Red Ribbon Week

It's Red Ribbon Week, and Joseph's school is having them wear silly stuff each day. Yesterday, he wore his shirt backwards. Today was crazy sock day. I pulled out my Halloween socks, but he didn't want to pick just one pair, so he came up with the idea to where one of each. It was early, so the 

light was poor, but I got a picture before we had to run out to the bus.

Annabelle is 4!

Annabelle's birthday was this Wednesday. She had a pretty fun and special day. She received generous amounts of money from some family members, which we were able to use to get her presents and things. She started out the day nice and early, opening her the presents we'd gotten her before Joseph got on the bus. She got the Little People Disney Princess Klip Klop Stable and Klip Klop Ariel.

She and Charlie played with the Little People set for a long time. We finally got them dressed and ready, and we headed out for the day. We went to Walmart where she bought an Elsa dress, which she'd been wanting for quite a while. Then we drove up to the mall. We browsed the Disney Store for a long time before she settled on Elsa and Anna dolls. We found her an Olaf at this awesome store called 2nd and Charles, it's like FYE on crack. We went to McDonald's for lunch, her pick, and Amber came to meet us there. She and Charlie spent a long time playing on the playground, and she got a nice cream to finish off her Happy Meal. We finally went home and she got to watch Frozen with her new dolls.

Soon, we got 3 boxes in the mail, 2 of which were for her! She opened her box from Grammy Ellis while Grammy was on FaceTime. She got lots of beautiful clothes and a pair of pretty Sunday shoes that she says are Elsa shoes. She put the polka-dotted pajamas on and wore them for over 24 hours.

After Joseph was home, we opened the other box from Grandpa and Grandma Brugger. She got Elsa slippers, two more Klip Klop Princesses, and lots of Color Wonder drawing stuff. She also got a much needed pack of panties. She spent almost the rest of the evening coloring with her new stuff. I was so tired from all the activity, plus I caught a respiratory virus, so I went to lay down. Her neighbor friend, Janina, came to play, and they colored, watched Frozen twice more, and just had too much fun while I was resting. Her dinner request was pizza, so we got a Papa John's pizza and breadsticks.she barely ate half her dinner before passing out in bed with her new dolls.

Annabelle's 4th Birthday Party

We had Annabelle's birthday party on Saturday. Mitchell had to work, so he wasn't able to be there, but we had a few guests there. Annabelle's friend, Alaina, the neighbor girl, Janina, Grandpa Ellis, Grandma Sally, and Aunt Cami were all at the party. Sadly, I was so busy wrangling kids that I didn't get very many pictures.

This is her opening her present from Grandpa, Sally, and Cami. It was the DVD of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

This is the dessert table. I made candied apples with white chocolate dyed green to look like the poison apple from the movie. There were miniature berry and cherry pies. And the apple cake. I wish I'd had the chance to get a better picture of the cake because it was really cute.

This was the food table. We had chicken and dumplings, which was Annabelle's request, as well as an apple-walnut salad with a red wine vinaigrette, mini baguettes, and fruit.

This was the drink table, with water, apple Izze, and apple juice for the kids.

Annabelle, Janina, and Charlie loved watching Snow White. You can see Annabelle's huge smile because she enjoyed the movie so much.

I'm glad everything went pretty well. I was a little too ambitious (again...) and had planned to do way more stuff, but I ran out of time. It was fun for Annabelle, though. and that's what was most important.

 

Family Night

For FHE, we talked about how Heavenly Father is the King of everything and, since we are His children, we are princes and princesses. And when our spirits "grow up," we can be like him. So then we decorated crowns that said "I am a Child of GOD."

People in my family like to make cool faces...

Job Interview #2

I had another job interview today; it was at a PetSmart for a Bather position in the grooming salon. I was pretty excited about this interview, just because I love animals and I've missed having them in my life. I got myself all pretty and put on my "interview" pants, which are really just the only pair of slacks that I own. 

I really don't know how well the interview went. I felt very calm and confident in myself, but I really don't know if I am what they want. I was very honest and open from the beginning; when he asked me to tell him about myself, the first thing I said was "I'm a mother of three children." The interviewer seemed disappointed that I have zero retail experience. He kept asking me different "scenario" questions that I was supposed to answer with what I've done in the past, but most of them I've never really dealt with in a work environment. I didn't say that, though! I would just answer with what I would try to do, or even expect others to do in that situation. He asked me if I'd ever multiple-tasked before and I responded by (not sarcastically) saying that I do every day because I have three kids. I'm pretty sure this guy doesn't have any experience with kids. When he asked me about working with animals, and brought up crickets, I let him know that I'm terrified of them, almost at a phobia level, but said that I'd work past it if I was required to. I really don't think that I could have done any better at the interview, it's just really in their hands now.

A Mostly Good Day

It's so late! So I'm going to do a pretty short post tonight. 

The Downside:

I was feeling sick today, but it's the kind that's a limbo between mostly healthy and really sick. It just made me even more tired, sometimes I would get dizzy, and my throat is still sore and scratchy.

The Fun:

The kids went to bed without a fuss, so Mitchell and I were able to watch Secondhand Lions, which I had  never seen before. I really enjoyed the movie, and it was a nice boost.

The Work: 

With the help of the kids, I got the living room, dining room, and front hall straightened and vacuumed. They didn't stay completely clean, but they aren't too messy either.

A Silly Story:

I think Annabelle may be getting sick as well because she has been extra moody the past couple days. This story is evidence:

In order to get the kids to help me clean, I turned it into a game. The kids had eaten graham crackers in the room and there were crumbs everywhere, so I told them the crumbs were Kryptonite. And they would turn the whole room into Kryptonite if we didn't clean them up before the timer went off. So we got busy cleaning. When we were nearly to the point of vacuuming, Annabelle walked in with graham crackers in her hand and sat down to eat them. In my mock distressed voice I said, "Oh, no! Annabelle that's Kryptonite!" And then she burst into tears and just started sobbing. I apologized for upsetting her and had her go to the kitchen with her graham crackers, where she continued to making blubbering sounds for about 10-15 minutes. Eventually she joined back in the game as if nothing had ever happened.

                                  

This was Joseph's favorite picture of the day because it was him as Superman when we were cleaning.