girl scout cookies

This is my attempt to keep you from misspending 4 of your hard earned dollars . . .

I didn't order an girl scout cookies this year. I don't know any girls here over the age of 5. So I was totally banking on Edy's to come through with the traditional "Limited Edition Girl Scout Cookie" ice cream.

So I went to the Super Kroger here last week. It's not really an official Super Kroger - I don't think those really exist. But this is the biggest Kroger I've ever been in. And this was what I found . . .

Do you see that? Next to Edy's - light ice cream! The descriptions says "thin mint cookies in vanilla mint light ice cream." I was so disappointed. I thought Edy's and the Girl Scouts were in cahoots to make my waistline smaller. And, to be completely honest, that's not what I was going for. And even more unfortunate was the taste. Tasted like NOTHING! Horribly disappointing. I got Ben the Samoa version which was also just as tasteless.

So Friday I was at Target and just happened to see this . . . 

Cue the light from heaven and angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus. Thin mint cookies in full fat, full calories, full chocolate ice cream flavor. GLORIOUS! Absolutely worth ever calorie and each gram of fat.

So, in the words of Rendercella, the storal of the morey is "don't slop your dripper." But seriously, there are some things that are not meant to be 1/2 the fat. You just have to go all out.

spring break

Spring Break was fairly uneventful. But I'll give you the brief (mostly boring) recap:

Monday: We recovered from our weekend travels. The kids slept till after 8am and took huge naps. I took both kids grocery shopping (which I realize I rarely do) and we were a three-ring circus. Ted was especially horrible. There were storms in the evening - Ted and I watched a storm pass by from the front porch and saw a rainbow afterwards. Made me think of my Grandma watching the storms blow up from her front porch. The rainbow was much better than my camera captured.

Tuesday: We ventured to the park with the Teodoro's on a nearly 50 degree day. Thankfully the sun was out and made it seem warmer. Tuesday evening was anything but good. It culminated with Sophie ending up in bed at 7:15 for literally washing her hands with yogurt at the dining room table. She had yogurt up to her elbows. It was better for both of us that she just went to bed. Thankfully she went right to sleep without pulling her bedtime shenagans. I think she knew better.

Wednesday: We attempted to go to story time at Barnes and Noble. We were 5 minutes late and missed the whole thing. Figures. So we read other books and played with the trains. It was a beautiful day in between rain showers and storms. We got some great outside time in between storms in 70 degrees. That evening, we went to Club in Bridgeport with Ben. A HUGE storm caught us at the gas station. This is Ben fighting off the wind. About a minute later, it sounded like a train coming over the hill and the hail started falling. It was a little crazy. Sophie and I hit up Kohl's for spring/summer clothes for the kids. It's time for shorts weather. Ted has holes in the knees of every single pair of pants he owns.

Thursday: The weather turned COLD after the storms. It snowed this morning. We had lunch at Chik-Fil-A with some friends. We love it there but their playland is quite small. Spring break, snow days and days off school are always an invitation for crazy amounts of kids there. Ben and I went out on a date Thursday evening. Much needed. And a great time.

Friday: Some friends of YL allow us to have leadership at their house every Sunday evening. On Friday, they let us swim in their indoor pool. We went with the Teodoro's and had a GREAT time. No pictures, of course. Everyone was wiped and took long naps. The kids and I had a movie night Friday evening.

Saturday: In the morning, I had brunch and a surprise baby shower with these lovely ladies. We all have children the ages of not-born-yet to 5 years old. It makes for great laughs and is actually fairly theraputic and encouraging! It's nice to know my kids are the only kids who pull the stuff they do. I'm truly blessed to have connected with these women and for them to have been so warm and welcoming to me. Ben had a regional thing in Pittsburgh Friday night and Saturday morning. We had some good family time Saturday evening and even went to bed early! (Please excuse my bangs - they are in major need of a trim!)

So, that was our spring break in a nutshell. Boring? Don't say I didn't warn you!

basketball and birthdays

I just want to go on record to say I HATE the new update of blogger. It is hard to manipulate, pictures are next to impossible to edit and move around, and it NEVER previews the way I've typed and layed it out. I consider myself fairly computer saavy and it makes me NUTS. Anways . . . 

Ben was in Michigan Monday thru Thursday last week for Assignment Team Training. We will be at Timberwolf the month of July this summer. It was a bit of an overwhelming week for him. Planning program with a new partner, at a camp he's never been to, in a different division. And it's multi-ethnic all 4 weeks. That's right. A white, red-neck from WV. No pressure there!

Ben wanted to go to Charleston for the boys state basketball tournament. So the kids and I tagged along. I told him he could watch as much basketball as he wanted (boys tournament and march madness) as long as he left me a car. So, the kids and I played with their friends. Thankfully their parent's are also my friends.

Friday was beautiful and we were outside most of the day with Ben and Gavin. In the evening I had dinner with some friends. Saturday morning was brunch and then WVU basketball. In the evening we got to see the Young's and Bishop's. Sunday morning, Ben led worship at River Ridge. Always a great thing. He said that this time was really hard - he misses it a lot.

Gavin, Ted & Ben

Preston, Sophie, Ted, Duncan, Sydney & Maisie

After church on Sunday we drove to New Martinsville where we celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday with the rest of our family. We had family pictures and Sara made a delicious meal.

Ted & Trey - the love each other!

Dad and his out-laws (Ben, Todd, Valerie & Janet

Dad and his kids (Jay, Charlie, Sara, Laura & Belinda)

Mom & Dad and Grandkids (Graeson, Trey, Carlyn, Ted & Sophie)

 

 

Everybody - I love this picture

 

 

 

 

 

 

finish a conversation

I had the funniest flashback today . . . I was in Stacy Santen's van driving to bible study in South Charleston. It must have been in our days of 1 car. Ben may have been a baby. I know for sure that I didn't have Ted. I remember thinking to myself something about how in the world Stacy could carry on a conversation with me and 2 kids in the back seat - at the same time! At the time, being the childless person that I was, I thought it was ridiculous. Another one of those things I must apologize to all parents for b/c I thought my kids and I would be different. That list also contains melting down in grocery stores, using bribery, pooping at the park, saying "because I said do," and other such things.

What made me flashback to this memory? I got an email from a friend today. We're going to the women's weekend at Rockbridge in a couple of weeks. At the end of her email she said, "I can't wait to finish a conversation with you!" I laughed so hard b/c it's so true. Between being interrupted a thousand times, refereeing and actually playing, an entire conversation is so hard to come by. 

Earlier this week the kids and I went to Black Bear with our dear friend Meredith. Ben is out of town all week and we eat pretty lousy when he's gone - breakfast for dinner, chicken nuggets and mac and cheese, leftovers. Kids eat free at Black Bear - Ted gets the pb&j roll up (super yummy) and Sophie gets the cheese quesidilla. (Not important.) Between "excuse me mommy" and "excuse me Meredif", a couple trips to the restroom for unacceptable behavior, refereeing the chips and salsa, and other questionable incidents, we were lucky to finish a sentence. 

So, here is my public apology to all you parents out there that I judged in my thoughts for all those years. I apologize! Please forgive me!

And a couple of pictures unrelated to anything mentioned above . . .

Reading the Bed, Bath and Beyond flier in the car.

We brought the car seats in the house - who knew they were such entertainment?

for your viewing pleasure

 

Really, there's no explanation needed for this. Sophie "applies" chapstick several times a day - ALWAYS like this!

Please note that this about Sophie's 5th trip up and down the stairs - hence the rest in the middle. You can see we're really keeping up on the counting skills. Skips from 6 to 11 EVERY TIME! She's consistant if nothing else. Including telling me she had to poop at bedtime . . .

the truth about poop

 

Ted is quite intrigued by this book at the moment. It is rather fascinating.  Gary Pap has taught him a lot about animal poop while they hike around in the woods behind my parent's house. So Ted considers himself a bit of an expert. 

But the real story is Sophie . . . 

For the past year, Sophie has given me a run for my money in the poop department. You may recall this post (Adventures in Moving) where Sophie layed in front of the front door the day we were moving out of our house. She cried about wanting to be held for a very long time. I thought she understood in some weird way that we were moving and she was sad.  Later, we figured out the translation to be, "I have to poop and I don't want to so I'm going to cry and cry and cray about it. If you just hold me for a long time I won't have to." So we quickly understood that you couldn't hold her until after she pooped - otherwise you would hold her forever.

While we were at camp, she pooped in the pool. Well not actually IN the pool. But in her swimmy diaper while in the pool. Which is just not a fun diaper to change.

Then, when she started potty training, she pooped every 3-4 days. Well she always did that. But you never knew when it was coming. And watch out when it did b/c she was completely unpredictable and usually didn't even try to make it to the potty. Lots of poop in the underwear.

In the winter, she pooped every 3 days at 7pm on the dot. In the potty. That one was my favorite.

Now, she's using poop to completely manipulate bedtime. Every night, she cries about having to poop. Translation: "I don't want to poop. And I know that you have to let me up to at least try. Because if you didn't, you would feel guilty about being a bad parent for not believing me. I really just want to be up and I'll do whatever. Including sitting on the potty messing around. I really don't mind." So, my newest prayer has been for discernment for when Sophie really has to poop and when she doesn't. Ah, the life of a parent!

So, there you have it. The truth about poop according to Sophie.

pick a topic

Here are some topics of interest around our house recently:



iPad 2
The iPad 2 came out yesterday. To say that Ben covets this is a severe understatement. He's petitioning that I get him one that covers birthday and Christmas from me and both of our parents, our anniversary and Father's Day. It is pretty awesome! I wish that I could.







Lent
For Lent, we wanted to DO something instead of give up something - hoping to create a habit. As a family, we are having a family devotional time in the mornings. Ted has been super interested and teachable and I want to take full advantage of that. So we're reading this devotional book . . .it's very practical and a great book!







We've also been reading this bible. Every story from the Old Testament to the New Testament weaves in God's great rescue plan. There are cd's that come with it that we occassionally listen to in the car.









Netflix
We got rid of cable (we still have basic cable) and got Netflix. Love it. I need some movies to put in our queue. The way movies and shows can stream through the xbox/wii are the BEST.






And some pictures for you . . .

Sometimes you just need to change things up a bit to make them more fun and interesting. For instance, sitting ON the table to color and draw.








Sophie is sleeping w/o pull-ups now. We get her up when we go to bed to go to the potty. Which is usually hilarious b/c she's so out of it and sits on the potty and sucks her thumb, occassionally nodding off. Every once in awhile, I'll bring her downstairs for a little extra snuggle. This was she and Ben watching the Mountaineers loose in the Big East Tournament.

Ted discovered that he could put flashlight behind his toys and make a shadow.



Doing a little light reading on the futon. Again, change something up a bit and it's all kinds of fun. JB Ward and Becca Thomas stayed with us last weekend for the Work Crew work weekend we did. The futon always becomes an extra play place after used. They completely emptied the shelves.








Doh & Pap came to visit last week. Dinner at Chedder's. Breakfast at IHOP. And a great viewing of Winter Wipeout. Good times!

root canals and bedtime

2:53 pm -  Ben called to tell me he was going to Cheat Lake to get a root canal at the office of one of his newest friends. He'd been waiting all week for a cancellation to go.

3:46 pm - Ben calls me to tell me he can't find his insurance card. What is our dental insurance?

4:52 pm - Text from Ben: "I'm in the chair - numb."

6:11 pm - Ben calls to say he's passing by the house to pick up Zac to get to Bridgeport by 7:30 to play guitar for club. He decides to stop for some hugs and kisses. His face is swollen and numb. Stays for approximately 4 minutes.

8:22 pm - My text to Ben: Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh mmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyy ggggggooooooooossssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh! I started putting Sophie to bed at 7:25 pm. 3 books, 2 snuggles, 2 prayers and 55 mins later I am still waiting on Sophies second poop of the night. The first one took 13 mins (and 2 flushes) somewhere in the middle of all of that. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

It was one of the "those" nights around here. I was trying to redeem the evening at bedtime. But . . . not so much. Tomorrow is a new day.