Recent Randoms

Currently in the process of making chocolate lollipops as some of the favors for the kids coming to Brooke and Caleb's birthday party on Saturday. Found these princess molds a long time ago on clearance and I'm so glad I snatched them up because they made the cutest suckers! There is a princess, carriage, and castle in the set. I looked all over for some cute boy ones but all I could find were sports balls and stars, so I got the stars.

Excited that I finally bought the latest Nic Sparks novel to read! I found it on Ebay for a great price. Now I am just waiting for it to ship out to my house.. it will take awhile because I bought it from someone up North. I read all his books so I look forward to this one, too.

Have a sweet story to share-- Last night Brooke and I were at the store buying a few things we needed. The cashier was making small talk with the cashier and told her that her birthday party was this Saturday, and she was telling her how excited she was. There was a man standing behind us in line. He was a local fireman in our town. Brooke and I paid and left. We were pulling out of the parking lot when the man ran up to the van and motioned at me, so I rolled down my window. He asked where the little girl was, and I pointed back at Brooke. He tossed a bag of M&M's he had just bought back there at her and said "Happy Birthday!!" I was really caught off guard and all I could say was "WOW, that is really sweet! Thank you!!" And he smiled and ran back to his car. That was truly a "Random Act of Kindness." I used that opportunity to teach Brooke about always being kind to people and sometimes the smallest things can make people's day in a big way. She loved that, she even mentioned the "nice man" in her prayers that night and called up her Grandma to tell her about it. You could really tell it made an impact on her. I hope my kids grow up to be just as kind! :)

The other day I rented the latest "Just Dance" game from the Redbox down the street. Wanted to see what the songs were, since it was a "Greatest Hits" game. They had some pretty fun songs on there, and the kids and I danced around for the afternoon. We always love to play dance games when we get together with friends, or when we are bored.

The girls can't wait until it rains again, so they can go outside and splash in the puddles wearing their new rainboots! Aren't they cute? Courtesy of Grandma. Sometimes Grandparents can be such suckers for the kids. They just casually mentioned they liked the rainboots and she got them for them. thought that was sweet. Brooke picked polka dots and hearts and Rachel got Barbie. Caleb got some too but they weren't in the pic. He wanted Spiderman but they weren't in his size, so he got "Fireman" boots.

Goody bags and boxes are sitting in my room, waiting for the party on Sat! They are filled with an assortment of candy we bought at the store. I let the kids help me put them together but that was a big mistake because Rachel cried the entire time, because I wouldn't let her eat any of the candy! Loved the bags, especially the little flower "purses." Found them at Hobby Lobby. 

Brooke had her first cheerleading practice last night! I thought the first night was just an orientation/meeting type thing, so I didn't make her wear shorts. So she looked kind of silly in her capris when all the other girls were wearing "athletic" type shorts. But it was ok since it was the first time! They split all the girls up into groups, and Brooke was in the Kindergarten/1st Grade group, and they all looked SO little compared to the older girls! Although Brooke WAS the tallest girl of the group! ;) They didn't have a coach this year for the little girls, so a few moms volunteered. They were with the group last year, so they know what they are doing. We watched the girls do some cheers and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen! Brooke did pretty well.. but occasionally she would space out and not be paying attention. And she always looked mad! I kept pointing at my mouth reminding her to smile! She had a great time though, and she can't wait to go back. We found out that the practices this Fall will be every Mon. and Thurs evenings. I can't wait for the first game when we can all go watch her!

My sister-in-law is neighbors with a local Fire Chief and once a year or so he brings a firetruck out to her house for all the kids to see (She does an in-home daycare and also has a daughter) So they came out yesterday and Jenn invited the kids over to see also. The kids loved looking around the firetruck and getting to climb up inside it. Caleb was asking the guy a million questions, it was funny. He has always been so curious. The guys brought all the kids firehats to wear and pencils to take home. They gave them all turns shooting water out of the water hose! They really loved that part. I'm surprised that no one ended up soaked :)



Rented the movie "Friends with Kids" last night to watch. Arnold really couldn't get into it at all and ended up going to bed early. But I stayed up and watched it. I agree that the beginning was slow, but it got a little better. Parts were pretty funny because it was just like real-life with kids. But some of the parts were downright depressing. The main couple they were following were pretty predictable and I saw the end coming. The movie seemed to come to an abrupt end though, and I didn't like that. Not one I would watch again, but not that horrible either.

Today my mom went with the kids and I on a little shopping trip to pick out some things Brooke needed for cheerleading. Mom paid for Brooke's registration fee and other things she needs, as part of her birthday present. Thought that was awesome! So we found the before-mentioned shorts that Brooke was SUPPOSED to be wearing last night.. a pink pair and a black/purple pair. And then we were supposed to get a pair of PLAIN white shoes for the football games, so all the girls would match. So we got all the stuff, and it was a pretty successful trip, since Mom was there to help me wrangle three crazy kids!