It's Monday!! (You need to grab a cup of coffee and stay a while!)

On Monday's we leave the house around 8am to get Mackenzie to Kings. Then we try to kill an hour or so until Madi has OT. So we went to Trader Joes. We were in and out (with the exception of the potty trip. We must visit the potty at every establishment we embark on) Our cashier gave the girls a balloon. And they both said "thank you!!" Things were going well.

So we head to therapy where it's very fun corralling a 3 year old and a 1 year old for an hour. But today was milestone day at therapy. Madi walked back with Ms Nicole BY HERSELF!!! This calls for a celebration!! I mean for a year she has been screaming, grabbing, pulling my hair, etc every time we go.

So after therapy we head over to Walmart in Alpharetta. Silly me, I was thinking that since it's in Alpharetta it would be nicer than normal. Wrong! We went in and went potty, of course. Then we try to find a cart that will fit three kids in it. Um, apparently people in Alpharetta only have one child. So I finally give up and put them in a normal cart only to find I have left the list in the car. So I cart them out to get it. On the way back in, I notice one lonely cart outside over in the corner that I could fit all three of them in. However, it has been raining here for two days. So I wipe it off as best I can but it's still soaking wet. So I head inside and ask the lady at the door if she has any paper towels to wipe it off. She looks as though I have interrupted a very important conversation in her mind. But does give me the paper towels (read: doesn't help me!)and we're off. They actually did surprisingly well for being so close to lunchtime. There was only minimal bickering and begging.

We head up to the cashier where she proceeds to argue with me that I will need another cart. What am I going to do with another cart? She insists on getting one and by the time she gets back, I have it all up on the belt. And it all fit nicely in my cart. She commented on the kids and then asked me if I would like the groceries bagged lightly. I said yes since the kids would be helping me bring them up when we got home. Apparently she misheard. Every bag was double bagged and very heavy. Um, thanks!

Since they had done so well at Walmart, I told them we would go to Chick-fil-A. We headed over to the one on N Point Pkwy. Big mistake. The parking lot was packed but I saw a ton of people going in and getting it to go, so I thought maybe inside was ok. After getting everyone out, changing a diaper, almost getting nailed in the parking lot because apparently in Alpharetta you don't stop for a pedestrian with three kids, we walk in the door and there is not one table open. So we leave and go to the one on Hwy 9. Crowded but not obscene. We ate and played for a min in the cold, windy weather on the the wet, germy equipment. Then we disinfected, went potty (I told you, everywhere!) and left.

Minor screaming on the way home, not too big of a deal. When we got home, Leah was asleep so while I brought the groceries up, she screamed and screamed and screamed. The child does not wake up peaceful. So finally we had all the groceries to the playroom. Then we started to bring them up to the kitchen. Everything's going fine. And then Madison gets the pickles out and says, "Can I put these in the fridge?" Before I know what has happened, the pickles (that have texas pete added)and the glass are all over the floor. So I calmly picked Madison and Leah up and got the glass off of them and put them out of the kitchen. They were given instructions to keep Vivian out. So while I was cleaning up, a fight ensued because Vivian was trying with all her might to get to me. And at some point she had started getting groceries out too because all of a sudden Madi is screaming that Vivian dropped a can on her foot. I honestly wanted to run away. But I didn't. I got the rest of the glass off the floor, put Vivian in the bed and went to tend to Madi. And those of you who have girls understand. Whenever there is blood, no matter how minuscule, it's an all out emergency. I need a bandaid NOW!!!!!!!

All of this and I still had to go back out to Publix. So when Vivian got up from her nap and screamed "SHAKE IT!!!!" for an hour, I decided we would go ahead and go finish our shopping. What it "shake it?" Well, when you're 16 months old and you're still getting a bottle, you are aware that the bottle has to be shaken before you can have it. And for the last month or so, that's what she has called it. Today is day seven of no bottle. And she is hostile!! Only after nap time is it a really big deal. But she will scream for hours and nothing helps. Except getting out. So we drove to Publix and got the rest of our shopping done. God bless the deli ladies who gave us several pieces of turkey because I am such a mean mother and they clearly hadn't eaten all day. And we will not be having Chicken Marsala this week because after standing in the wine aisle for 10 minutes with my kids trying to knock down all those pretty bottles, my sweet husband tells me that Marsala wine is another area of the store for cooking wine.

So here it is 8:40 and I am looking back at my day. And I am SOOOOOO thankful that God helped me get up early and start the day in His word. Because if I hadn't started there today, who knows where I would be.

AWESOME yard sale day!!

I am so blessed. Today my neighbor's daughter (who babysits for us a good bit now) offered to watch the kids for me and her mom to go yard saling. It was just such a blessing to be able to go and chat with a friend and walk around at the sales. We met up and caravanned with my other die hard buddies, Lisa, Aimee and Amy.

Normally it's pack up the car the night before with the dvd player, snacks, lunch, drinks, toys, extra clothes, etc. Move the kids seats around so that Leah and Madi and closer to me just in case, knowing the fighting that will begin once they realize they are next to each other. Having to stop 15 times to go potty. Only being able to do drive by's at the sales. When I do spot something, I put Mackenzie on guard. She has to lock the door and honk if anyone bothers them. Listen to them screaming from the car while I look at one shirt before being embarrassed by the screaming and the potential threat of DFACS and heading back to the car. Yelling, crying, threatening, reaching, pulling, etc. Every time saying, "We are never going to another yard sale again!"

But not today. It was awesome! Mackenzie and Kayla (my neighbor's other daughter) came with us and we had a great time.

Here are my deals...

Bike for Madi-$5
Big Wheel for Leah-$3
6 books for Kenz-$3
A Melissa and Doug play toaster complete with bread and butter that velcro's-$3
Wiggles flash light-$1
Princess portable dvd player-$2
a baby doll-$1
New curious george puzzle-$1
The game called Life-$2
A new Dora game-$2
A trunk for the dress up clothes-.50!!!!
2 sets of Lincoln Logs-$5
potty seat that flips up when not in use-.50
American girl book-$2
New coloring books-$1
beanie babies-$.75

Clothes:
Mackenzie
Cowboy boots $5
Dress $5
4 shirts and two pairs of shorts-$5

Leah:
outfit-$2
shirt-$2

Madi
9 dresses $9
6 shirts $10
a shorts overall outfit #2
capris $1
shorts $1
2 pairs of brown shoes $2
2 pairs of sandals $.75!!!

Tonight

There's a mommy siting!!

 

In their matching pjs. I can't figure out why Mackenzie doesn't want matching pjs. :)

 

Daddy taught them to say "Word"

 

 

That's not gymboree!!

I was getting the girls dressed yesterday and pulled out a cute dress for Leah. She took one look at it and said, "That's not Gymboree mama, I don't want to wear it!" And she was right, it was Carters.

Another gymboree note: Yesterday a big sale started. So we skipped ballet, went to two gymboree stores, called two more (including the one in MA near my parents) stopped twice to go potty and ended up getting a pair of sandals and 2 pairs of sunglasses. I was only looking for clothes for Madi. Poor kid, she has like two summer outfits. If I buy anything else for Vivi or Leah, I will have to sell it all to pay for a divorce attorney!!! :)

Leah's bday

She turned three on Sunday. And what I have to say about the day, is that is was blog worthy. First we decided to skip Sunday school and hang out and let her open her gifts. It turned out to be a great idea. We left church about 12:30. We were headed to pick up a cake and meet Tim, Kit, Amy, Philip and Lydia at Sweet Tomatoes. Did I mention it was 12:30? The largest church in Woodstock was also getting out at the same time. So it took us about 20 min to go three miles. We get the cookie cake, and head out. Another 15 minutes to get to the highway which is about 4 miles. It takes us another 10 min to get down to Kennesaw. Get a call from Tim that they have gotten to Sweet Tomatoes and the line is out the door with no where to sit.

Ok, so we head over to Golden Corral. It's crowded but not crazy. I go in and talk with the head lady or whoever and ask her if we can get a table 11 people for my daughter's bday. She says we have to go through the line. I say, "We have small children and need to make sure we will have a table when we get down there." Oh yes, it's no problem. So we wait for them to get there and all go through the line. Guess what they say when we all get our trays, our kids, our cake and all of our gifts down to the end of the line? There's no table available. So then the mgr comes over and tells us we will have to wait. I try to explain that this is what I was trying to avoid by coming in beforehand. Apparently I am speaking in a loud tone, because people are staring and my husband is embarrased. So we stand and wait for another 10 min blocking the door with our entourage.

I have to stop here and just tell you how I praise God for the children. I am sure they were starving but they all sat quietly while we waited.

We left there at 3:00pm. So much for a quick lunch. Once we were there Tim said, "I heard this is the most crowded Golden Corral in GA." And it showed!

All in all it was a fun day for Miss Leah. Oh and wondering where the pics are? Well, the camera was set on a funky setting (no doubt thanks to one of my sweet girls) so they all came out blurry.

This is the best one we have

75 dresses.....

Is the total number of dresses that I just put into the littles closet for spring/summer.

Here's the breakdown...
Vivian: 45 (now, before you have a stroke, do keep in mind that she will go through two sizes this season so that's about half and half. I know, it's still bad.)
Leah: 22
Madison: 8 (this is what happens when you are the oldest of the set. I haven't bought any of the ones for her. They are all hand me downs. But I am going to get her a couple more.)

Now in my defense, a lot of these were given to me. And any that I did buy, were either major sale or consigment. We're talking not more than $8 even the new gymbo ones. Ok, I take that back, one of the ones for Vivian was $20 for the outfit (but it came with a hat.)

Just playin' around

So you want to know what happens when the season's change????

This!!!

 

Yes, this is for the three smallest people in my home. For one season. I got so irritated, I wanted to light it all on fire!!

Spring has sprung!!

And I have the sniffles and cough to prove it. The pollen count was over 2000 yesteday. Oh yeah! Spring in GA.

Very sad post

Some of you may or may not know, but I am a bit of a clothing freak and I am part of a Gymbofriends. A website devoted to all things Gymboree.

One of the other moms Gail Halpin lost her 2 year old son Corey Monday evening -- his dresser fell onto him killing him ....she wrote this message and I felt it was important to share with each of you as you all have young children or may know someone who does.

"We are still in great shock, I know in the morning it will hit full force and we will just never want to feel anything again.

Corey climbed into a drawer in his dresser and it fell over and his neck was stuck in the drawer and he passed immediately I was told.

I took him out of the dresser and held his poor lifeless body, I knew he was gone.

this is really helping me to write this here.
We got to hold him and hug him and kiss him at the hospital.

Thanks for all your prayers and support and please keep it up because we are going to need it in these days ahead.

Please fasten your dressers and furniture against a wall."

Link to the news story: http://www.inyork.com/local/ci_8790513

This is a website with a little bit of information on furniture safety.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5004.pdf

Please consider buying braces for any furniture you have that could be a potential hazard to your children.

The forum I belong to has set up a Corey Halpin Memorial fund. We have been able to raise over $8,000 for the family in the last 24 hours. Many of us will be lising auctions with 100% of the money raised going to this fund. If you would be interested in donating or bidding on any of the charity auctions here is how you can do that.

Logging on to Ebay and entering a keyword search of jjp corey will bring you to the list of auctions. There will be many added over the next few days. Or if you would like to donate even one dollar you can send a paypal payment to : coreymemorialfund@yahoo.com

Please forward this message to any person who has children or knows someone who does. Just spreading the word about furniture safety could save the life of one child and would be honoring the loss of this precious child who was taken from this world to soon.

We have taken the chest of drawers out of our little ones room until we can get it attached to the wall properly.