...sara's creative storage...

sara had her tonsillectomy follow up at the ENT office on Monday of this week. her throat looked great, and so did her ears.  i thought all was well until he seemed concerned about "a few crusties" in her right nostril.  he had her blow her nose as hard as she could, but the crusties were still there.  he reaches for his dr. sized tweezers and pulls out a large mysterious object from her nose.  what was it?  a candy wrapper she had shoved in the back of her nostril. what?!?!? NICE. what i would have given if i had thought to take a picture...

... tea snob...

one day a few weeks back i went coffeehouse hopping in atlanta with several girlfriends.  we went to this cool little place called Java Monkey (my favorite i think) and i ordered tea. 

well, this is what they served it in

a small pot called "ingenuitea". 

call me clueless, but i had never seen a pot quite like it.  they put steaming hot water in this pot along with the loose tea of my choice.  it steeps for a few minutes and then you set the pot on top of a mug and it drains out the bottom into the mug.  no pouring or anything!

since i used this contraption, i've been dying to get one. i hope to NEVER go back to tea bags again. nope, loose tea is the only way. (never mind that i just had hot tea from a tea bag last week).

anyway, i found one on amazon. and it's only 14.95! they also sell a glass mug that partners with it for 10 bucks.  i think i'm ordering one tonight... or maybe later this week...

do any of you drink tea? and if so, do you have an ingenuitea contraption? give me the skinny friends!

...end of an era...

kindergarten is over for anna katherine. she is now officially a first grader and she is super happy about this.
i had previously posted some pictures of sara's pre-k graduation last month, so i must do the same for my eldest.

the first few pictures are from kindergarten graduation. here is AK before the ceremony with some girlfriends from her class.



here she is receiving her diploma (in her "high heels" no less)...



and here is a picture of their performance of "first grade, first grade" sung to the tune of "new york, new york". super cute!



she went back for two days of school, and i just had to post a picture of her with her teacher and ryan, a little sweetie pie in her class who brought her a red carnation a few weeks back (he has a bit of a crush on my girl) :)



here is one with emma from her class, who lives down the street and whose parents have become good friends of ours...



and last but not least the girls at baskin robbins after school was out june 5th...

... two less body parts...

sara had her tonsils and adenoids removed this morning at the hospital.  her tonsils were huge, and i actually even told the doctor that i wished he would have saved them for us to look at.. he informed us that tonsils shrink by 50% once removed, so they wouldn't have looked nearly as impressive post-op.  (no charge for that small tidbit of valuable information, internets!)

when she got out of surgery she was quite distraught and was crying for close to 30 minutes afterwards.  she wanted her i.v. OUT.  they gave her more liquid lortab, and between that and Dora she settled down fairly quickly.  we stuck around the hospital for a few hours, and then we were released to go home.  on the trip home, she got nauseated and threw up and also teetee'd in the car seat. nice.  i felt terrible for her.

the afternoon consisted of couch time and one movie after another. she ate popsicle after popsicle. the later it got, the more whiny she became. now she's in bed sleeping nicely. 

pray for an easy and quick recovery for my baby if you think of it!

...movin' on up...

it's official! my baby is a GRADUATE! 

farewell pre-k it's time for the real world!

be gentle, o elementary schoolers, with my angel~

(sara with her bff's)

...dr. blackthumb...

this first picture is a perfect representation of what i do when i get a hold of plants. 

sweet little sara brought home a seedling to grow from school, and a week later it's dead. not enough water, too much water- i just can't seem to figure it out. 

i had been hiding this on the counter at a spot out of her eyesight... praying that it would decide to fight the good fight and come back to life. no such luck. finally sara noticed it and was not happy. "MAW-MA!"  and tears. sorry, peanut, i'm a wanna be gardener who kills plants.

now here are two pictures of my latest attempts at gardening. and you can be extra proud, because i actually planted these flowers in the pots. TWO of the barrel arrangements, and one hydrangea. of course i had to ask the gardening sales person every detail about how to do it, but none the less i did it. yep, i could have bought the "ready made" pots with flowers already arranged, but nope! i did it myself. (grinning ear to ear)

if these live all season, then REDEMPTION. i'll let you know...

...wilson, watch your back!...

little black neighbor dog wilson, how i hate thee. bite my kid again and it's all over.

OH. MY. WORD.

the private practice season finale was a nail biter! the last few minutes were killer, and i had a hard time relaxing to go to sleep.

thoughts about the episode:

Addison- get some discipline. and some morals for that matter.

Violet- loved that she picked Pete

Sam- finally the confession of love to Naomi

Naomi- chicken

Cooper- he's gonna HATE that he left violet's house before going in

Charlotte- grow a heart and look for another job

Crazy Psycho patient- there are no words

do we REALLY have to wait til next season to find out what happens with violet and the baby? argh!

anyone else watch this show? thoughts?

...sara's 5th birthday...

yep, my baby turned FIVE earlier this month. i told her she wasn't allowed to get any older because i was convinced she would stop snuggling with me, and that would make me sad. she's agreed to continue snuggling with me, and every day since she turned 5  i'm making her pay up on her promise. i'm still sad that she's growing up, but i guess if she keeps snuggling i can deal...

i've been feeling really bad about not blogging something for her birthday, so even though i'm two weeks late, i'm posting some pictures. here goes the highlights:

on her actual birthday, my mom came over and we all went to a hibachi lunch.  the girls loved it, and we even went  again the same week with friends. the place up the street has a hibachi lunch for 5 BUCKS. (hibachi +5 bucks = fabulousness!) they gave us fried chocolate ice cream and that was a first for all of us. here's the pic of us digging in...

We had some dear friends from Orlando drive in that day for the week, so we celebrated later with a cookie cake and presents.  (notice the high school musical wrapping paper- she liked that better than the gifts!)

The next morning we piled in the minivans (still gasping 2 years later) and headed to the American Girl store for a birthday brunch with the babies.  They each brought a doll and had a ball!  It's a perfect place to take girls for a celebration- anna katherine is already planning her party there and it's not until december!

After a celebratory few days, the birthday parties were done and life went on.  and like i said earlier, as long as i can get some snuggling, i think i can deal with my baby growing up on me. so far so good.

...a conversation with anna katherine...

we were driving down the road earlier this week, anna katherine and i.  it never fails- she always wants to listen to You'll Come by Hillsong. so we blare it out and sing at the top of our lungs. like 10 times each day.

i've burned a really good worship mix, and after You'll Come is Worthy is the Lamb by Brian Johnson.  we started singing the second song, and i paused the song to make sure she understood what the song was about.  i sang each line accapella, and would then explain the meaning.

here is the conversation that followed:

anna katherine: "mom, do you wish you could be on american idol?"

me:  " i don't know-- do you think i should be?"

anna katherine:  "well,  i wish i could be on american idol."

me:  "maybe you can be."

anna katherine (all the sudden weeping):  "i really want to go to hollywood- what if they say no and i can't go to hollywood??" (boohooing)

(side note: we don't even watch american idol, and she's in bed by 8pm anyway. and now she's worrying that she won't make the cut and get to go to hollywood.)

conversation continues:

me:  "do you know where hollywood is?"

anna katherine:  "somewhere near new york city."

me:  "it's in california"

anna katherine: "oh yeah! i was about to say that."