whatever

not the day i was planning on.

breakfast with the family and peter – chaotic but good.

decided to take the girls to the zoo.
got there around noon. just wanted a nice day in the sun . . . it was gorgeous out today!
we pulled into the parking lot and every spot was full. and 20 school buses. no joke.
i felt my anxiety level rising.
for some reason i decided to stay???
we got the gate and were told “it’s free! it’s Earth Day!” normally i love something free.
we went in and it was just thousands of people! normally at the wichita zoo you see A FEW other families when you go on a school day.
annie wanted to see the elephants so we went straight there
after about 4 minutes i said “Mommy hates this. talby pick anywhere you want to go but let’s just get out of here.”
“ICE CREAM!!”
and that was that. we left the zoo after a 10 minute stay.

then we ate yummy ice cream at cold stone creamery. . . for lunch.

then annie lost my cell phone at hobby lobby.
why did i let her hold it? why? it was a bad decision on my part. i so hope they find it. as i was searching for it an older Holderman woman said “do you want me to call it for it you?” of course i said yes but it didn’t help. it went to voice mail right away. i was dying laughing on the inside.
i have thought it so amusing since we have moved back to kansas to see so many holderman women . . . in walmart and then almost every time they are talking on cell phones. it’s just funny.
and now here she was to help me. sweet. she kept calling it over and over.

and annie keeps saying “mommy you mad?”
i answer “i was mad . . . now i am sad . . i miss my phone”

potty training is my least favorite part of toddlers.

i don’t think she’s getting it.

i think i may quit. don’t judge me.

tomorrow we may go to the zoo so then it’s really not working . . . not to mention how nasty those bathrooms are. yuck.

i heard twice today “mom! i peed on the couch!”

new subject.

we had a playdate with 2 sweet girls today. annie had a hard time – not being nice. she pushed one of the girls. bummer.
lunch at sonic. i love sonic. the gal who calls me me sweetie makes my day. jana told me to try the cranberry limeaid and it IS too yummy!
i got to help at preschool today (didn’t really do anything but if something had happened i’d have been right on it) they took class pictures. annie got to stay and play in the toy kitchen and have snack so she was thrilled!
annie and i went to walmart.
while there we ran in to a friend from church (that annie has never met.)
i said “hi! how is your new baby?” and annie looked at her and confessed “i pushed emma”
we just cracked up. it had been 2 hours.
i said “she must be feeling pretty guilty.”
picked up all the kids from school.
got some stuff cleaned up to prepare for another overnight guest!
Peter Hang is in town from IL. he comes to Wichita once a year for business. when we first moved here (2 years ago) he called me from the plane and said “How close are you to Wichita?”
i said “craig works in wichita.”
he said “no way! can i come over?”
it was great. we surprised the kids . . . “guess who’s coming for dinner. you’ll never guess!!”
they went crazy to see him.
i love this yearly tradition.
so i got dinner together and it was like the old days of dinner on henry ave. peter used to come over before our small group and eat with us and help with the kids. that was before he was married with 3 kids and we only had 2, 3 and 4 kids.
good times.
he loves movies and tv as much as we do so we never run out of movie lines to swap. we can’t go one minute without a quote.
we got the kids off to awana and sat around the camp fire catching up. just love that stuff.

sean came to me around dinner time and gave me these cards as gift.
he was serious.
he was given them by a girl in his kindergarten class and for some reason he thought i’d really like them.
they are dated 1991. these are actual trading cards.
i bet this little girl’s dad may be upset when he finds 2 drummer’s missing from his megametal card collection!!!

my husband is the funniest person i know.

he gets me.

he can make me laugh anytime anywhere.

i just love everything about him. (except that he says I throw like a girl)

and he will be so embarrassed that i said that.

okay – that snow on Friday was CRAZY!
that was the most bizarre weather for april in kansas. the snow was coming down so quickly and it was thundering at the same time – for hours!
but my friends and i braved it (literally . . . lots and lots cars were in the ditch – not ours) to go to a crop. we scrapped till midnight. getting our supplies in and out in that slush (wearing slip-on backless shoes) was quite funny. my feet were soaking wet. but i was happy to have had a night out of the house even with freezing wet feet!

my family made it here on Saturday. we had a very nice weekend.

the moms and grandmas took the kids to the circus.
sean was loving it! the clowns cracked him up. he said just as the lights went down in the beginning “I want to see something AMAZING!” And during the monkey part “when can i get a trained monkey?”

when we came home we had easter dinner. a repeat of last week. craig made another ham – he’s getting pretty good! my mom and my grandma made yummy desserts. i ate way too much.

we got the kids to bed. the adults and lauren were playing a game. 2 hours after we had put annie to bed she was yelling “mom! i need a dry shirt!” i got up there to find she had destroyed the bathroom. she had been very busy. 2 brand new bottles of shampoo were emptied out onto the floor. lipstick was all over the floor and bathtub. the shelves of the cabinet were all a mess. it looked like vandalism . . . or a raccoon had been loose in the house.
that baby.
and all she had to say for herself was “mom. i need a dry shirt.”

on sunday my almost 1 year old niece was crying during naptime. my sister went to check on her. she discovers annie is the room and the rabbit in maya’s playpen!! no wonder she was crying. that is not a fun way to be woken up – a rabbit dropped on your head. poor baby maya.
annie just wanted maya to be able to play with the bunny too. that was a lot of work to do that too!
she is a handful!

then a nice afternoon of relaxing outside . . . playing catch, shooting hoops, trampoline and laying in the hammock. yes – all that crazy snow is gone already.

and pray for me . . . i started potty training today. 5th and final.

this day is feeling crazy . . . but i am determined to not let it get to me. that rain is driving me nuts.

first things first:
*************************
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHERRI.
WE MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU!
*************************

all the kids have a different schedule today. school is out at 3 completely different times.

my parents, my sister and her 2 kids and my grandmother are coming to visit for the weekend (2nd Easter – minus the eggs and all the candy). so we are getting ready for that . . . cleaning. it’s nice to get it done before saturday anyway. i still have some beds to make. and bathrooms to clean. do you think they will want to eat? i may have to get some groceries.

and i have to say hooray for my boys!! they are in their room since they got out of school playing legos together. nicely and quietly by choice! awesome. it will not last long but how great this 1 hour has been.

i did get in the craft room this morning. usually i can’t get going in the mornings. but this morning we had to take lauren to school after she missed her ride. she didn’t notice it was raining. i was not happy but it did wake me up. the little girls joined me and made some sticker art and a bracelet. and i got one page done.

also a few minutes ago annie was screaming at sean upstairs. i got up to go see what was going on. as i get to the stairs i see a diaper with no baby in it. that’s never good. i get upstairs to see what the fuss is. there is a very naked baby just wanting help opening her dollhouse. what a goofball! she loves to take her clothes off – it’s her new thing.

loving my chalk board door that i discovered yesterday morning – completely covered in scribbles.
and that is Annie is the bucket – not me – if you were wondering. ha ha

yesterday talby had a bike-a-thon at pre-school.
they love to bring their own bikes to school. and why wouldn’t they?
it’s so cute to watch them work so hard to make it around the big sidewalk path. one of the teachers had to go out to the other end of the path to help some of the kids get out of the dip in the path. their little legs couldn’t pedal hard enough to get up the tiny hill. so cute.
annie went around too on her push bike. i sent talby to go help her when she was all the way across the path (pretty far away). it was precious. you could see her talking to annie, annie nodding her head and then talby starts pushing annie on her little bike as fast as talby could go. too sweet.