it. And by interesting I don't mean bad or scary, I just really mean kind of different.

Anyway, A couple months ago I was leaving Big Lots with all the kids when this woman followed me out to my car to tell me that as soon as she saw Samm she just knew that God had big plans for her and that she was going to do great things in her life. Of course we've always thought she was going to do great things in her life, (we're her parents, how could we not!) but it was still a little weird to have a woman standing at my car window telling it to me.

Today I was there again with all my kids because they have really cheap planter boxes and I'm cheap so that's why I go. And as I was standing in the candy isle letting the kids pick out a treat for being good and getting ready to explode because they wouldn't just pick one! I heard a woman say "Excuse me!" I was a little hesitant to look up because she said it kind of harshly, but when I did look at her she just started clapping her hands. It took me a second to realize that she was applauding me for not completely losing it with them. I wasn't quite sure what to say so I just thanked her and then hurried up the decision making and we left.

So, even though there are very "interesting" people who shop at Big Lot's they are very nice to me and I will take that over being yelled at in a grocery store any day!

No couch potatoes in this house!

(picture taken at the science center nutrition exhibit)

Josh and I have really started feeling like we need to teach our kids a little bit more about working hard. We make them do little chores during the week and they have a slightly longer list on Saturday mornings, but I think as far as slave driving goes, they have it pretty easy.

So, even though I didn't remember signing up to clean the church this Saturday I was glad when they reminded me. And honestly the kids were too. They love cleaning the church and as soon as we walk in they run and get the big rolling trash can so they can walk and around empty all the smaller trash cans. Once that's over they usually keep busy by cleaning chalk boards and dusting.

I walked around the corner to find Macy hard at work and being careful to not get any dust in her eyes!

After the kids and I were finished at the church we got a surprise phone call from Dad saying he was home from the hospital so we loaded up together and went to the Science Center.

After the Science Center, there was still more work to be done at home. The girls helped me inside, while James got his first lesson in mowing the lawn. Part of me felt sorry for him, but it was nice to see him working so hard. And the mower is self propelled so all he had to do was push down on the bar.

I think James was pretty proud of himself once he finished, but the poor kid doesn't realize how many more lawns are in his future!

Press Here

One of our favorite activities during the summer is weekly trips to the library.

Honestly, they are mostly excited about checking out new movies, until we get there and sit down with new books. This particular one is probably in their top 10 favorites. You press the yellow dot on the first page and see what happens to it on the next page. It was exciting enough that they read it 3 times in a row!

So far our summer is off to a cool, rainy start. I'm hoping by July we have nice enough weather for outdoor activities.

Our Dad wears fancy pants...

Because he can make a watermelon basket! Our kids were amazed!




I did plan a nice steak dinner for him, which he never gets since I've had a strong aversion to all things meat during this pregnancy, but he got home from work right before we got home from church and decided to cut his own watermelon and grill his own steak.

Even though Josh had to work today, he was able to run over for sacrament meeting so he could hear the kids sing and then go back to the hospital. The kids were really happy that he was there, even though James pretty much hates anytime the primary has to sing. I just keep thinking how much he is going to hate it when he is 11 and still has to go up.


Anyway, Josh making it over for sacrament meeting, and then making it home in time for dinner made it a pretty special day. And I hope Josh felt a little bit special, because he really is an awesome Dad and deserves to have some recognition for all his hard work.


In other news...I'm 30 weeks pregnant today





Josh told me I was huge, James said I was fat, and Macy called me a cow...OK not really, she was talking about the steak we were eating, but it happened to coincide with the whole "Mom is really fat conversation."

As annoyed as I was at Josh for telling me I was huge, I can't deny it isn't true. Just for fun tonight I went back and looked at my very first blog post because I was wearing this same dress. I was 35 weeks pregnant with Macy at the time and I think I am almost as big right now at 30 weeks.


I'm not looking forward to the next nine weeks.