Mountain Lions, Four Wheelers, An Aquarium, and Bears... Oh My!!!

The hours between 5-7 pm are considered the witching hour in our house. It if fine in the summer because after dinner we take the girls for a walk or just let them play outside in order to wind down. With winter fast approaching, we have to come up with some alternative activities for the witching hours.

The other night we took the girls to the huge sporting goods store called Cabellas just a few minutes from our house. I am no hunter, but this place was like a museum, including stuffed deer, moose, polar bears, and many other real stuffed animals on display. They also had a huge aquarium filled with native Wisconsin fish. How funny it was to see ourselves and many other families looking around as though we were at a field museum. Carina thought the aquarium was pretty awesome, and she kissed the stuffed bear she took the pic with. Abbey wasn't complaining either. For those of you who are not familiar with the attitudes of pre-schoolers, if they are not complaining then it is a good sign they are having a fun time. As for Ellie, she just squealed with delight, and bounced up and down. Not a bad little evening. we'll be back.

While we were there, Daddy found a little something to put on his Hanukkah/Christmas list. Maybe next year Babe!!!

The Many Faces Of Ellie

1. Baby Elmo blowing rasberries

2. Random act of cuteness

3. Pirates of the caribean: Jack sparo and the Curse of Flowered Nuk

4. Larry Bud Melman, The former Character from The David Letterman Show

5. Year of the Rat... or mouse....Minnie Mouse and her flowered nuk.

6. The Glass slipper fits Cinderelllie. She found her Prince Charming and they are off to the castle to live happily ever after. If you look closely you can see the the barefooted "Wicked Step Sister" crawling away in discust that the glass slipper did not fit her.

A Pack Rat In Pig Tails

Abbey like purses. Abbey likes junk. She likes plastic jewels, pink sparkles, and necklaces. This is all fine and dandy if all the junk is contained to one container. My problem is, she likes to transport her junk. This is where the purse or purses come in handy. They are a delivery vehicle for all the junk to be moved from one end of my house to another, turning it into a sparkly war zone.

The transportation of junk from one end of my house to another is not limited to toys. The other day, while whipping up a box of rice a roni, the box went missing. I checked the garbage, and could not find the box. I thought I was loosing my mind. Later that night I found the box, in a purse in Abbey's room. Upon interrogation of my daughter, I came to conclusion that she was cooking dinner for her baby in her bedroom.

I fully expected that Cari, and Ellie would acquire "pack rat syndrome" at some point in their lives. I just never expected it so soon with Cari. She just learned to walk mid September for that matter. This morning, she started stuffing toys in purses. Oh, the horror.

What can i say, "it is my problem, not their's." How I adore these little girls in pink.

Power, Corruption, and Lies

Power corruption and lies is what sums up the past few weeks as we try to buy a house. After an "accepted offer" we got word that the home was not sell able in the price range it was listed for. The listing agent has been no help either. Both Mark and I finally told her "MOVE OVER, THERE'S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN." There is currently an unfavorable letter in the works that will be sent via certified mail to the president of the real estate company representing the listing agent. Mark has taken over working with the bank who technically owns the house, and we are working on a final deal. Then the listing agent had the audacity to ask us today, Saturday, if we wouldn't mind moving the closing to November 9 because it is going to be a lot of work for her to close as scheduled. YES I DO MIND!!! AND I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS, WE WILL BE SLEEPING THERE ON FRIDAY!!!! SO GET TO WORK!!

We would love all our friends and family to stop by our new house after next Friday, if all goes well. We can go into all the gooey details of this real estate game that has gone into overtime. We will whip up some margaritas on the Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville Margarita machine, and start up a pot of my queso dip. Look forward to seeing you all.

I'll leave you with a few pics of what may be our new house. Check out the size of that laundry room! And while the master bed and bath are still pink, the owners did paint the yellow family room and kitchen white.

It's Not Really A Goodbye.

Saturday was the going away party for our dear friends M and C. And a sort of bitter sweet I'll seen you soon to the very best bunch of friends a girl could have. We have shared the joys and challenges of raising our babies together. I will miss them all greatly, but I am sure they will bd down to shop at Mayfair on occasion. There might even be another girl's weekend. In Charlotte this time.

It was also the first time Mark and I went out without the kids since Ellie was born. Our intentions were to be home by 11, but once the Rock Band for Wii was turned on there was no stopping us. I forget sometime that I can listen, to music as long and as loud as humanly possible. I think we made it to bed by 2am.

Waiting For The Bus

The girls are all in bed by 7:45pm most nights, but Abbey and Ellie are up EARLY. I don't do mornings very well before I have coffee in me. Today was an unusually good morning for me, so Abbey and I did a little shoe project before the bus came. Cari is usually not up before Abbey leaves for school, but this morning all the girls got to wait for the bus with their big sister. ........Just a side note.... Cari loves the school bus, and she also likes air planes.

These entries to the blog today may seem like "much to do about nothing," but all the girls were exceptionally cute and sweet today. (except for Abbey's melt down in Target) I just wanted to remember that some of the best things are the little stuff.

"Don't Cry Ellie! I'll Share my puffs with you."

Although it wouldn't be a day in our life without one of the girls smacking the other with a toy or something, they get along pretty well. It is amazing how sweet Cari is with Ellie most of the time. While she is not even eight months older than Ellie, she definitely is the "big Sister."