We're Famous!

That's what the girls said tonight when they learned that Jim had been interviewed on 4029 TV at a gun show this afternoon. He got to shoot a machine gun. He was VERY excited!

1st Day of School!

Well, now that we're 3 days in, I figure I finally have a moment to post some pictures of the first day of school. This year, the girls are in 4th and 1st grade. So the drama of the first day of kindergarten is a year behind us. Still, though, it's hard to see them both getting to be so big!

Here is Beta, always momma's girl!

And here is Alpha! She is looking way too old for my comfort level....

And now......back to the 80's Retro Pop Reunion!
Yes. Both girls are wearing essentially the same outfit. Beta had the foresight to see that leggings on a 98 degree day might not be a good idea. (When I picked them up, Alpha had taken hers off and put them in her bag. )

How about those leggings and sparkly skirts? Alpha also purchased her first pair of high tops. All of the styles are making me think of the 80's and some of the stuff I wore. I can't wait to see their reactions in 20 years when I pull this picture out again.....

Lies! Deceit! Grrrrrrr.......

EVERYONE SHOULD CHECK THEIR BANK STATEMENTS!!!!!

We found fraud charges on our checking account this weekend. They were small, but fraud nonetheless.

One was for $4.92 from Fericulgames.com.
Another was for $14 from T Trepanier LLC, a construction company in Oregon.
A third was for $6.99 to www.newpetsmark.com.

One was Jim's debit card number. The other two were mine.

So, even if you are not "nerdy" like me and religiously check your account balance and bank statement, you should still look. Don't trust the bank to look out for you. They have no way of knowing which charges you made and which you didn't.

Don't be stupid and trusting! :)

The Hundredaire

We had a celebration in our house tonight.

Alpha has saved up $100!!! With a combination of birthday money and hard work, she managed to save up $100 to buy various and sundry things. She has forbidden herself to spend even $1 until she hit that magical round number.

In honor of this wonderful occasion, Beta threw her a party!

Here she is! She was the one who coined the term "hundredaire".

They made her a crown out of silver ribbon and sparkly foam stickers.

J4, Jim, and I were invited. Here is J4 playing "Pin the dollar bill on the, um, dollar bill." (It was 1/2 of a crayon-printed $100 bill and you had to match the other half with your eyes closed.)


And one last picture of J4 in his cute little onesie. (Yes, it says "ipood".)

Solids!

J4 is now 4 months old. So the doctor gave us the go-ahead to start solids! Yay! (You know, it's funny....with this third baby, I've been trying to slow down and enjoy the infant stage more than I have in the past because I know how quickly it will pass. When he went to 3-6 month clothes, I was actually kind of sad instead of happy. So you'd think I'd be that way about starting solids. But no. I'm very excited! It's always fun to see what kinds of foods they like. Plus, this puts us on the road to being able to eat normal stuff when we're in the car. No more stopping to nurse! LOL!)

Here he is in his new high chair!

He was actually kind of tired when I first fed him, so he kept putting his thumb in this mouth. I hope that helped the cereal to go down.

All messy!

And in the tried-and-true tradition of babies everywhere, he cried when I tried to wipe his face.

Here is a picture Beta took of us the other day. I like this one.

This next one is my favorite snapshot of him to date!

My Morning - Stream of Consciousness Style

6:45 am
Jim: Good morning, honey! I thought you were going to get up at 6:15 and shower after I got up at 6:00.....
Me: Mmmm, sorry.
Beta enters with pouty face.....
My tooth is still in the tooth pillow....
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) CRAP! crap! crap! crap!
Jim: Well, there was a huge storm last night. The tooth fairy couldn't fly through all the rain. I'm sure she'll come tonight.
Bad mom. Bad mom. What kind of mom totally FORGETS the tooth fairy????
Alpha: What do we have for breakfast?
Pancakes, cereal, do you want me to make a smoothie for you again?
Yes.
I think I'll have some of this cake for breakfast. My mom used to do that all the time. :)
Take a shower.
Baby cry.
Change diaper.
Darn! Forgot to make the smoothie.
Make smoothie.
Feed oldest child.
Feed youngest child.
As soon as I'm done feeding him, we're heading to Walmart to buy groceries!
Beta: I'm going to use my money at the crane machine!
$1.50 later _______
Waaahhhhhh!!!!! pout pout pout
I'd like to return this alarm clock. It blinks and seems to be always lit up.
Ask for money returned in $1's. Think vaguely of tooth fairy.
Head to dental aisle. Refuse to pay $5 for special floss.
Start buying groceries.
No, we can't buy a coconut. No, we don't need eggplant.
Waaaahhhhhh!!!
Shh..shhh....
No.
No.
No.
Waaaahhhhhh
Dang, 10:30, naptime.
Ahhh, he's finally asleep.
We'd better go so he can take a nap at home.
Gotta figure out meals for Sunday lunch.
Handle dispute over lettuce.
AAackk! We forgot to get another alarm clock!
Head to alarm clock aisle. The cheap $5 Back to School (college) ones are gone!
Look all over store.
Ask clerks.
They don't know.
Mom, can I have this alarm clock for my birthday? It has an mp3 spot!
We'll wait until it's your birthday.
I want this one.
No, it's $19. You can have these $5 ones.
But they aren't pink!
Why don't we wait until they get more in? Our food is defrosting!
Waaahhhhhhh!!!!!
Head to checkout lanes.
Get in one lane.
Man, this one is not moving AT ALL.
Get in other lane.
Get in third lane.
Ah, next in line.
11:45??? How did I spend 2 hours in Walmart?
Person ahead of me to clerk: um, I had a coupon for $2.50 off a box of cereal, but it ADDED $2.50 to my total.
Customer Service Mgr to me: Did you buy some cereal?
Yes.
Cereal got rang up on my bill AND on hers!
Thankfully, not my problem to fix.
Maybe next week, I'll go on Thursday night and leave kids at home with Jim.
Will be much faster and cheaper.
Baby wakes up.
Waaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!
Girls, would you go get a 2nd basket to put our groceries in?
Scuffle over who's going to get it and push it.
(in blazingly hot parking lot) Who remembers where we parked?
I want to push it! No, me!!! No, I GET to!!!!
Darn, I knew it wasn't this aisle.
Can y'all push the basket between the cars without hitting them? I mean, not even hitting ONE of them!
Whew. It's a miracle they didn't hit anything.
It's hot in here!!!!
I know, give me a minute to get the groceries in and I'll start the car.
I hope we don't have a wreck on the way home. That would be fitting to how this morning has gone.
Enter garage at approximately noon.
Unload kids.
Unload groceries.
Feed children.
Put one down for nap.
Plop down on bed.

By Request.....

I ran into a former coworker of mine today in Walmart. She said she had a bone to pick with me. I hadn't posted any pics of J4 on my blog!!! Well, since J4 is one of my most favorite subjects, I must remedy this! Without further adieu.......

Newborn, approximately 3 days old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

All 3 kids!

That's all I have time for right now. I'll try to post some here more often. I've been posting a lot to facebook, but I should post some here as well. Hope everyone is having a great summer!