a dash of THIS....

and a WHOLE LOTTA THAT!

i vacated from my camera, but NOT my phone, for the past 8 days or so.... I will pick it back up this afternoon for a perfect princess' birthday partay, i just can't miss it!  if i had a girl to call my own, and i do claim quite a few these days, this birthday girl would be what i vision my own would be like.... 

Full of IT! FULL Of something! something so stinkn' cute, a whole lotta sass (or personality as we like to say), dash of attitude,  and something that ALWAYS leaves you with a smile.... Smile like, you just can't get angry with her, just can't help but love her, and leaves me wanting to snatch her up and squeeze her tight!   We love this little priss! and i have to re-wrap her gift.... my hornet thinks if something is wrapped he MUSt unwrap it ASAP

so we had a nice weekend i guess.  A dash of sun + a lotta windy coldness + good runs with my furry black dog, who i love, love, love to watch run about the woods, swim like its not 32 degrees, and stick by my side like we are the only two on the trail.....its liberating and i love that he has his freedom and i have mine (freedom from the leash that is) (no, the big chocolate dog can't go anymore, the hips just don't work like they used to, and lucky for MY HEART, he doesn't mind not going which makes it easier  and waits patiently on me at the driveway end but don't worry i took him exploring too, swimming and whatnot..... he is far from left out) i did take my phone so snapped a couple of them romping through the creek, the sunshine was GREAT all weekend, still a little chilly for me and my brood but we worked with what we had.

We had dinner out with some good friends on Friday, lotta catching up, WAY TO MUCH TALK ABOUT OUR KIDS/BABIES, not nearly enough cocktails (i blame the baby talk), but we enjoyed seeing everyone as always and eating good food!  And even more loved coming home..... as we got out and our friends driving home pointed out "hey, are we REALLY GOING HOME Right now?" and then "hey, look i think y'alls kids are STILL UP" check. check.  we really went home at 9:30 and YES our biggest baby was still up........  He had been to a party of his own, not really a party but was invited to go grab pizza and ice cream with his boys..... so fun!  I can't believe he is THAT OLD to go out without me, AT NIGHT, with a group of boys..... yes, both parents were there but STILL.......i was happy for him, he was thrilled!  

EVEN MORE THRILLED to find miss caroline when he got home..... Caroline came early too so that me and daddyc could spend some time at the hospital first, she is good like that.....So when we walked in, there were balloons EVERYWHERE, bow and arrows, etc.  and laughter enough to make me want to waltz right back OUT that front door and take our friends up on a LATe-ER night.... My monkey was LOVING playing with miss caroline and let me be the FIRST to say..... I am selective about my sitters......

1. my boys must love you

2. i love, love, love to KNOW you will play with them, love on them, spoil them rotten when i can't

3. and yes, its nice to know you are a bit reliable.....etc.   

4. its worth all the money in the world to me and daddyc if they have fun WHILE we are out having fun!

That being said....  I rarely call past allie, now caroline (thanks allie), Allie's mom, the girls from the club, lately my dad (he is good too and the diaper changing is all coming back to him.... hE kept my babies this week for a long time while i sat with mom in the hospital..... he is GREAT with them and its nice to leave and not have to go through the ropes so to speak and even NICER to come home to fresh changed diapers, he had fed them lunch (with no guidance), littlest lamb had had a nap, and my hornet stayed home from school.... he wasn't about to leave after seeing his big daddy and that was just fine with me-  Needless to say, our lolly has taught big daddy well. and of course we utilize our mimi on a regular basis but big daddy works and our mimi is a busy, busy, have i said busy bee.... quite the social butterfly she is therefore since lolly has been out of commission i have found a love in my circle of sitters (and yes, we have fallen back on other sitters too but its rare) Anyway, so after miss caroline left... my first born uttered "mom, can we have a babysitter tomorrow night too" if you are a mom you KNOW that is music to your ears!  so our friday night was good  Great! 

Sat. was beautiful too.... it was nice to sit in the hospital with the sun beaming in and listen to our big daddy laugh about the bad drivers in the parking lot (i think he did that ALL day long) my brother, sister in law, and mom laughed too because he really was humored by it and to his defense it was pretty funny how some old women drive!  Mom's cough is getting better but NOT gone and becoming quite annoying to her to say the least..... 

She is really enjoying brookwood hospital though. She LOVES her nurses, her doctors, likes the food, etc.  So its comforting to know she is in good hands and good care and even more comforting that she is about 2 miles from my house.  We have no departure date set yet, we are working on TOTALLY well before coming home..... and this season that is rare to find with ANYONE!  i am WAY over sick kids, even more OVER this cold weather....  so stay tuned but know my mom is in a good place, resting and getting great care and HAPPY which makes us happy.

On another note:  if you go to school where my boys go, or the OLDER two anyway, you KNOW this coming week is teacher appreciation week.... and MY GOODNESS while we ARE appreciative of these God given saints..... this mama is worn slap out from working on "stuff".... I have a spreadsheet to help me stay organized this week as its SOMETHING NEW every single day in BOTH monkey and hornet's class with a "new theme" each day, Plus i am on the adv. council and must do extra for being on that, plus back up room moms for BOTH of their classes.... No i do NOT need a pat on the back, i need a freakn' BREAK, ha!  just kidding, i got it done and done last week and it won't be any big deal at all.  I am going to run up there today and make some finishing touches for the luncheon ( i may or may not snap some pictures) and KNOW we APPRECIATE our TEACHERS no dout. wink wink.  I just finished the place cards this morning while the boys scarfed down breakfast....

and the vases are for each child's flowers they bring in on "bloom where your planted" day.

oh and i have FAILED to mention we have the WORST HAIRCUTS known in history.... oh and the better part is the boys are on tv this week...... Just funny, daddyc and i just laugh, not at them but WITH THEM and feel a bit sorry for the sweet girl who keeps inviting them to be on tv.... we LOVE the barber shop and apparently i was on BREAK when the sweet men were cutting the little boys hair??  The men love the boys in there so it is break-like to me, i sat in my chair drinking my coffee, and they all sat in a different man's lap, and the sweet men proceeded to buy them old fashion cokes (thats right, the boys indulged on sprites and diet cokes.... i was on break, remember?) and opened endless amounts of suckers and messed up any magazine, shampoo set up they had arranged, and did all kinds of tricks in the chairs and monkey asked WAY TOO many questions...... i don't know why they love them so much?  anyway, still on camera break i just now snapped some really bad ones of them to show off the dumb and dumber cuts..... hope they make YOU laugh too!

and by blogging i have done THIS to my middle child