Let's do the Time Warp Aggaainnnnn!

So, while shopping for supplies for the Murder Mystery Party that we threw a couple of weeks ago, we were in Party City. 
Now, in case you didn't know, Party City turns into Halloween Super Store to the Max starting mid-August and we were there the first weekend of October. 

We (Auntie, Jason, the kids, and I) had just finished dinner at Jason's Deli.
Jason was contemplating the kind of cups he wanted and Bebe was entertaining Mamu with his Brain Quest in the cart.
Suddenly, the Time Warp came on.
I couldn't resist.
Neither could Auntie.
We did the time warp againnnnnn.
Just a step to the left.
With a step to the riiiight.

Put your hands on your hip...with your knees in tiiight.

With a ...

You get the idea.

Then, pretty much as soon as the song was over, I ran into a parent from school.

Enh.  Enjoy the show.

We then went to the hat aisle and tried on hats.

(I can't get the picture to turn)

Good times on a Friday night!

Live From Texas, It's Saturday Night!

How did you spend last Saturday night?

Go to the movies?

Go to the pool?

Let your son run in the backyard with the tractor sprinkler?

Help your daughter with a super special surprise for her Dad's birthday?

Go to Kohl's with your bestest friend in the whole world?
I did 3 of those 5 things this past Saturday and had a blast!

Jason was watering the backyard and Mamu saw it and the inevitable happened. He wanted to go out and play in it. Since it was close to shower time for him, I stuck his shoes on him and sent him out! He had a good time, especially when he slid down the slide. It was partially wet and since Mamu was soaked, he went down really fast and loved it!

After I got him in the shower, I helped Bebe with her super secret surprise project for Jason's birthday. More on that another day.

Then, Auntie and I went to Kohl's. I had a gift card, coupons, and Kohl's cash to spend. I gave the Kohl's cash and coupons to Auntie for her to get something new too! We had the best time trying on different dresses and shirts and pants and shoes. Oh the shoes! We love to go to the shoe department and try on the super duper high heels. Then we decided we could make up a new tactic for Auntie to meet a doctor - breaking/spraining/and/or twisting our ankles when we fall out of said shoes. We even made up a sample script of what we would say when we were in the urgent care / ER with our said ankle injury. Here it is:

Doctor: "What happened?"

Us: "Well, you see, we were trying on super cute shoes."

Doctor: "And..."

Us: "Well, you see, umm.... Did you know that Auntie has a Master's degree?"

Doctor: "Oh! Is that true?"

Us: (making sure that Auntie's bare ring finger is front and center) "She's also in graduate school and likes photography. She also likes long walks on the beach and eating at fine dining." (That last part isn't really that true, but if he gets us to a beach, we'll like the walks!... He will need to know that we would like to travel together.)

We then joked the entire time we were trying on shoes that when someone (Not an Eligible Doctor) asked us what happened "Well, we were trying to find a way to meet an eligible doctor..."

We had a great time. She got a super cute jewel tone emerald/turquoise/greeny shirt and I got a new dress. (I also got new pajamas, but I'm taking them back because I don't like the way they fit.)

So that was our Saturday. On the way home from Kohl's, we stopped at Sonic and got some treats. Yummers!

Random Car Talk

Me, Bebe, and Auntie - July 4, 2007

So, we have all sorts of random car conversations when it's just me and the kids in the van.
Here's tonight's van conversation:


I'll set the scene - We just left Auntie at her new apartment (YEAH! She's now about 20 minutes away!) and Jason was in his car because we both came from work.

Mamu: "Daddy follow us in the VAN?" (repeated about 30,847,869,318,355 times in 1 minute)
Me: "Yes, Daddy will follow us."
Mamu: "Daddy follow US?"
Me: "Yes, Daddy will follow us."
*As we stop at a stoplight, another car drove up next to us. Mamu looks out his window and...
Mamu: "NO! NO! You NO! Car! NO! DADDY FOLLOW US! YOU FOLLOW DADDY!"
(Apparently other cars are supposed to follow us now. Just call us the Grand Marshal of the Mamu Parade.)
Now, after dinner:
Mamu: "UNHHH."
Me: "Mamu, what are you doing?"
Mamu: "UGNNNSAHHH. I poopin'."
Me: "Mamu, we NO poop in the van. Keep it in. We go potty at the house."
Mamu: "UHNNDDHHG; Ok Momma."
(Apparently, it was a toot. He's still confused on that - understandbly - and lucky for me.)

Jason was following us, but then got ahead of us. - That went over well... -
Me: "Oh, silly Daddy. He got in front of us."
Bebe: "I know why."
Me: "Why?"
Mamu: "UGNNDH! Silly Daddy. You follow US!"
Bebe: "Because Daddy doesn't like how slow you drive."
Me: "Well, I drive at a safe speed."
Bebe (speaking to Mamu) - "Yes, Mommy drives like I will when I can drive. I won't drive fast like Dad." (SO going to record that statement and play that back for her in 9 years.)
Mamu: "We go fast Momma?"
Me: "We go safely Mamu."
Bebe: "Hey, Mom. You know that I'm almost ready to drive?"
Me: "Yes. In 9 years. But slow down that growing ok?"
Bebe: "Ok. You know that my birthday is a long way away. You know that a lot of things happen on my birthday."
Me: "Like what?"
Bebe: "You know. My birthday."
Me: "Oh, ok."





So there you have it. There was also much more, but if I started keeping detailed notes, I think I'd have to not tell my kids I was driving safely. Just know that there's always a fun convo going on in the van! You're welcome to join in the craziness!

They're Here!

Auntie's platter
Bebe's Cross

My platter

So remember when I told you about our trip to the pottery painting store with Auntie? Well, I picked them up and here they are! Even if I do say so myself, I think they turned out awesome!

Attack the Playroom!

So, I've been away for awhile... it's called the end of school. Now that school is over and I'm able to breathe again, I'm back! This past weekend, our family went out to East Texas to attend the Harris Family Reunion (my paternal grandmother's side). I'll blog more about that later! We had a great time and got some good pictures (including one of the whole family - my sister's, mine, and my parents - which is unheard of!) and lots of fun stories to tell.

Well, Auntie (aka - My Partner in Crime; or Lucy) is here for her annual visit and we always do something big -house wise. Like when we first moved into this house 3 years ago, buying a game table (got it at CCA for I think $40), hauling it into the van and into the house. Or last year, when we became the crafty girls and sewed, sewed, sewed. Well, this year, it was attack the playroom!

I've been battling the playroom for quite some time now, and between rearranging it, cleaning it, and trying out different arrangements again, I finally accepted the fact that we needed a new computer desk. We have had the old one for 9 years, and it was big and a great big collector of junk. Now that we have a flat screen monitor and other things, we don't need that big of a desk. So, Auntie, the kids, and I loaded up into good ol' Bessie (my van) and headed to CCA. Big score again like last time, right? Nope. So then we wandered around a couple of thrift stores (and found out our Goodwill doesn't do furniture) and ended up with one we needed to assemble from Walmart. No problem. We're strong, independent women and can do it ourselves. We only asked Jason for help once. Just once. Then we got the drill (and Bebe kept reminding us that the instructions said "No drill" -- we just explained that we wouldn't do the drill super fast and it would be ok.) and took care of business.

Let me tell you the amount of JUNK that I cleaned out from the old computer desk! Oh My Goodness! But, it had to be done.

So my playroom went from looking like this:

To looking like this:

I couldn't have done it without Auntie or Bebe. It took us only about 6 hours and that is stopping for Mamu's potty emergencies, dinner, and storytime for bed. That's pretty good, if I do say so myself.

And since I am saying so myself, I think it turned out pretty good!

(I can't believe I posted pictures of my messy, messy playroom, but I'm human. All the debris is from me not being able to get into the playroom to clean since I've been so tired with the end of school, it just got put on the back burner.)

Happeee Burthdaee toooo Auntie!

Happy Birthday Auntie!

So, it's Auntie's birthday! Mamu has just started singing the Happy Birthday song and it's really cute! We gave Auntie a little ringaling and sang Happy Birthday to her voicemail since she was teaching a class at that time.

Auntie is my bestest most wonderful friend in the entire world! She is not my sister by birth, but she is close enough that we refer to each other as sisters. (My sister by birth rocks as well.) We always joke that we will be in the same nursing home when we are old causing all sorts of trouble. We also know that we will be best friends forever since we know too much about the other! :)

Auntie and I met in college and became friends about my senior year. She's so cool and I love her so much. We have lots of things in common and we totally get each others quirks (I do have a lot ...). We've laughed, cried, loved, and laughed some more. She's also the person that I call when anything (and everything) is going on. I even call her to ask her what wine I like to drink. She's good like that.

I can't wait until she comes for her summer visit. Right now, she lives forever away. Ok. Not forever, but like 8 serious hours or something. Enough for not a quick trip up or anything. The good news is that she ***might*** get to move up here in a couple of months! Please pray for that to happen! It would be AWESOME for her to be up here that close again.

We can't wait to see you!