Flowers

Well, I haven't posted much this week. There might be a reason. I've been busy! I worked 50 hours this week doing taxes. And as crazy as it sounds, I LOVE doing taxes! I don't love doing them 50 hours a week. But I've only got 2 1/2 more weeks to go. Yippee!





So, to give you all something besides babies to look at (kidding, Felio's!), here are pictures of my finally-blooming daffodils. Daffodils are my absolute favorite flower. I remember them planted in a circle around my grandmother's tree in her front yard. I did that at our first house, and I've planted some at this house, too. I plan to plant daffodils everywhere we live. It'll be like my trademark.

And my favorite setting on my digital camera is "macro" for close-ups. I used to try these shots with a regular point-and-shoot and couldn't figure out why they were always blurry. Now I know that there's a 4-foot minimum distance for most all point-and-shoot cameras. So I use my macro setting frequently!

Happy Easter!

We had a very relaxing Easter. We all got dressed up, went to church, came home, ate lunch, and did nothing. I sat in my chair and read the paper and watched TV. Jim played some WoW, I think. The girls played in their rooms and then got on webkinz.

Here are our pictures from this morning. Once again, Easter was FREEZING! So we took pictures inside and wore coats to church.


We used our tripod and the timer to get this picture. I think it's a pretty nice one of all of us!











This is one of the few pictures where Alpha doesn't have her mouth wide open in a "smile". When you take her picture, you either get this or her tonsils. They both have on polka dot dresses with small sweaters.

She's here!

Anna Elizabeth Felio was born this morning at 1:19 am. David and Jennifer, our friends from college, are the proud first-time parents. Go to David's blog to see pictures!

We made it!

I had to update everyone on the results of our evening slumber fest. We did it! We all managed to make it through the night with no nightmares, no wakings (well, not by the kids), and no fights.

The kids all fell asleep around 10:00. I woke up at 1, 3, and 5 when one of them coughed. At 6, I heard Beta talking. Alpha soon followed. I thought, "no! way too early!" I went in and shushed them and said it was still nighttime and to go back to sleep. It worked! They slept for another hour and got up about 7:00.

Here is a picture of them eating their nutritious chocolate chip muffins for breakfast!







In the afternoon, we headed to the outreach Easter egg hunt that our community group put on. All the kids (and even the adults) had a wonderful time!

We can't wait to see J & Z again soon!

Thank you for bringing them, Gramma & Pop!

A first for us!

Right now, this very minute, Jim and I are hosting our very first slumber party! Or bunkin' party. Or sleepover. Whatever you want to call it. Ok, it's not quite our first one with a bunch of giggly girls. But it's a sleepover nonetheless.

Jim's parents, along with his nephews, J & Z, drove up here to see us! They were going to come up a couple of weeks ago, but they had that major snow storm in Little Rock.

Well, somewhere along the way, Jim's parents intimated that they would just get a hotel room for everyone. We knew the girls would be crushed if they didn't have the boys spend the night. So one of us, (I'm not sure who, but he knows who he is....) suggested that maybe the boys could stay here while his parents go to a hotel.

............

Right.

So, that is how we came to be hosting our very first sleepover! All 4 kids are piled onto our hide-a-bed and turned sideways. Alpha read them all a bedtime story and Gramma said their blessings.

And actually, they are SOOOO CUTE!!!! I have some pictures already. (I have a quick video, too, but it was taken with the lights mostly off and I can't get my new iMovie to work tonight.) They each have their own blankets and 1 (or 2) things to sleep with. I am hoping they all sleep all night, but I'm not that naive.

Well, enough of my talk. Here are the 2 best pictures:



















I'd like to go ahead and add a note to this post. I don't want to call it a sad note, but it's not entirely happy. Jim's brother, who is in the National Guard, has left for Iraq. Please keep him and his parents in your prayers.

Now go to bed!!!!!!

WAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

NOT FAIR!

Jim gets tomorrow off because it's Good Friday.

Alpha is off because it's spring break.

Beta is off because her preschool is closed for Good Friday.

Where am I?

At work.

Because I WANTED to be. I SIGNED UP to be.

I enjoy my job. Really! I LIKE doing taxes! But not at times like this.......

Oh, and the forecast for tomorrow is 70 degrees and sunny.

Feel sorry for me. Please!

New Look! Same great blog.

In honor of St. Patrick's day, I thought I'd change things up a bit. Notice my new quote at the top. This will stay up through tax season. I have so many people asking me how to get big refunds. It's quite simple. Pay the government more taxes. They will cheerfully refund your money, with no interest. If you don't pay them timely, however, they WILL charge YOU interest AND penalties.

Anyway, the countdown is on! One month and counting....Have YOU done your taxes yet?

What I was going to post

You remember last week when I said I had 3 ideas for posts but had forgotten all of them? Well, I remembered one!

The setting: Our TV room
The time: After supper
The players: Alpha & Beta
Music: Hannah Montana

Alpha had just used some of her own money to purchase a 2-disc set of Hannah Montana! She loves Hannah Montana. (She informed me tonight that she wants a Hannah Montana bedspread for her birthday, with a Hannah Montana party.)

So the natural thing to do when you have a new cd is turn it up loud and dance to it. So Alpha starts showing me all her cool, Hannah-Montana-ish dance moves. Beta has to get in on the act as well.

Dance! Dance! Dance! CRASH!!!!!!!!

Both girls turn and run into each other head first.

Both girls hold noses.

Both girls begin to cry.

Both girls blame the other one for "not paying attention."

Both girls remove hands and we see.......BLOOD!

Yes, both girls bloodied their noses listening and dancing to Hannah Montana.

I must admit, gentle readers, I had a hard time not laughing at this. I felt bad since both girls were definitely hurt and upset. But the irony just struck me so. It was sad, though, because they both had been SO happy only moments before.

We then declared it bedtime, and everyone went to bed. With their egos bruised only slightly more than their noses.

Go read!

Everyone! Go see what Holly's up to!

Clothes shopping

So I went shopping tonight. For an Easter dress. Do you KNOW how difficult that can be? Please allow me a mini rant.

Have you SEEN the dresses they have these days? WHERE did they get those patterns? I guess it's called "retro". I prefer to call it "ugly". I saw a dress at Kohl's that seriously looked like it could be found at a Salvation Army thrift store. It was beige with a little bit of red. It looked like an old sofa.

And these colors! Beige, muted sea foam green, bright lime green. ICK! Where are all the spring colors? Pink, yellow, white? Why is everything for spring black? Or black with a crazy pattern that's a cross between Austin Powers and "All in the Family".

And the cut! Blousy dresses. They do NOT look good on me. But we're supposed to look Bohemian, I guess. If I put on one of those I would look like a pygmy puff from the Harry Potter books. (except they are much cuter than I would be)

And I won't go into details about my own personal struggle in the dressing room. 2 kids and *mumble mumble* extra pounds can really make you do a double take. And not in a good way.

I guess I should go to bed so I can face the daylight an hour earlier tomorrow.

Yee haw.

New Parents - a must read!

David? Jennifer? You listening? Ok good. Go read this post. It is funny and a little too true. You will laugh even if you have no idea what she's talking about.

Just remember what they say about the best laid plans....

Oh, one note. I am NOT the person who sent the email.

Mother Nature......the Tease!

Ok, Mother Nature. That was so not funny. I know it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, but that was just dirty! Sunny and 70 at Sunday lunch, windy and chilly that afternoon, cold on Monday, and SNOW on Tuesday!

Well, obviously the weather is having hormone issues. Hot flashes, storms, the "cold shoulder". However, we did try to make the best of it. Tuesday morning, while waiting on the roads to thaw, we all went outside and played in the snow! I've got the pictures to prove it. We probably got around 3-4 inches. They first predicted about 6-8 but Dan Skoff revised his forecast at 10:00 Monday night.

Here are our pictures:

Alpha loves making snow angels. The problem is when she makes them at the beginning of the snow outing instead of the end. She gets all wet and snowy and then complains of being cold. :)






Here is her completed snow angel. Isn't it a good one? She even said it could look like bells. She's very creative.







Here is Beta showing off the snowy slide. I convinced them NOT to slide down it. This is also a picture where I used some new-found photography knowledge. I used my flash outside during the daytime! This lit up Beta's face so that you could actually see it in the photo.





Not to be outdone, here is Beta's snow angel. Hers is pretty good, too. And smaller and so cute!







To finish her tease, Mother Nature made the temperatures hit 40. So by 5:00 that afternoon, it was all melted! Not fair!

6 Weeks and counting....

Tax Day is approximately 6 weeks away! Whohoo! Wait, oh no. I mean, I've only got 6 weeks to get all these returns done? Yikes!

I'm working about 45 hours each week now. I work from 8-4:30 Monday-Friday and then 3-5 hours on Saturday. I don't like working Saturdays (who does?) but I'd rather get the hours in then than stay later on a weeknight. I hope it stays like this. I'm trying not to think about how bad it could get.

The girls have adjusted well. Beta loves being in preschool longer. She even said, "I'm glad you work, mommy. Now I can play longer!" Alpha is not so sure. She likes her after-school care as long as she isn't there too long. I had Jim go pick her up early one day when she had a slight cold. When he got there, she was mad because she had wanted to stay! The previous day, she said she didn't like it. Oh, so frustrating!

All in all it is going well. This is certainly not a long term thing. Jim has done great picking up the slack when the girls were sick or needed something. I could not do this without him!

Anyway, sorry there's nothing more exciting to post. I had 3 post ideas last week, but now I have totally forgotten them. Hope everyone had a good weekend!