If you can't beat him, join him.

omg! What have I done? I never thought this would happen in a MILLION years!

I joined.......World of Warcraft.

After a free trial a couple of months ago, Jim went out and bought me a prepaid game card. The only problem is that the prepaid game card is only valid on an already paid-for account! So we had to agree for the Borg, uh, Blizzard Entertainment, to charge us $19.99 for one month! ARGH!

BUT.........

You won't believe what happened after that.

Jim ACTUALLY talked with me! A lot! More than he has spoken with me in months! Ok, ok, maybe not that much. But, he started talking. Excitedly! All about the game, of course, but at least he was speaking with me!

So, is this the answer? I've tried not to be subtle. I've said "You don't speak to me any more." "I get lonely when you're on the computer." "Maybe tomorrow I'LL take the night off!" (that's when I was mad b/c he wasn't helping me with the girls....)

Does this mean I have to become a WoW (World of Warcraft) junkie now to see my husband? I have to sheepishly admit that the game is somewhat intriguing. I'm a Night Elf Rogue. My name is Moonlalei. (Moon-la-lee) I'm really proud of the name. I came up with it all by myself. I thought it sounded kind of Warcraft-ish. A cross between old world and fantasy.

Well, I guess I did what the old saying said to do. If you can't beat them, join them!

Wordless Wednesday

I saw this idea on another blog I read. But I can't remember which one. So here 'tis! Just a picture!

Oh, wait. I'm not supposed to be talking, am I?










Jim's going to get me for this....

4 down, 16 to go

Alpha lost another tooth tonight! Well, sorta. I had to pull it.

And I got squeamish about it! I don't know why. Her first tooth fell out on its own at school. Her second tooth, I had to pull. I twisted it to get it to come out. Her third tooth fell out when she wiggled it at bedtime. With a babysitter here. The silly tooth fairy was a day late on her payment with that one!

So why was this one so difficult for me? Probably because she begged me not to hurt her. She said "don't twist it! That will hurt!" So I tried my best not to twist. The problem was, the front was still stuck so I had to use a little, teeny bit of force...

We were both surprised when it came out! She didn't cry or scream. Until she saw it. Then, WAAAHHHH!!! I hugged her and said I was sorry but that some teeth are just harder to get out than others. I'm afraid she'll refuse to let me near her mouth in the future.

(I'm also worried about Beta watching all this. She is more like me, and little things bother her more than they bother alpha. So I'm afraid she'll end up hating loose teeth like I did.)

Anyway, it's over now. Both girls are asleep and the tooth fairy is sure to make an appearance tonight.

If she stays awake that long......

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

In the tradition of David and Jennifer, and because our friends in our community group were annoyed that I never emailed this recipe, here is a recipe for my family's absolute favorite casserole! My girls (and my husband and I) eat this stuff up! We have to force ourselves to quit eating it in order to have some for lunch the next day.

This recipe is taken from The Dinner Doctor by Anne Byrn. I use this cookbook ALL THE TIME! I also use her Cake Mix Doctor and Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor books.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

1 package (6.2 oz) fried-rice flavor Rice-a-Roni, cooked. (Great Value brand works just fine, too.)
4 cups shredded cooked chicken (I just cut mine into chunks.)
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream (I use the real stuff. ssshhhh!)
1 can (10.75 oz) reduced-fat cream of chicken soup (again, real)
36 buttery round crackers such as Ritz, crushed (1 tube works great!)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Spoon the rice in an even layer over the bottom of an 11-by-7 inch (2 quart) glass or ceramic baking dish.

3. Combine the chicken, sour cream, and chicken soup in a medium sized bowl. Spoon this evenly over the rice.

4. In the same bowl, combine the crackers and butter. Scatter this over the chicken mixture. Sprinkle the poppy seeds evenly on top.

5. Bake until bubbling and crackers have lightly browned. 25 to 30 minutes. Serve at once.

Her note says this doubles, triples, and quadruples, well. Yes, you might want to quadruple a recipe. It's THAT good!

One note: This recipe is quick, IF you have the rice and chicken already cooked. If you're like me and you walk into a cold kitchen with rice in a box and raw chicken in the fridge, it's gonna take longer. Just remember the rice will take a good 30 minutes to cook. The chicken could be done in as little as 20 minutes if it's in smaller pieces to begin with. Chicken tenders work well and are quick. You might need two packages, though.

Sweet Home, Alabam, hey wait a minute!

We are HOME! Yes, h-o-m-e home. Our own house, and our own bed. It's very late so I won't post much. But I wanted to let everyone know that we made it back safe and sound. Tired, but ok.

Here's some pictures since I know y'all love looking at pictures.

Alpha ready for our last day at the beach.











Beta doubly-ready for the ocean. Life jacket AND floatie.








We ate lunch on the way home at our namesake restaurant. Well, ok, so it's spelled slightly different. Still, we figured it was a good place to stop.






Wal-mart comes through for us again! This station is in Richland, Mississippi. This is the cheapest gas we found on the entire trip.

Trying again.....

Ok. I will try to upload pictures again. I think blogger messed up last night. I could use the internet, but blogger was stuck. Here goes nothing!

Ok, Robin. Here are the girls on the beach Sunday morning. We went to the beach first thing, even before church.









Here is one of my 2 good pictures of the dolphins we saw. It was so cool to see them in the wild!









This picture was taken on the hill at Vickburg on Saturday. Beta loves to "pose" so I said "let's all pose like Beta!"







I've got tons more, but the internet is fussy so I'm only doing a few at a time. I'll post more when we get back next week.

Pictures, finally!

Ah, relaxing! That's what we did today. We relaxed. I don't have any posts in my head just writing themselves so I'm going to just post pictures. That is, if this internet connection holds long enough.


Here is the beach last night. The moon was shining on it. I hope the picture looks ok. It was soooo romantic! Of course, there were people with flashlights going "crabbing" so......(oh, and our kids and mother-in-law were there....)



Here are the girls on our first day before we headed to the beach. They were SO ready!








Here we are on the dolphin cruise. Yes, we saw dolphins! I have 2 pictures that show dolphins. However, this internet connection isn't allowing many uploads so I chose pics of the girls.







Here we are leaving Waterville yesterday afternoon. That has been the most popular activity so far, other than swimming. It's a waterpark and amusement park. Alpha loved the waterslide. Beta loved them to, but she couldn't go on any because she's not tall enough. :(




No one has gotten sunburned yet! I've been pretty strict about sunscreen so hopefully we'll make it through unscathed.

Greetings from L.A.!

A big howdy here from L.A. - Lower Alabama! We are in Gulf Shores this week on vacation. We've just finished our first full day here. And we are tired! 

We started the day off with a trip to the beach. It was warm and sunny. Alpha mainly played in the sand building sand castles. Beta did that some, but then wanted to come down to the water where Jim was. He eventually got her to sit on the shore where the waves would come up. She loved it! Though she did rub her eyes with her sandy hand and start crying afterwards. (who wouldn't have? That hurt!) She then got sand in her bathing suit. So she did what any uninhibited 4 year old would do. SHE TOOK OFF HER BATHING SUIT!!!!! Jim turned around and said "What are you doing????" I grabbed my towel and put it around her really quickly. We left soon after that. We figured we'd better cut our losses. :)

Alpha looked for shells all over the sand. She got too far away so that caused me to have to walk with her. (Because there really were more shells over where she was.) 

They had lots of fun.

We attended the 11:00 traditional service at Gulf Shores United Methodist church. It was nice. Though I was very tired and almost went to sleep like Beta did! 

After that we tried going to the Hot Air Balloon festival. It rained. It was yucky. And no balloons were flying. We were bummed. 

After that, we came back to the condo. Gramma and the girls went to the beach while Jim and I went and bought groceries and a few other essentials at Wal-mart. This wal-mart has the biggest selection of small-size items I've ever seen! 

Then tonight, Jim and I went out to eat by ourselves while Gramma took the girls to Build-a-Bear. We ate too much, and the girls had lots of fun!

Now it's about 9:00 and we're all about to turn in. We are beat!

Ribbit!

Prequel: We built a pond in our front garden! I feel like we should be on a commercial for Lowe's "Let's build something together." It has rocks and a fountain and even a pretty light at night. Here is a picture of it.










Last night, we discovered we had a frog in our pond! He was soooo cute! And kind of stuck. The poor thing hopped in, but had no way to get out! We had the rocks situated in a such a way so that they overlapped the edge of the pond. He kept trying to hop onto a rock when we discovered him last night, but he couldn't do it. Thankfully there were plenty of bugs in and around the pool to keep him fed. I also moved two rocks to provide him with a way out.

Here is proof of the frog.









And I guess it worked. When the girls and I got home today, the frog was gone! Hopped away. I had to turn and run inside, though, when Alpha said "But he CAN'T hop away, he was our pet!" (Knife through heart! AARRRGGGHHHH!!!!)

I've got 9 and 12 years, respectively.

God answered a prayer for me last night. He helped me to laugh. For reasons I know not, I just have not been happy the past few weeks. I haven't been terribly upset, just in a funk. I thought things would slow down and be more fun after tax season. That hasn't happened. But as for specific things that upset me, I have no clue. There is nothing wrong at work, the kids are healthy, Jim and I are healthy. We sold the organ and were able to use the proceeds to do some fun things. The second mortgage got paid off. So why the sadness? I have no idea.

Anyway, last night after eating at Larry's Pizza, we came home in order to save money and gas. And get the girls to bed early. Well, that didn't happen. Instead, the girls wanted to go outside and ride in their Cinderella car. We got this car from Santa for Christmas '05. They haven't ridden it as much as they would like because every time they want to, its battery needs to be charged.

Well, last night it all came together. And I smiled. And I laughed! And it was some of the most fun we've all had in weeks!

Update: For any readers of this blog who might not have understood the title.....Alpha is 7 so she has 9 years until she's 16. Beta is 4 so she has 12 years until she's 16. May those years take an eternity to get here.

Here is the proof:

Mom Moment

I swear. If I have one more conversation with a member of my immediate family that occurs when we are on opposite sides of the bathroom door, I am going to SCREAM!

A good mother.

I felt like a good mother today. After I got off work and picked the girls up, I suggested we go swimming! Both girls have new bathing suits, cover ups, and towels. We are going to the beach in a couple of weeks so I wanted to test everything out before we actually got down there.

And I felt like a good mom b/c I made my girls happy! And it didn't involve buying them toys.

Here are the bathing beauties after we got home:

Yes, Alpha has a two-piece. But it's a tankini, not a bikini, so it's ok. (though it is yellow polka-dotted!) Daddy was ok with it after a little while....

Beta thankfully chose (*ahem* was "forced" to choose) a nice, pink one-piece with white hearts and girly skirt that covers most of her and looks very age appropriate at 4 years old.

No triangle tops here!

I didn't swim today. I'm pretty sure my stuff all works so there's no need to go gettin' it all out and messin' it up.....hee! hee!

Recital Time!

Yesterday was Beta's very first dance recital! She loved it! She sat very still while I put her hair in a bun and put makeup on her. Then she walked right on in where I had to drop her off and didn't even look back. Or cry. Or do anything to make her happy/sad mother know that she loved her and was very grateful for all those weeks of dance lessons! But I digress......

Beta was very mature and handled everything just fine. She was one of the best dancers in her class. She knew her dances better than almost anyone else.

She also loved all the STUFF she got. Candy, dog purses, more candy, headbands, the list goes on and on. I'm thinking it was probably worth it to her just for the gifts. haha!

On Tuesday of this week she'll start gymnastics. She wants to take gymnastics because her older sister takes gymnastics. Or did. Alpha wants the summer off. At least I'm still only at the dance/gym center 1 hour a week. I don't know what we'll do for fall. We'll figure that out in August....

Oh, and this morning, as we were getting ready for church, Beta asked me if she could wear her dance costume to church. Um, no. Then she asked if she could at least put all her makeup back on. Um, double no. She tried to guilt me into allowing it by saying "but YOU wear makeup, mommy!" I told her that I was an adult and adults can do that sort of thing.