Oh what to do to pass the time?

What do you do to keep yourself busy when your husband is out of town? What do you do to keep your kids busy and make the time fly by? You bake cookies, have a family pizza party, play outside, and have family home evening of course! I really hate it when Rich is out of town, but I am determined to keep myself and the cuties busy. Today after picking Braden up from school, we came back to the house, ate lunch, took naps, baked cookies, played outside, had a pizza party, and had Family Home Evening; now the three cuties are finally sleeping, one day down, four more to go! I can do this; I can survive this week, I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR! (and I will use my trusty camera to document it all, much to my children's chagrin)

Here are some pictures of the cuties making cookies and enjoying the finished product.

Here are some pictures from our pizza party.

Finally-a night out! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, Rich and I finally got to go out to celebrate Valentine's Day; last week our celebration consisted of Digornio's Pizza, soda, cards, and a movie at home. Rich and I were hoping for something a little more romantic, you know, no kids, but I was still battling the flu; going out and possibly infecting the rest of Georgia wasn't an option. I enjoyed our little family celebration, especially the cards Brooke and Braden had picked out for me; Braden even wrote Mama on my card and signed his name (he is getting so big), but I really wanted to spend time with just Rich. Saturday night Rich and I went out to eat at Lonestar and went to go see The Spiderwick Chronicles; I can't tell you how much I enjoyed getting to spend time without the children. I think it is so important that you continue to date and court your spouse; once you have children it is so easy to forget that you are still two people in love, especially because children can be so demanding! Rich and I don't always get to actually leave the house for a date, but we try to have several dates every month. It does add up once you pay to go out and pay for a babysitter, so each month we have two in house dates and one going out date. We take turns planning the in house dates: movie night, picnic by the fireplace, dancing in the kitchen, or just talking and playing games; on the Fridays or Saturdays we are having our in house dates, I make sure the children do not get naps (so they will crash early). Sometimes we have the milkshake date, which means that we drive around until the kids crash, go to McDonalds, buy milkshakes, and drive around, talk, and sip our milkshakes (and the best part is we didn't have to buy the kids anything, and they get to sleep). I hope that the children will see Rich and I dating and see how important it is to continue to date after you get married, but I think they are already learning. As I was getting ready for my date Braden and Brooke starting getting dressed and gussied up; they explained they were going to go on a date as well.

Here is the young couple all decked out and nowhere to go. If you notice, the little princess is sporting a backwards pink shirt, floral skirt, and a Barbie bracelet, and doesn't the young gentlemen look dashing in his khaki shorts and button up shirt?!

My Brave Little Guy

Well, on Monday of this week I received a phone call from Braden's school letting me know that his shot record wasn't up to date. I was under the impression that by bringing Braden in right on schedule for all of his well check-ups this wouldn't happen, but it did. I called the pediatrician's office and sure enough, somehow he missed two very vital shots, now to break the news to my sweet unsuspecting four year old. Braden's first reaction to the news, "That's okay, I will just run away and hide." Once I explained why that was not an option, no matter how impressed I was with his quick thinking, we talked about the reality of this issue. Honesty and a lot of preparation is what works best for Braden, so he and I talked about how it was probably going to hurt. At this point he informed me that he was going to cry. I told him that it was okay if he cried, but that if he did a good job (which means no tantrums or thrashing bodies), he would get a chocolate milkshake afterwards for bravery (yes, I believe in and support the art of bribery). As you can see from the pictures, it worked; I am proud to say that I have a very brave four year old!

One of Braden's band-aids

Braden and his chocolate milkshake

More Pictures~Oh how I love this camera!!!!!!!!!

Okay, here are a few more pictures; Emma just looked way too cute not to take pictures, and I wanted to play a little more with my new Valentine's Day gift.

My New Beautiful Camera

Well, I finally got my big beautiful Canon Digital Rebel XTi, and I love it! (It was my Valentine's Day present) I just got it today, so I haven't studied the manual yet; I am so excited to see what features it has! Here is a picture I took of Brooke this afternoon. I think my children can rest assured knowing that every minute of their childhood will be well documented.

A childhood rite of passage~the world renown whoopee cushion

Braden as of Valentine's Day has acquired his first whoopee cushion, and he loves it! (Like father like son) He is constantly asking Rich to blow it up, only to wait a mere second before sitting on it. Brooke of course has also gotten in on the act. She and Braden announce, "Oh, I don't feel so good." They then sit on it, let the noise fly, and exclaim, "Ahhhh I feel better!" I guess it isn't considered a well rounded childhood unless a little body humor is thrown in there for good measure; at least that is what Rich tells me.

Okay, I am soooooooooo dying here!

Okay, I am not really dying, don't get worried, just being a little dramatic (I wonder where Brooke gets it from); I am just missing my camera! For whatever reason I am unable to download my pictures to my computer; how can you blog without pictures?! Until my little camera situation is rectified I guess I will have to have some look back blog postings and use pictures I already have; please be patient.

Curses

We had the BEST Girls' Night Out tonight, and we played a hilarious board game, Curses. If you are willing to make a fool of yourself and have fun, this is definitely the game for you!!!!!! You first pick a card which says something you have to do, dare type things, and then you pick another card with a curse on it and give it to someone else to do. The curse cards you end up with are things you have to do the entire game. I for example had to dance and pretend to swat invisible mosquitoes every time I talked. I know it sounds crazy, but I haven't laughed that hard since Rich and I went to go see Bill Cosby perform. You know, when you laugh so hard and so much your face starts to hurt. My sister in law Heidi and her family are coming to visit in April, and I will definitely be buying that game before then! What better way to bond with friends and family than making fools out of yourselves together?!