So Thoughtful

Babies, why don't you take my bed.

I'll be just fine on the floor.

Every night I like to go in and cover the girls back up after they've fallen asleep. Last night this is how I found Audrey. I thought it was very thoughtful of her to give up her bed for the comfort of her babies.

A Little Slice of Humble Pie

If any of you have ever played games with my husband, you know he very rarely loses. If he does lose, it's always neck and neck and his opponent miraculously pulls it out in the nick of time. Well... a few nights ago we had some friends over for a rousing game of Settlers. Things didn't go so smoothly for Ryan. At the end of the game, the score was 13, 12, 12, and poor little Ryan with 6 points. I didn't really think too much of it. Maybe I'm used to getting stomped. But that night as we were laying in bed the following conversation took place:

.

.

Ryan: "That was a really good experience for me tonight."

Sarah: "What was?"

Ryan: "I've never lost like that before. I've never played a game where there I had absolutely no chance of winning."

Sarah: "Really? Never?"

Ryan: "I know you're used to getting slaughtered (ha ha ha), but that's never happened to me. It's not a good feeling. I can see why you don't like playing games with me."

.

I don't really know what this means exactly... but I'm feeling like this was a breakthrough of some sort. I know this experience won't make Ryan ease up on his intense strategizing, and I know he won't throw a game my way out of sympathy. But maybe, just maybe, he'll reflect back on this experience the next time wiping the floor with me.

Priceless

One bag of frozen burritos: $3.99

One Jar of Peach Mango Salsa: $2.49
One bag of Mexican shredded cheese: $1.88
One cup of sour cream: $1.19
One dinner without complaints..... Priceless! It was one of those rare, peaceful moments. Dinner without any, "I hate this" or "how many more bites until I can be done?" All I did was put frozen burritos in the bottom of a 9"x13" pan, pour in a can of mango peach salsa, sprinkle with shredded cheese, bake for a half hour, and top off with a dollop of sour cream. Doesn't sound too fabulous, but everyone cleaned their plates! Times like this bring joy to a mother's life.

My Life Is Complete

Can grass make someone's life whole? It's a pretty good start! Today they finally came and finished off our front yard. Hooray Hooray! Our house finally looks pretty. There's grass, sprinklers, trees, and flowers... Yes... life is good. The girls sat on the porch the whole time the workers were outside. They were absolutely fascinated by the whole thing. They were a little sad to lose their giant sandbox, but I'm happy to be done with all that dust. It finally feels like we're all moved in. Ryan's downstairs right now designing the sprinkler schematics for the backyard. Soon we'll be complete.

p.s. I couldn't resist posting these pictures so I'm doing two posts in one day, but please please please... don't skip my first post from today. I'm dying to know everyone's thoughts on Breaking Dawn!!! :)

Finished it... Finally!

Okay all my fellow Edward & Bella fans. I finally finished this book. Loved it! I thought it was a perfect ending. My only critique was that I didn't think she could have possibly come up with a worse name than Renesmee Carlie, but in the grand scheme of things, I guess that doesn't really matter. I don't want to give anything away in case some of you haven't had the pleasure of reading this yet. Chime in! Tell me your thoughts. We can all have a nice virtual book club and discuss in detail all of our favorite parts! For those of you who haven't read this yet... Spoiler Alert! Use caution when reading comments. :) Hooray. I love it when a good book leaves you with a residual high.

What to Blog...

I got tagged my cutest cousin Carolyn and I really wanted to do it, but I've been posting me, me, me, me and I'm afraid that it's me-overload so I finally decided against it.

So then I was thinking that maybe I'd pull another slip out of my blog jar. A couple of my friends have been joining in the fun and I feel I'm letting them down by not keeping up my end of the bargain... but I've had no luck there. Every slip I pull out is L-A-M-E! I just pulled one out that said, Tell about where you lived while going to college. How much was your tuition? books? rent? :( Sadly, there was no college for me. I guess that slip goes straight into the trash. Others I pulled out asked me about my favorite outfit... LAME! My current health... LAME! and current political issues.... probably not really lame, but LAME! So I'm striking out all around.

I want to blog something today so I'll try one more blog jar topic.

What do you wish you knew about your grandparents?

I have been reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (FABULOUS book by the way) and it has sparked an interest in me. I found I really enjoy learning about what life was like for my grandparents and their parents. The idea of living through the great depression and the world wars at first seemed so inconceivable to me. Scraping together every possible penny to buy stale bread and a week's worth of rent is so foreign to the way most of us live today. Then I started thinking about how the news is always talking about how we're on the brink of a recession and a world war, and I realized that we could really learn a lot from our parents. My grandmothers were strong women. One was a single mother with 5 kids in the 60's. The other a small-town girl who gave birth to 10 children. I would love to know how they survived and thrived. What was it like for women working in a male-dominant work force? What were their money-saving tips? What were their priorities in life? What goals did they work the hardest for? What things had to fall by the way-side? How was the childhood they were able to provide their children different than the ones they had for themselves?

We've become such a comfortable generation that it's easy to forget the need to prepare. When there are 5 grocery stores within 5 miles, it's all too easy to let our stock-pile fall. I wish I could have just a portion of knowledge that my grandmas and great-great grandmas had.

Pinsess Audrey

Oh my! What lovely shoes you have there Audrey.

She beams from ear to ear at my flattery.

You see... she loves these shoes and

has them on all the time.

(but never on the right feet)

May I take a closer look? Oh yes!

Those are absolutely gorgeous!

Who is on your beautiful shoes Audrey?

-"Pinsess".

She's quite a lovely princess. What is her name?

-"Pinsess"

Does this princess have a name? Is her name Cinderella?

-"Name Pinsess!"

Pinsess... That is a very fine name.

Now what are you doing?

-"Funny"

Oh? Taking off your shoes is very funny.

Now I see. You're right! Princess shoes

on your hands! Surely life doesn't get

any funnier than that!