Sometimes I feel bad for sending my d's to public school. I miss 6 hours of their lives five days a week, 9 months out of the year. So far, public school has not been a negative experience for my children. They are educated and have lots of friends. Along with education, they have the greatest little stories to share with me. Every day that I drop them off, I tell them to do something to make me proud. And when I pick them up, I ask them what they did. Sometimes it's something as simple as choosing white milk over chocolate milk, but there always super excited about telling me what they did. Every day, I miss them...but am sooo excited to see them when they come home. And days like today, It is definitely a justified decision.

This is big d's best friend "C"


This is middle d's best friend "D"...sticking to his own letter :)


And this is "B". I decided today that middle d will marry her when they grow up. She is cute, sweet, pretty, adorable, precious,...you name it, she is it.


Today I am all for public primary and elementary school. But, when my d's reach middle and high school, my decision may change. Right now, I'm just enjoying them, enjoying themselves while learning.

Oh, the preparations!

Tonight we started the preparations for our valentines celebration at church on Sunday. Amy, my wonderful sister in Christ, and I came up with the "brilliant" idea of making valentine boxes or bags for all of our youth groupers so that the other members of the church could participate in a valentine exchange.



This box making project was scheduled for last Monday...stupid snow and ice!


Anyway, we did it tonight. In the beginning, It was more than hectic. But it turned out great. My "sisters" Amy, Cindy, Miranda, and Barbara were lots and lots of help.


Even though this lil' adventure was a bit chaotic, I'm glad we did it. I'm so very thankful for "sisters" like them. They can make anything fun...or at least amusing.

what plans????

Today, I had plans. I had plans to rise and shine early, get all 3d's ready, drop the two oldest off at school, drop my Steven off at the church building, take little d to the doctor, call astra zeneca and argue my "prescription savings plan" with them, go valentine shopping at wal-mart while waiting to pick up a prescription, pick up Steven from the office and have a nice lunch out with him, pick up my d's a little early, take them home and fill out valentines for their class mates, bathe and feed everyone, load them back up, take them to the devotional, make valentines for the elderly and shut ins, make valentine boxes with the youth, come back home, shush the kiddos off to bed, and spend the rest of the "quiet" evening with my super sweet hubby...

Nature had different plans. I thought it odd this morning when I walked outside to crank the car and it looked like it had snowed, and then rained on top of it. It was even more strange when I was driving on the highway and cars were passing me with like two inches of snow piled on their roofs. It was pouring rain. I must've missed something somewhere along the way. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention to anything else around me and I was just focusing on my "plan" By the time I dropped Steven off at the building, it was snowing big huge flakes!!! Odd, when I left it was raining and 10 minutes later it was snowing!?!? Anyway, when I got home I called the doctors office, discussed little d's problems with the receptionist, she scheduled me an appointment at 1:45 but also warned me that the office would close early if school closed early. She put me on hold, and came back 10 seconds later to tell me that school was going to be released at 10:30! Do the math...no appointment today. She suggested that I take little d to the E.R., that is soooo not my favorite place to be. I decided to wait until tomorrow and schedule an appointment with the doctor instead. Not that E.R.s are bad or anything, I just don't want to traumatize my daughter at such a young age. She needs personal, one on one, care.
I picked up my d's and went to walmart anyway. We decided to write out valentines AND make candy bags. We used team work and got it done in an astonishing 4 (yes 4) hours. Little d, only made it through about 1 of those hours. She decided she would take her motrined/cough syrup up'ed self and watch some good ole' "We buzh Yightyeah"...


We worked on the valentines for a little while longer, and had some great conversation. I enjoyed them sooo much. These unexpected, unplanned snow days sometimes take me by surprise...sometimes a not so pleasant surprise. But today was a day that I embraced my privilege of being a 3d mommy and gave it all I had...


with a HUGE success!!! I love them! Love, love, love them!!!


By the way, check out middle d's super sweet handwriting. Love it!!!

Nerds

Tonight, while the rest of the world was busy watching the super bowl. My hubby and I were busy "hosting" our favorite friends, Randy and Cindy and there super sweet daughter, (d)eanna, and her sweet boyfriend thing Ronnie. I've always considered the fact that we might be nerds, but tonight was definitely a major eye opener for me. We excitedly, voluntarily, enthusiastically, played Scrabble! Actually the four of us girls played scrabble, and I think the boys played...poker. Anyway, I had a blast! Rachel, is the greatest word-maker-upper in the world!!! And "company d" gave me a run for my money. We were neck and nect the entire game. She beat me by 8 points though...sad. I could ramble on and on about this super fun night, but I would just be proving my title more and more...I'm a nerd :P

Here's a pic for you. It's totally unrelated to my nerd fest I had tonight, but it sure is cute.

Valentines Date

Today, my hubby and I got to go on an all day Valentines date!!! Our wonderful sister in christ, Cindy, came to our house and watched all three d's so that we could share this day together. Aren't people like her wonderful? She was willing to spend nine straight hours with our d's. She was also willing to watch them knowing that one of my precious d's were...er?hmm...a bit...sickish.

Steven and I rarely get the chance to date each other anymore. Life with our 3d's can be very demanding. With Valentines day falling on a Sunday this year and with Steven being a preacher, I planned ahead (yay for me!!! this never happens).

We were so excited about this date. We decided to go shopping for our selves, see a movie, and eat somewhere without a drive-thru. You know, make it a romantic, selfish, and kid free kind of day.

Do you know what we did? The first place we went was Target (my favorite). Do you know what we purchased at Target? Valentines day stuff for the kiddos. After Target we went to the Mall. Do you know where we went in the mall? To the Childrens place of course. We had to look for Easter dresses for the girly d's. And then we went to Hobby Lobby. What for? More Valentines day stuff for the kids. Do you know what movie we saw? We didnt! With the exception of the Princess and the Frog, we don't have a clue what any of them are about. Oh, I left out the part where we went to books-a-million and searched for comic books that might be on a middle d level. We did manage to make it to Red Lobster though. Steven ordered crab legs, and that made me miss Big D. She and Steven always share them and joke about eating "someones hands". The whole way home we talked about our d's and how there just growing up right before our eyes, and how sad we were because of it. We were so excited to get home to our "babies" and hold them. That was my favorite part of the day, all of the "mommieeeeeeees" I got when I got home.

Thank you Cindy. You provided us with a much needed day to be selfish and kid-free!...kind of ;)

Random Dominick stuff

Dom: "Mommy, when does numbers end?"
Me: "They don't"
Dom: "what comes after a million?"
Me: "a million and one of course"
Dom: "Ooohhh! I thought it just ended."

...

about a minute later...

Dom: "Why do people die?"
Me: "So they can go to heaven."
Dom: "That's the only way you get there?"
Me: "Yup"
Dom: "When I die and go to heaven, I'm gonna be a fighter!"
Me: "What do you mean Dominick?"
Dom: "You know, in the lords army, like the song."
Me: "ooohhkay"
Dom: "Mommy, what if I die in heaven fighting in the lords army?"
Me: "You're not gonna die in heaven Dominick, you'll live forever."
Dom: "Cool! I'm just gonna fight and be fighting for the lord forever."


*Sigh* That little boy. What am I gonna do with him...

Mephibosheth...not really

Did ya see my title?!? How would you like to have a name like that?!? That's who we learned about in our youth bible devotional tonight. It was funny to hear little kiddos trying their best to pronounce this baby right. I forgot my camera, and Rachel forgot hers too. I planned to blog about this and post pictures because I think it's just a great thing that were doing for the little guys. But, oh well. Maybe next week I'll remember the camera. I would blog about it now...but my short term memory is kind of...well...short. Pictures help me tell my story. No pictures = no "story"...sad, I know.



On the other hand, the little D side of the other hand. We took a trip to Wal-mart today to pick up supplies for next weeks devotional. It is going to be about "love" of course. We will be making valentines for the elderly and the shut-ins. I love buying artsy supplies!!! It just makes my day. Anyway, the first thing little d spotted was...can you guess???



If you said Woody and Buzz valentines, you guessed it! They were sure to put them down on the bottom row, right where she could reach em'. This, by the way is how I get her to pose for pictures. She shows me the "most awesome" thing, and I "take a picture of it". Does anyone else have a camera shy tot? or is it just me? Check out her attire as well. A sweet student gave her this for Christmas last year. It has become my all time favorite. Were hoping that if she is a "blond" that we can at least get her some scholarships for being a "life long fan" slash mascot slash cutest lil' Harding cheerleader EVER!!!!



Hehehe...tomorrow I'm going "Quilting" with the ladies from the church. Wanna guess what were doing? I'll tell you tomorrow...if I remember my camera ;)