dear picasso...

For Evie, her body is her canvas and she likes it that way.  She even tasted the paint...wasn't for her.  



Phin

circus surprise

In an effort to surprise Eli, we went to the circus today not telling Eli where we were going until we got there. I decided to videotape his reaction because he had never been before. And this is not the reaction we wanted, but priceless for sure.

waiting....

....for summer.

yes, he's single....

...and ready to mingle.

to wegmans or not to wegmans....

VS.

I decided to do an experiment. I am no scientist and I know that my experiment probably has some inconsistencies and maybe even some errors. But here we go.

Our family grocery shops at our Thorndale Giant. We even go to the same checkout lady, Miss Debbie. She has watched Eli grow up for 3 years, lets him bag groceries and gives him gifts for holidays. We love Giant, but there are some things we don't like. It isn't the cleanest establishment, especially the bathrooms. It also doesn't have the best looking fruits and vegetables. Many times there are lines that can be quite long. And most importantly, at least to my two children, their car carts are broken and dirty. But since it was the cheapest in the area, we shopped there, got used to the shortcomings, but loved Miss Debbie and seeing other Coatesville friends. :)

I have been to the almighty Wegmans before and can I just say I feel like a rich person in that place? The bathrooms?? Spotless, have toilet seat wipes and are just beautiful. You may think "who uses the bathroom at grocery stores?"...if you have children, you know that is important. There is a full-on buffet restaurant in there that offers Chinese, pizza, subs, sushi, coffee (ah, my love) and more! Check out lanes?? A million. And the tellers stand at the entrance and are apparently trained to usher people to use their lines whenever anyone is waiting. Basically, this place is pampering and who doesn't like pampering?

But having shopped there, I felt that it has to be more expensive than any other place in the area. You don't get that treatment at a discount store. However, friends of mine would swear that Wegmans has great prices and is as cheap if not cheaper than Giant. Of course I scoffed....however it got me thinking.

I made a list of a sample of staples that we shop for each week when we trek to the store. This list isn't all of our weekly staples, but I thought it would make for a good comparison. So I went to Wegmans and wrote down their prices for each item. Then I went to Giant and wrote down their prices for each item. Then I compared them and here is what I came up with.

Basically, Wegmans would have been only $0.02 more than Giant (Wegmans: $57.57 and Giant: $57.55). The calculations were based on the sale price that week although I did provide the regular price as well. Again, this is just a sample of things we purchase each week and meats and more expensive items may vary. Overall, Wegmans did have more items that were less expensive than Giant, however there were just as many that were the same price for both stores as well.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

house arrest

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster, but lets go back to the beginning of January. 2011 was looking really good. I was the thinnest I have been in years, the seasonal depression hadn't hit yet, the kids were behaving awesome and I was feeling really good. I was doing well with spending time with God and we were talking frequently. :)

One day, the kids and I went to BounceU and played on the moonbounces there. Evie was too small to get up on the bouncy slide so I went with her a few times and slid her down first and then followed behind. At the end of the morning, we did our last slide down and I stupidly put my leg under me and slid down in a more relaxed way, I guess. Well, when my body was going forward, the slide was pulling my leg and foot the opposite direction. Instant nausea and pain. Flash forward to the podiatrist...foot fracture...4-6 weeks no exercise.....have to wear a special boot.....no driving until TBD.....

(please disregard the ugly man feet...unfortunately they are mine)

CRAP!!!!!!!!! A freaking moonbounce slide! Are you kidding me? When people ask me what happened, I would love to say that I rescued a cat from a burning building or even just slid down the stairs to keep one of my kids from falling....something the least bit heroic. Nope. Not klutzy me. Typical. On our way home from the appointment, I told Chad that I was going to pray that God would heal my foot enough to be able to be allowed to drive by my next appointment. My wise husband then gently told me that maybe I should pray for God to show me what He wants me to learn from this situation. Ah, wise man he is.

I believe God just wanted us to slow down. We were going at a breakneck pace and I think this was something God allowed to help me to stop and smell the roses. So I am smelling and they actually smell nice. We have been doing lots of things to pass the time....dishwasher soap + water + plate + straw = bubbles!

This kept Eli entertained for more than I would have thought it would.

We also played "Find the Cat" which had Eli going nuts with excitement. We would take turns hiding a cat in somewhat visible places. He would hide it in places that were not visible and then say "You're getting warmer, you're hot, you're hot!!"...that is Eli, always making his own rules. It was still fun.

Can you find the cat??? :)

We also found that Evie LOVES to paint....herself. It started nice and using paint brushes...civilized if you will. Then fingers were used and that was cool too. Then I decided to throw caution to the wind and put a little paint on Eli's nose for fun.....

Yikes! Poor kid was not happy at all, but he didn't remove it either.

Evie likes to paint herself, her fingers, her arms and her belly. Her body was her canvas and she delighted in colorfying it. :)

We also did a LOT of sink play....coffee carafe, coffee cups, tupperware, tiny plastic cups for pretend tea, measuring spoons, the works.

Raspberry iced tea, anyone?

My foot troubles disallowed me from going outside in the snow with the kids (although I tried with a bag over my foot AND went out another time without the boot...sshh, don't tell!). So I brought the snow inside.

We made mini snowmen, mixed pretend cake batter.

Soon I started to just get really stir crazy so I brought outside stuff inside. Eli rode his bike around the house....notice the emphasis on safety wearing the helmet inside.

It was difficult to ride on the carpet, but he did it.

Even Evie got in on the action.

The last snowstorm, I did just put my fuggs on and went out and shoveled a little. The kids and I just HAD to play and I wasn't going to let my klutziness hold them back. So they enjoyed it. Eli and I had snowball fights and he climbed mountains of snow. Evie tried to help me shovel with her little sand shovel that she could barely hold. Someone needs to invent waterproof, warm, thin, small gloves for 20 month olds...I'll get on that.

Upside down on snow mountains!

Our first snowman...it was pretty sad. We were the blind leading the blind and I have realized that I am a terrible, terrible snowman maker. Eli wasn't really interested posing for the camera, but instead was interested in getting his tongue stuck on the snowman.

And this is the best I could get with our first sad snowman. I asked Eli what it was that he had in his mouth and he said it was the snowman's breathing thing.

Now I can drive, but we still take things slower and I am still healing. But I am also gaining weight and can't fit into my jeans anymore. :( Now I have to go into my 'fat' drawer and wear my bigger jeans....double :( :(

Spring, get here NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!