Curlers

I've been looking for some foam curlers for Faith, and finally found some. Her hair does have quite a bit of curl, but it seems to be straightening out as she gets older. That makes me sad.She's so stinking cute with them in that I think I should just leave them that way.

Mother's Day

Let's just say I hope these get better as the years go by.

I'm not complaining, really. But when Michael refuses to go up to sing to his mom (me), it sort of makes me feel bad.

Then Jeff got really angry and after church, Michael tearfully apologized and told me about 15 times that he loved me. That was sweet.

I did love the vases the kids made at the Lowe's Build and Grow clinic.Faith wrote her name all by herself. Love it. And Michael made me a card at school that says he loves me because I am helpful. And he loves it when I help him. I just wish he realized that making him taste peanut butter sandwiches really is a way of helping him.

On another note, Jeff had asked me earlier in the week what I wanted for breakfast on Mother's Day. I sort of flippantly told him Belgian waffles with strawberries and cream. I wasn't that surprised to find that he was making waffles on Sunday morning. But what did surprise me was that he had actually found an authentic Belgian waffle recipe - which required yeast and allowing the batter to rise for about an hour and a half. He said he'll never make Belgian waffles again. They did taste good, though.

Spring dresses from Grandma

A great photographer I am not. And subjects who sit still, I have not. These were the best I could get.

Random photo

This is Faith after Amanda's birthday party, where a clown came. She painted the kids' faces and made balloon creatures for all of them. Faith chose to have Hello Kitty painted on her face, and a butterfly balloon hat.

Easter

This year we spent Easter morning at home. It was pretty low-key, with the Easter Bunny not doing much that was exciting. He (She) brought a DVD and couple small treats for each kid. Michael got Horton Hears a Who; Faith got Little Mermaid; Lauren got Springtime With Roo; and Jeff and I got Snow White. Yes, Jeff and I shared a basket. That's because it was a stressful weekend and Jeff didn't get out to perform his duty of filling my basket. He was thrilled to get Snow White. Haha.

Here are the kids in their Easter outfits. We found them at Costco, and Faith is in love with her polka-dot dress.Michael has been on a kick lately of sticking his tongue out for most photos. Faith had to stick hers out too, of course. She has obviously just finished eating her blue raspberry ring pop.
After church we went over to Jeff's parents' house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. It was a lot of fun, but did I get photos? Nope.

first date

Today Faith and I had our first date. Jeff and I have started doing this with the kids, and it's been pretty fun to have the one-on-one time.

Faith was so cute all day. She'd say, "Are we going to a date yet?" When it was finally time, she announced to Jeff that she was going to her date. I was planning to take her for a cupcake at the Vintage Cupcake Shoppe - but believe it or not, there was a "sold out" sign on the door and there were no more cupcakes for the day. HUH? Someone's not managing that place very well if they run out with over two hours left during business hours.

So we went to the mall and got cupcakes from the coffee shop instead. They weren't that great, but Faith doesn't care. Then we went to the play area for a while before heading over to Claire's for this:
Yes, those are pierced earrings. She was ecstatic to get pink flowers. It was totally on a whim, and we'll see if I regret my impulsiveness after six weeks of cleaning them three times a day. She was a champ, though. She cried for about three seconds (until I stuck a sucker in her mouth), and then she was thrilled to see her cute earrings in the mirror.

Then we stopped by a booth and bought these for all the kids:
Pillow Pets. As you can see, they all love them. Michael can't stop feeling the soft fur. Faith does whatever Michael does, and Lauren just lays on hers. Michael and Faith have been wanting them for a while, and they were on sale at the booth, so I just gave in. So much for not spending money this week. I still haven't bought any food, though, which was the real goal. (The kids are drinking powdered milk just fine, by the way.)

Don't you love these?
We also rode the train in the mall. Faith kept saying, "I'm so excited! I love the train!" I love having some time just with her. She's my biggest challenge right now. The terrible 2's have nothing on a 3-year-old. But even when I just want to scream in frustration, she's also so cute that I want to fall over laughing. Love that girl.

Shutdown Shmutdown

I just have to say, I don't understand why people were chanting "cut it or shut it." Seriously? You WANT to shut down the government? They must not realize that the things that would be shut down are those that actually MAKE money for the government, while the "essential" functions actually cost millions every day without any revenues made. I'm all for a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility, but the "cut it or shut it" thing just irritated me.

Besides, not that I have any problem with seniors getting their Social Security checks, but I'm just as concerned about families not getting any paychecks. Like mine. We would have been okay, actually - on an ultra-tight budget and not buying groceries (we do have food storage), but okay. But a lot of families I know would not be okay.

I guess in the end, this "close call" is a good motivator for us to manage our finances better and save up a little more. After all, they're gearing up for an even bigger fight in September.

So this week, I'm still not buying any groceries. I put our grocery money towards some debt. Maybe I should do that once a month or so just to have that little extra paid off that much quicker. We'll just eat out of our food storage for one week each month until we're done. It will help me rotate it, too! Look for future posts about how the kids like powdered milk, and powdered eggs and powdered butter. Should be good!