Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to the men and women who have and are serving our country by being in the military, both here at home and abroad. You are loved and honored!

***

Ellie started making some {slightly weird, yet} entertaining new sounds today... and I attempted to catch them on video. However, what was happening behind {and TO} the camera is just a little more entertaining since she wouldn't perform her new sounds on demand.

The Mystery of the Quickly Disappearing Stars

Every Mom knows about the stars.

You know, Gerber puffed stars? Little Ones love them. {And even some not-so-little-ones.} Ellie gobbles them up. I've been marveling at how quickly she's been going through them until I saw this:

Mystery solved.

Until Next Week...

We'll miss you Aunt BB....

see you {REAL} soon! And thanks for coming to visit us!



And may it never be said that I make you look bad....


your work speaks for itself! ♥

My Favorite Sights and Sounds

I loved these sights and sounds today:

The sights and sounds of a lazy morning, where every is still in their PJs when lunch rolls around because they have been too busy playing, changing diapers, eating breakfast, and giggling {and perhaps even snoring a little... ahem, Ben.}.


The whirring and stitching of my sewing machine {and serger!} as my sister whips up a darling skirt for herself.

The splashing of the water in the newly filled blow-up pool in the backyard.

The sound of the quick in-take of breath by Ellie when Noah tries to help "water" her.

Yes, I loved all the sights and sounds of today!

Sesame Street Live

I've been ever-so-patiently waiting to take Noah and Ellie to Sesame Street Live. I wanted to take them back in March when it was in Oklahoma City, but since Ben was just getting back from Red Flag, the timing wasn't so great. And when there was a show in Wichita Falls last fall, I felt Ellie was too small to take along. Neither Ben nor I had ever been. Neither had my middle sister, BB. {Jessie, the punk that she is, somehow has been twice... spoiled rotten? I think so.} So when some of our friends sent us an email to buy advance tickets for SSL here in Abilene, I jumped at the opportunity!

We got there a little early and Noah wasn't too sure what to think of it all.

Waiting patiently for the show to start!


Oh, and Ellie's Abby Cadabby dress? Didn't get it finished in time. I gave up yesterday and had to search the mall for the ONE Sesame Street shirt that they had in her size.

Noah sat in someones lap the entire time. And was completely and totally mesmerized by the entire show. I loved the show, but I loved watching his reactions to the show even more.

Ellie, on the other hand, fell asleep during it... which was to be expected since it was smack-dab in the middle of her usual morning nap time.

Oh, and just a warning to all my Mommy friends who might be taking their kids to see SSL soon... the Elmo balloons that they bring in during intermission {and make every parent in the auditorium feel bad when their kid starts getting excited and reaching for one}? $10! Ten dollars for a balloon!! Luckily, Noah just reached and didn't whine {even when the guy walked right up by us}... and he didn't get a balloon. Bad Mommy and Daddy? Nope... that's $10 that can instead go into his college fund! ;)

Noah and Ben clapped and clapped at the end.

Noah kept saying, "Bye, Eh-mo! Bye, room! Bye, song! Bye Abby!"

The whole family in our Sesame Street shirts. {Ben's is my fave - "M is for moustache."}

Thanks for coming with us Aunt BB! Hope you enjoyed your first Sesame Street Live as much as we did!

Aunt BB!

Aunt BB came to town today and Noah was especially excited about this. Since BB has arrived, he wants to do everything she is doing:

"BB read. BB book."

I've no doubt that Aunt BB is eating the attention up.

Before we went to eat dinner, we stopped in Hot Topic at the mall. One of our Life Group friends, Josh, and his band were playing there. The Penny Jar was chosen as this year's Local Static Artist for the Abilene area and as a result, put on a show at the store. My personal favorite song? Hallelujah, Tear Me Apart.

Ellie was a little tired and therefore was not a big fan of anything: people, music, or being awake. She and BB spend a good portion of the show listening and watching from just outside the store.

Josh, you rocked it out!

Sometimes

Sometimes Ellie gets to play with the ball too.

But only when Noah is otherwise distracted or asleep.

Smiles, A Winner, and Project 30

As I was taking this picture of Ellie, I guess I was saying, "Say cheese! Smile for Mommy!",


because the little boy in the highchair next to me kept saying,

"Cheeze... smmm-mile Dock."


"Tam-rah milk. Cheeeeeze."

"Kick-in, smm-mile! Tam-rah nugget!"

But would Noah smile? Nope. But his milk did. And so did Doc and all three of his chicken nuggets.

***


Congrats are in order for BB, the other winner of the portable paper trimmer! Thanks for donating!! See you Wednesday, Little Seester and I'll give it to you then. It's still not to late to donate to LLS - tomorrow is the last official day of Ben's fundraising campaign before the marathon next weekend!

***

Look what the Mailman brought me today! My first Project 30 blanket for Project Linus! Thank you, thank you Michelley! It looks fabulous and I just know that it's going to bring some peace and comfort to a family who will receive it in the very near future.

I've had several of you ask when the blankets need to be sent in by and I've gone back and edited that in the Project 30 post, but will also mention here that since the chapter application won't be accepted until August, there is no rush. My goal is to have 30 blankets ready to go by October 1, so that if we are able to open a chapter here, we'll already have some blankets to donate. And, if it falls through and we're not able to open a chapter, please note that all the blankets with be donated to the OKC chapter.

P.S. Michelley: Jordan, Joey, Jonathon, Danny and Donnie. Oh yeah, baby! ;) Definitely turning 30!!

Get Lost, LOST

Ben and I have watched LOST from the beginning. It was actually one of the first {if not, THE first} shows that we started watching as a married couple. I remember that we watched the first episode over at Mom and Daddy-Man's because when we lived in Oklahoma, we didn't have cable {we were working that debt snowball!} and ABC was just a little fuzzy. Truthfully, if it hadn't been for my insisting that we continue, we probably would have stopped watching around season three. We wanted answers and simply weren't getting them. And we had hoped that we would get them tonight. Part of me feels like all we got were more questions. But at least I finally got to hear him say, "I love you."

And, amazingly enough, this is the only photo that I took from our Get Lost, LOST Luau tonight... and this was after all our company left and I realized that I hadn't taken a single one so I snapped a quick one of the "Dharma Cola" and went to bed.

Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, and the rest of the crew... it's been a good run. We'll miss you, but we won't miss going to bed with our brains swirling with more questions.

2nd Annual Life Group Garage Sale

Last year, we had a two-day garage sale with our Life Group, here at our house. It was stressful. Not because of the people {Life Group, I love you!}, but because of the organizing, the setting up, and the taking down that is involved. This year was no different. Oh, and are you wondering why there is no post for yesterday, even though Ben took the day off from work and there should have been some really cute photos taken of him and the kids? That's because I spent the ENTIRE DAY {until nearly 11PM} pricing and labeling items. Noah loved it because it meant he got to watch a ton of TV when he wasn't wrestling with Daddy.

We decided that since the neighborhood was having the 15th Annual Twin Oaks Addition Garage Sale today, that we would only put it on today as well. I'm still undecided as to whether or not that was the best choice, but I know we I wouldn't have been ready yesterday. Despite our best efforts of making sure everything that was for sale was labeled, we still got lots of offers for our wagon {"umm... no. Not for sale!"} and for our fun little McDonald's style table {"Nope. Not for sale either."}.

All of our profits went to support Ben's fundraising campaign for LLS. Wednesday is the last day that you can donate - don't forget about the raffle! Ben heard several stories from customers about family members who had battled some of the blood cancers that he's raising money to help fund research for.

Ben and I brought in just over $220 to put towards the fundraising campaign. All the items that didn't sell were donated to a friend of Josh and Erin's who is raising money for an upcoming mission trip. And my house feels a bit lighter now too. All in all, it was a great garage sale!

{P.S. Erin, I told you it was going on the blog.... never doubt, my dear.}

Classroom Library {Being Put to Good Use}

After we moved into this house, I sorted through my classroom library and we Ben put a good majority of it in the attic until Noah could use/read them. I have a ton of books. Last night, as we were sorting through things in the attic to sell in the garage sale this weekend, I Ben brought down one {of two boxes} of the lowest level readers for Noah. He found the box this morning in the kitchen and wouldn't wait for me to move it into the living room after breakfast to start reading them.

I sure do love my little book worm.

1000, LLS, and a Giveaway {Of Sorts}

This is my 1,000th post {in 946 days}!

In honor of the 1,000 post and since this is the last week for fundraising for Ben's Team in Training campaign, we're doing another giveaway... of sorts! {Think "Raffle".}


Here's how to enter:

Donate to Ben's LLS Team in Training Campaign.

There's two one ways to win:

1. Be the first person to donate $20 {or more}.

Congrats Jessie and thank you!

{or}

2. For each increment of $5, you'll be entered in the random drawing/raffle {for example, a $10 donation = 2 entries}. Want to double your chances? A $25 donation = TEN drawing entries!

And, of course, what could you win {besides a good tax deduction}?

One of these Fiskars 12inch Portable Paper Trimmers!

Giveaway/raffle will be closed at 9PM CST Monday, May 24nd. Good luck to all who enter and yes, we will ship overseas!

***

Ben had his last LLS/Chick-fil-a night tonight.

And a special thanks to the Steeles who also came to support LLS by eating some {yummy} chicken... and let us see their adorable children!

Go with the Flow

Originally, today's cookies were going to be a homemade sugar cookie. But this morning, when we were at Walmart, picking up some milk and other groceries, we walked past the little aisle freezer.

All of the sudden, Noah was saying screaming, "Mommy! Bunny! Kee-kees! FAG! UUh-ven! MAAAA-KE!"

I couldn't help but laugh... and buy the package of premade, precut cookie dough.

Lucky for both of us, Ellie was still asleep when he woke up from his nap. As I turned on his light in his room, I let him know we were going to make cookies and I've never seen the kid bolt so fast out of his room and run for the kitchen. He was ready. And he knew what he needed to get to make his kee-kees:

part of the garlic press and the strainer.
Go figure.

He was so proud of his "fag kee-kees".

One and a Half

We came back from Dallas with no Oompa Loompas, but one and a half....

teeth! Finally.

{Pardon the weird coloring... it was the best way I could lighten up the photo so you could see her new teeth.}

Tired, but Happy

This is just about how we all felt this morning:

Tired, but happy.

Or rather, EXTREMELY happy... especially when Daddy and Nick come back from a quick trip to the grocery story with McDonald's for the pickiest of us.

And, because I know that some of our readers are curious....

I'm fairly certain that Nick and Lendy don't read the blog, but I guess if they do, this is a very good hint for where to find the {third} Oompa Loompa.