LIL' SPROUTS

My friend Jade asked me to take some pictures for her new business. It is called Lil' Sprouts. She is making absolutely adorable costumes for little girls. You can get a full Halloween costume for your little princess for only $30. That includes a tutu, hair bow, and set of wings. The bows that you see in the pictures start at $3. I think "a picture is worth a thousand words" so check them out below and if you are interested, you can contact Jade at lilsprouts226@gmail.com. She will also be getting a blog up and going and I will post again with that information when I have it. Oh, and if you didn't know....a little girls favorite thing to do is dress up so these aren't just for Halloween...they would be great for birthdays, showers, and Christmas! Enjoy the pics.

And here is my little man modeling some of her other goodies....she is also making adorable pacifier clips, burp cloths, and numerous other items.

Keri and Elliana

My bestfriend from high school, Keri, and her beautiful 10 week old daughter, Elliana, were in town and came over to spend the afternoon with us today. It was such an amazing time....we have one of those friendships that just "works." No matter how long it has been since we have seen each other or talked, we pick up right where we left off. Keri just gets me...and spending time with her was exactly what I needed today. Thanks so much Keri for coming over and hanging. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being you. You are just as beautiful on this inside as you are on the outside and I know your gorgeous daughter will be just like her momma in that regard! Of course we had to do a little "photo shoot." I mean look at this baby...she is gorgeous! By the way...this first picture is my absolute favorite because of Keri's smile. It was the first thing I ever noticed about her....her gorgeous smile and the contagious laugh that goes with it. .

A Day In The Life of: A Trip to Walgreen's

So it's time for another edition of "A DAY IN THE LIFE OF"....one mom's way of finding the humor out of life with three young kids rather than going crazy, which definitely would have been an option today. I only had one goal for today. To go to Walgreens and pick up my pictures so that I could scrapbook this evening. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG! Here is how it went down....

12:45 pm - Load up all 3 kids and get them in the car to head to Walgreens.
12:47 pm - The chorus of, "CAN WE WATCH A MOVIE???" starts. I say "No." Yes, I am a mean mom and Michael calls me the "tv nazi."
12:50 pm - Arrive at Walgreens and unload.
12:52 pm - Get in Walgreens and the reality sets in...."&*!@$%&*!@#% Walgreens is one of those stores that does not have special carts. Those of us who were crazy enough, I mean BLESSED enough, to have three children in four years NEED special carts like a dying man needs a drink of water in the desert. What are special carts you say? They are the carts that have enough spaces to strap all of your children down and render them incapacitated while you are shopping. I think I am going to start a petition that it become federally mandated that ALL stores have to have special carts. It really is a matter of sanity for all us moms out there. You are about to see why....
12:53 - We'll call this, "THE SCOOBY DOO INCIDENT." We're not in the store for 15 seconds before my son spots the ugliest Scooby Doo Halloween doll I have ever seen in my life. There is no way in heck I am spending $5 on that God-awful thing. Unfortunately, Scooby Doo is his new obsession ever since he went to visit my sister and his cousins and saw his first episode. Lucky Me. It use to be Star Wars (click here to see more on his Star Wars obsession). Now it's Scooby Doo. Anyways, not buying the Scooby Doo toy didn't go over very well.
12:55 - Well call this section, "HALLOWEEN HELL." Easton's attention was quickly diverted from the ugly Scooby Doo doll when he looked to his left and saw his sister running "Chariots of Fire style" down the Halloween aisle. Seriously people....Walgreens has a Halloween stash like I have never seen in my life and there is some CREEPY stuff. Of course my kids aren't strapped in because they have NO SPECIAL CARTS so they start running through the Halloween aisle ripping things off the shelves.
Easton: Pulling the creepy voodoo witch doll that talks to you when you touch her chin off the shelf, "HEY SISTER. LOOK AT THIS. WE GOTTA BUY THIS!!!"
Emmy: Pulling various disgusting Freddy Krueger hands and goblin masks off the shelves, "OOOHHH Brudder...WOOK AT THIS ONE!!!"
ME: Dear God, WHY can't Walgreens get their act together and get SPECIAL CARTS.
Easton: "MOM! Look for a Wizard of OZ costume. PLEASE!!!" (We read the Wizard of Oz and he wants to be the tin man but we can't find the costume.)
Me: "They don't have the tin man costume, Easton. I already looked."
Easton: Pointing to the high school girl with extremely long black hair pulled back in a ponytail "Well, let's go ask that sir over there."
Me: "Easton, that is not a SIR. It's a girl" What is UP with my child and his gender confusion???
Easton: Running 90 miles per hour to the photo counter, "SIR! SIR! SIR! Do you have the Wizard of Oz costume?!?!"
Me: Yet again, WHY can't Walgreens get their act together and get SPECIAL CARTS.

1:00 pm - We'll call this part, "THE PICTURE FIASCO" - So I finally get everybody OFF the Halloween Hell aisle and over to the photo section. I tell the girl my name and she starts looking through the "M" section and acting all flustered. Then she asks me if my name could be Julie perhaps??? Umm...NO. It's Carissa. Not even close to Julie. Are you serious? She starts to play with her computer, then search through the M's and Mc's. Then she plays with her computer again. Then she picks up Julie Miller's photos again and looks at them, then looks at me, then looks at them. No lady, I'm NOT going to turn into Julie Miller. So basically, it is at this point that I realize that this whole trip was for nothing.
1:10 pm - Pack up and head home. It's naptime. Let's call it a day.
1:15 pm - We will call this part, "THE COMPUTER INCIDENT" - I get home and get everyone unloaded then go back to get my bag. WAIT! Where is my bag? I call Walgreen's...my bag, with my wallet, cell phone, and everything else is there. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Can anything else go wrong? Oh yes it can! At this point, I hear screaming. I walk in the living room to find Easton and Emmy full-on fighting over a computer. I tell them both to stop fighting and get in the car. They both run to the car. I get Cohen back in his carseat and head to the car. Screaming again. I see Emmy freaking out and trying to hit Easton and pull his hair. Turns out he had snatched her computer and taken it to the car with him. I take the computer away and give it back to Emmy.....Easton FREAKS OUT!!! I am talking irrational, uncontrollable screaming.
Me: Very calmly, "Easton. This is not acceptable behavior and it tells me that you need quiet time-rest time today." In other words, you are laying down and taking a nap today instead of getting to stay up and play.
Easton: Taking the freaking out to an all new level and screaming at me, "NO YOU! NO YOU! NO YOU!"
Me: What? I don't even know what you mean. "No YOU are going to have quiet time rest time, NOT ME!"
Me: I just choose to ignore him and kind of laugh at him at this point because what else are you going to do? It's either that or freak out myself which isn't going to help the situation.
Now Emmy decides to chime in:
Emmy: Pretend typing on her computer, "Easton has a big, bad, ugly attitude. Hmph! That's what my computer says."
Easton: Taking the freaking out to an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10...."NO! NO! NO! Your computer does not say that. Stop it. Stop it!!!"
Emmy: Pretend typing on her computer again. "Easton has ugly words and an ugly attitude. That's what it says!!!!"
Easton: Continued freaking out the whole way to Walgreens.
Cohen: Starts to cry because Easton is freaking him out and I'm sure thinking to himself, "Why me?!?! Why did I have to be brought into this crazy family???"
Me: Going to my happy place. I don't hear any of it because naptime is t minus 15 minutes.

1:30 pm - Get to Walgreens and get the bag.
1:35 pm - Get home.
2:00 pm - Everbody down for naps.
2:05 pm - Two options....pour a glass of wine or blog about it? It's only 2:00 in the afternoon, I am going to have to go with BLOGGING.

So there it is...."A DAY IN THE LIFE OF: A TRIP TO WALGREENS"

P.S. - Walgreens, if you are reading this....GET SOME FREAKING SPECIAL CARTS!!!!!!!!"
P.S.S - I'd like to give a spcial shout out to my best friend Lauren for going to Walgreens for me and picking up my pictures and hand delivering them to my door. Cue music, "That's what friends are for. In good times and BAD times...." You get the point. :)

It's Tailgating Time....GO POKES!

Michael's parents let us take their motor home to the OSU versus Georgia game to tailgate with friends. Our friends Daniel and Emily took his parents motor home as well. The 10 of us (that's right, TEN of us - they also have three kids ages 4 and under) loaded up and headed up to Stillwater Friday at noon. We got an awesome parking spot and set-up quite the tailgating area complete with a fenced in play area with a Jupiter Jump for the kids. It was such a fun weekend and I left feeling so amazingly blessed. What an amazing opportunity to be able to make these memories with family and friends. I watched my kids play with their friends and just have the time of their lives and thought, "This is what it is all about. It is times like this that they are going to remember when they grow up." We hope to make many more memories like this along the way. Thank you Grammy J and D-Dad for loaning us your bus! :) Here are some pictures from the weekend. And oh yes....GO POKES!!!
Easton, his best buddy Ethan, and their new friend Paxton. These boys played SO well together. We literally did not have to break up one fight! Paxton...hope you will come back and play with us next time!
And the girls played just as well together! Emmy and Malarie hugging it out. She is already missing her friend and asking me to "Call Meredith and see if I can go over to Malarie's house." My kids are notorious for inviting themselves over! Sorry everyone! Couldn't resist snapping some pics of precious baby Cash and his beautiful mommy, Kassidy. We need to do an "official" photo shoot when I have better backgrounds to work with than motor homes and tailgating supplies!

Meredith and Malarie - they are so beautiful!

I am sorry to say people that it was NOT all fun and games. This is what happens to your husband's ankle when he likes to play football at the tailgate with all of his competitive buddies. Luckily Dr. Good (my friend Bethany's husband) was there and said nothing was broken. He just couldn't walk or do anything for the rest of the day.....awesome! And this is what happens when your child has explosive diarrhea in his poopersaucer, I mean EXERCAUSER, at the tailgate. Yes people, look closely at his feet and you will see what I am talking about. This was super fun to clean up.

Cohen getting some kisses from Bethany who finally got to meet him for the first time! Roomie picture....

80 University roomie picture. Yes, we went back to our old college house to relive the glory days. Yes, we took a picture in front of the old house. Yes, we even knocked on the front door and ask if we could go in and see the old house. And yes, we walked around the entire house and relived the glory days with the new tenants of the house. Yes, they are probably still laughing at us and making fun of us right now. No, we don't care because we're cool like that. Right Bethany? Sue and Rachel....wish you guys could have been there for the roommate reunion!

Girls Picture

Guys picture minus Shane and Brock...not sure where they went but it was pretty much impossible to get all the guys together for a picture since they spent a several hour period going on undercover spy missions down to the huge Georgia tailgate to try and steal their flag. Yes they did steal the flag (thank you Daniel Fritts). Yes they did almost get in a fight. No my husband was not involved (thank God for the ankle sprain). Lauren and Bethany

Here are a few pictures that Mat snapped with his phone of the tailgate area that we had set up.