Stupid!!

Okay, so have you ever done something that you knew you probably shouldn't do, but you did it anyway? And it ended up being so stupid that you would never live it down? Well, I have done LOTS of stupid things over the years, but this one tops it.
So, I really wanted chicken salad for lunch, but I also needed to go to the store. Well, lots of people cook things in the oven while they are gone, so why not on the stove? I figured chicken could boil on the stove while I was gone and it would be done when I got home with my groceries. Well, not when you leave it on HIGH!!!!! Idiot...what was I thinking?? You know that skit with Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live when he hits himself in the head and says what a moron he is the whole time? Yeah, that's how I feel!
So, we get home and it smells a little weird in the garage. No biggie. Could be the dog having gas. Whatever. I go into my house (my sister is with me) and you can't see anything. There is smoke everywhere and it reeks! So I hurry into the kitchen and grab the pot with the chicken in it and run it outside. It is not on fire, just smoking badly. I got it put out of its misery with the hose and ran back inside. Emily is getting all of the windows upstairs and I am doing down.
In the meantime we have a friend of Zachary's who has followed us down the street and is wanting to play. Yeah, love ya kid, but nobody needs to come into this house!
The kids are outside being worried and we are inside. Luckily my sister lives two miles down the road, so we just go to her house, dog in tow, 'til our house airs out a little. Text Brent that I tried to burn the house down for the insurance money, and don't go home. Remarkably he wasn't really that mad...until he got home. He can't even handle it when I self-clean the oven. Hello...smoke in our WHOLE house! But, he took it all in stride.
Thanks to Travis (who knows someone who does everything), we got a deal on an odor-removal machine which supposedly takes the smell out of houses with dead bodies (eeewwww). We spent the weekend at Brent's mom's and the machine spent the weekend taking the smell out of our house. Problem solved. Of course, the problem was mine in the first place, and I cost us extra money that we really don't have but, hey, he loves me, right? I don't know why.
So, the take-home message is this....use a crock-pot!!! I would love to hear some of your crazy moments so I don't feel like such a loser. Really, I know this one's bad and none of you can top it!! Really, use your crock-pots!!!

As I have loved you...

I got to witness a wonderful thing this morning. I dropped off the kids in front of the school like always. And, like always, some person in front of me was taking FOREVER to get their kid out of the car and move. As I looked over at Zachary walking Paige to the Kindergarten gate, they gave each other a hug and a kiss before parting. It made me well up with tears! What a blessing it was that the person in front of me was taking long so that I could see this. It just made me realize that I need to slow down and smell the roses. They really do love each other, despite the fights they may have or the incessant teasing that goes on! It made me think of these sweet pictures of when they were a few years younger. I am so blessed to have my wonderful kids and today I was reminded of that.

Following in her sister's footsteps...

What is it with little girls and boots? Whatever it is, it is definitely in my girls' jeans!! The top picture is of Paige when she was 2, the bottom is of Emma at 3 and 1/2. I just thought the comparison was too cute!

First Day of Preschool

Here is Emma on her first day of preschool. She has wanted to go to school forever! When I would drop off Paige last year, she wanted to just keep on going in the door with her! She she is so excited that it is finally her turn to go to school. Miss Nancy is wonderful and she has told me that she never wants another teacher! I look forward to all that she will learn this year and love to hear about her day at school!

Emma and mom

Okay, so what do you do with only one kid at home? Whatever that kid wants!! Well, at least the first day. After that, you're on your own...just kidding! So, first Emma put together a 70-piece puzzle on her own. She is so good at puzzles! Then she wanted "Aurora" hair, so I did my best imitation. This child will sit to get curls put in her hair. She is not like Paige in this way. Paige would opt for a ponytail everyday! Then we painted. It was a day full of whatever Emma wanted. I think she didn't really know what to do with herself with both of the kids gone. She has since acclimated a little more and will play by herself and then come and find me when she's bored. My life would be so boring without her!

First Day of School

Wow, it is already the first day of school! Zachary is off to 2nd grade and Paige is starting kindergarten. After meeting her teacher, Paige felt a lot better about going to school every day. I think she is just a worry wart like her mother! Zachary is a great student who would do well in any classroom, but I have heard great things about his teacher. We really got good teachers this year, so we are so glad.

So, I felt a little bit bad that I had no tears for my first daughter going off to school. She has been ready for some time, and is almost 6, so it was time. She is the child who always needs activities to keep her busy and requires lots of projects! Anyway, after being home for a while I did get nostalgic that we will never have that time back and she will always be in school from this day forward! And it was so quiet!! Almost like the Twilight Zone. She is really happy in school and I definitely have enough to keep me busy, so all is well!

Our Summer

We had a very fun summer that started right off with swimming lessons for Emma. Of course, nobody else can be Judy, but I think she did ok. She probably needed two sessions, and she won't let me tell her anything, so who knows when she will actually be swimming like she should! We mostly just hung around and played with friends, but we did actually have a "staycation" at the Arizona Grande. It was really fun, but I think the kids liked dinner at Chick-fil-A just as much as the weekend! They were having some sort of customer appreciation and had a pony outside, face painting, games, bubbles, cotton candy, popcorn, a balloon maker and more! I think we stayed for an hour and a half! It was so much fun for them. The weekend was filled with the water park and food. What could be better! Well, pictures of the fun would have been nice, but I never took one. Oh well, maybe next time.

4th of July was fun also. We went to Cherie's for dinner and swimming and then came back to our house for Schnepf Farm's fireworks. J-Toys supplied the light-up toys and we were ready to go! We also had the three youngest Hilderbrand's over for a weekend of fun! Don't listen when Jen says her baby is a brat, because he was an angel at my house! And notice where Brooklyn and Kennedy ended up sleeping. Can this be comfortable? My kids loved having them and Brooklyn and I even had some time to teach her to crochet. It made me look forward to Paige getting a little older and being able to do some of those things with her.

We filled in the spaces with swimming almost every day. Mostly we just swam at my sister's community pool (because it is nicer than our's), but we also headed over to our new favorite public pool...Mesquite Groves. It was so much fun and only .50 for kids to get in. We went every week. But, alas, all good things must come to an end. And, boy was I ready! But we made a lot of good memories over the summer and I think our kids had a blast!