Junk Food Perfection

Last night Steven, Ellie, Luke, and I went to Huntsville to pick out tile for our new house. It turned into a longer visit at the tile store than we had anticipated, as most of our "house appointments" have. Luke fell once on some tile and now has his weekly knot on his forehead. Ellie spent most of the time on my cell phone talking to "Kelly". I'm not sure where she got Kelly, but she certainly comes up a lot in conversations. They did well for the most part, but definitely got restless at the end.

By the time we were finished, it was past dinner time. We are always excited to be in Huntsville for dinner, since we have MANY more choices than Scottsboro can offer. We debated between Chili's and Chick-fil-A, and Chick-fil-A won out because of price and time AND because we wanted to have a little after dinner treat at Krispy Kreme! Chick-fil-A was a hit and we headed off to Krispy Kreme or the "donut shop" as we explained to Ellie. The kids were very excited when we sat down to a piping hot box of a dozen pieces of sugary gold! And I mean hot! We even had to wait a little bit so they wouldn't burn the kids mouths. So, so, good!! Ellie LOVED them. She was so nervous about not having enough, she told us to stop going so fast. After her second one, we had to put a stop to it, even though she was ready for a third! Steven had 4, I had 3, Ellie had 2, and Luke had 1. Which left 2- one is promised to Ellie for an after school treat, and I have already enjoyed the last one after my lunch today.

I have to say one more thing about the Krispy Kreme donuts. It is a true fact that when Steven and I lived in Albuquerque, before we had kids, we could finish a dozen by ourselves!! Which came up last night as we were eating. And something about that made Steven decide he was going to run a half-marathon with all my sisters in the fall. I would attempt it as well, but I have to face reality, that training for a half-marathon with a 3 yr. old and a 1 yr. old, while building a house, just is not going to happen for me. Maybe when my kids are a little older. So, after a night of Chick-fil-A and Krispy Kreme, a half-marathon is in the works for one of us, at least :)

Ellie's Third Birthday

Okay, so my very first blog entry. We, being my entire family(aunts, grandmothers, grandaddy included) have survived my daughter, Ellie's third birthday weekend. Before I made my first post, I had wanted to make my blogspot really cute, and add more to my profile. But I'm now realizing by the time I do that, Ellie's birthday will be old news and we'll be on to something else that will require some blogging attention.

So, last Sun. night I started feeling badly(achy and feverish). It was not a fun night for me and I was just waiting for morning to come so I could get to the doctor and get started on the road to recovery. God is so good and I am so thankful to have a mom and husband who quickly came to the rescue and got Ellie and Luke all taken care of. So the doctor diagnosed me with strep throat, even though the culture came back negative. You know, when you have children, being sick is not really in the schedule, and for the most part they don't really care if you're sick or not. Although Ellie was did seem very concerned about me and everytime I called to check on the kids, she wanted to hear me say I was feeling better, so that is what I would tell her.

As I lay in bed Monday, drifting in and out of feverish sleep, I kept thinking about the upcoming birthday events. The birthday events were to include the following: 1) Lunch (and cupcakes) at Ellie's classroom on Thurs. provided by me 2) A visit from "Nana" (Steven's mom) 3) Dinner at our favorite BBQ restaurant that evening 4) A trip to Huntsville for the "makeover" (I will explain more about this in a minute) 5) And the big finale-a dinner at mom's on Fri. evening with the long-awaited presents and Cinderella cake

So, I made it through the week with what I guess has been (on top of the strep) one of the worst head colds ever. The lunch at Ellie's school went well. We got 16 3 yr. olds fed and I took off to start making the icing for the cake. Ellie came home and since it was her birthday, I let her have at it with the icing. Dinner went well and then with the help of my mom and Laura Beth, we tackled the cake. It gave step-by-step instructions (kind of). So we followed them and were a little concerned at first, because Cinderella's eyes were kind of bugging out and we thought she might end up being a scary Cinderella. But it all came together and I thought it was a very nice Cinderella, indeed. (I know this would be a great place to insert a picture-I will have to see if I can figure that one out)

I went to bed that evening around 12:30. And woke up all geared up for Libby Lou. Okay, about the "makeover". Libby Lou is a girl's makeover shop in the mall. My friend, Cheyenne, had taken her little girl and loved it and that is how I knew about it. So, one day about a week before, I went to check it out. It seemed a little old for Ellie. But the basic package was very basic and I didn't think much harm could be done. So, we (Nana, Steven, Ellie, and me) get there and we're taking her into the dressing room to change. Hang on, let me back up for a second-Ellie pretty much lives and breathes "dress up" these days. The second she gets up she asks if she can "get married" which means play dress up. Also, about the nails, she likes to keep them painted and if she glances down and notices one is messed up, she needs it fixed immediately. She is VERY much a girly girl! So...when I heard about this place, I thought PERFECT! Okay, back to the changing room-she starts to panic, saying she doesn't want to take her clothes off. Alright, I can understand that, she's in a new place taking her clothes off. So, seeing that it is quickly turning to panic, I am saying "okay, okay, do you want to get your nails painted?" She nods her head and we sit her on the stool. She picks out the color and even picks out some glitter to go with it. And then it hits her again-panic. She just wants me to hold her. So, I'm looking at Steven, like, now what? So, that's it. We nixed Libby Lou and walked around the mall a bit. Steven's mom, Diana, who is one of the most gracious people I have ever met, wanted to buy Ellie a few outfits, so that is what we did.

After some lunch at Red Robin, we were headed back to Scottsboro. About halfway through the ride, I knew something was not going so well with my stomach. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had Steven pull over and there I was, on the side of the highway, losing all my lunch. Once again, Ellie was very concerned, as I'm sure any 3 year old would be, to see their mom throwing up on the side of the road. But she did not like that she couldn't fully see me from the back and kept saying "Where's mom's head?" Because I did not want to spend anymore time there, I emptied out one of the bags with the new clothes in it, and just had Steven keep driving. In the back of my head, I was embarassed and sorry that everyone in the car was having to experience this. But when you are that sick, you don't really care. I later told Steven "I'm sorry you had to hear that". And he said, "Hear that? What about smell that?" I didn't realize it at the time, but he had stuffed tissue up both of his nostrils!

So I made it home, barely alive, and crawled into bed and slept it off. I woke up later that afternoon, weak, but feeling better. Dinner, presents, and cake were still on. Ellie loved the cake, loved the balloons, and loved her presents, and LOVED all the attention being on her. Finally, something went right. Fun was had by all!

So, I realize that was an extremely long blog entry, but it was quite an eventful weekend. I don't think they will all be that long. Stay tuned for, hopefully, some pictures, and a cuter blog page.