Fuzzy headed, yet romantic

I had a nice weekend trip to Nauvoo, Illinois to witness my brother being sealed for eternity to his wife. It was a beautiful experience and I'm glad that I could be there for it. I flew to Dallas, flew to St. Louis, drove 3 hrs to Nauvoo, and then did the reverse two days later! The trip was fun and although it snowed a lot the night I got there, it was melted enough to be safe to drive on by the time I left. Perfect! However, I had a bit of a cold before I went and I still have it along with a killer sinus headache. So although I am back with my family whom I missed so much, I'm not much fun for them at present. I am so fuzzy headed and exhausted. I guess travel really takes it out of me.


On the upside, I got to read the whole book "Pride & Prejudice" by Jane Austen on this trip. What a great book to read over Valentine's weekend! I had never read it before but my friend loaned it to me and it was FANTASTIC! I love the flowery writing and the very reserved love story. Imagine a handsome, rich man offering a proposal of marriage after just talking with you for a few weeks. What a lovely idea! It's too bad that today romance is so perverted and people are shacking up before even declaring love or any kind of commitment! Anyone who hasn't read it, I suggest it highly and I'm now looking forward to watching the 6 hr movie version of it starring Colin Firth. Woo hoo! :) My wonderful in-laws visited over the weekend and helped Ben take care of the girls and I am so appreciative! They all had a great time too.


We received wonderful news yesterday that my brother-in-law popped the question to his girlfriend over the weekend (it's about time! hee hee) and they'll be getting married in the Fall. Yay! Welcome to the family!!!

I hope to feel better and get back in the swing of things soon! I hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Shadows, Fashion, and Tantrums

Well, as you can tell from Miranda's choice of attire today, she was really hoping that Punxsutawney Phil would NOT see his shadow today. I am very sad to learn that he declared six more weeks of winter. But since he's just a big rodent, I don't think I'm going to take his predictions too seriously. I did not let Miranda out of the house in that outfit (it was 35 degrees outside), but she took a lot of cajoling to get her to put pants on. And then she wanted to wear the shorts on TOP of the pants. I said, "Sure!" It was a bit of a struggle, so she gave up thankfully. :)

Miranda has always been the little diva in our family in more ways than one. But the main way she's shown this is in her desire to pick her own clothes. She comes up with some very interesting outfits but most of them are quite fashionable. Jill has never been one to care what she's wearing. If I give her a choice, sure, she has a preference. But every morning I pick out some clothes and she puts them on and goes to school with nary a comment about the clothing I picked. I doubt that will last forever but I will enjoy it while it lasts. Natalie is following in Miranda's footsteps by shrieking if I pick the pink striped shirt, when she wanted the yellow one with flowers. Oh yay.

Today I got up and actually showered early! I was all ready to go deposit a check at the bank and get groceries at my least favorite place with the cheapest prices by 9 a.m.! I was going to get a lot done before my kids were hungry, tired, cranky, etc. Yeah, right. We had a pretty uneventful shopping trip except that the girls took turns getting in and out of the cart (the 2 seat kind that are a mile long and impossible to push and turn, etc.) and Natalie finally broke down when I wouldn't let her grab, peel, and eat a banana right there! It was my last item on my list and it all went very downhill after that. She kicked, she screamed, I strapped her in, I did the best I could to get checked out and OUT of the store as soon as possible. Nat proceeded to kick my chair and SHRIEK the whole way home. I tried all of my usual tricks and finally resorted to the "drown her out" method. I cranked up the radio and Miranda and I sang and danced in our seats all the way home, while trying to ignore Nat's shrieking. "Sweet dreams are made of these..." Ha. Hardly. I know she's TWO but good grief. This is going to be a long year...

Also, Nat is doing EXCELLENT with the potty training but now she won't sleep at night. At least not in her bed. I refuse to let her in our bed anymore. She's a big girl, she's not sick or anything, and we need our sleep!!! Which we don't get when kiddos are in the bed too. So she usually gets the option of her bed or our floor. I'm tired................ ZZZZZ.... This too shall pass, right?

You'll notice in this picture that her shirt says, "Sweetie." I specifically put it on this morning to remind myself that she really is a sweetie. Hidden deep inside that tantrum-throwing kid that I have to live with these days. *Sigh*