Catch up time 2

I purposely scheduled our family pictures for the first session of the day, 10am, because generaly everyone is in a good mood at that time. Generally. Let's just say, Thursday night / Friday morning was a rough night. Both kids had lingering colds and couldn't get comfortable, their coughs waking them up and taking ages before settling back down. I finally caved and gave them both Children's Dimetap mixed with juice - and I gotta tell you, it helped. I know kids under 6 are not "supposed" to take it, but I grew up on it and look how fab I turned out... Anyhow, the lack of sleep made for some puffy eyes and dark circles - perfect for a family portrait.

Oh, yes, and Ben was an absolute monster. We arrived about 30 minutes early so we went to Petsmart next door to waste time. Both kids had a blast running around the store checking out the animals. Ben was particularly enamored with the gold fish in all the tanks and Emma had a blast watching the mice and the birds. When it was time to go, neither child put up a fight and I thought, "Sweet, this is going to be great!" We went into the photo studio and headed right to the bathrooms so the kids could wash their petsmart hands and use the facilities. I don't know why as I swear I have never dropped him, but Ben is TERRIFIED of public changing tables. He started screaming and didn't stop for our entire photo shoot. We could do absolutely nothing to calm him down. You would have thought he was one of those African tribesman who don't want you to take their picture as the believe the camera is stealing your soul. This kid kicked and screamed, and wiggled and thrashed, and bucked and punched - nothing, not goldfish crackers nor juice would calm him down.

Emma on the other hand was an absolute peach, smiling when she was supposed to and showing concern for her upset brother, "Mama, what's wrong with Benny? Why's he crying?" ...if only I knew...

These were the best of the family shots. No, really, the BEST ones. If only I could have saved all the ones we deleted you would get a real sense of how the shoot went!

Needless to say, the morning exhausted us and we simply stayed home the rest of the day and watched movies snuggled on the sofa...

On the drive home we were stopped at a red light and Emma said, "That's the store that sells fire." Huh? we inquired? "That store right there, that's the fire store." We were stopped out in front of a Firestone Tires - there were no "flames" or "fires" in their logo or their window, simply the word "Firestone" in red letters over the storefront. I asked her how she knew it was a fire store and she said it is right there in the red letters. Apparently my 3 3/4 year old can read! Daddy and I were completely caught off guard and so excited for her! I guess it is now time to start working with the words in the books. She already identifies the letters and the sounds they make (phonics), time to move on!

My first 5k in 21 years went better than I expected on Saturday morning. I ran it in 35 minutes and 13 seconds not stopping to walk. I came in first for my age (I was the only 39 year old - haha) and was quite proud of my performance (although an almost 6 months pregnant Mama beat me!!). It was lots of fun and I am looking forward to my next one in 4 weeks. Must keep training!

After the race we all went to Henry's house for smoothies. My friend brought her Vitamix blender and went crazy making yummy concoctions. It is now safe to say that I REQUIRE a Vitamix. If only they weren't 300 bucks!

Saturday afternoon the kids were once again a whiney mess. I actually even had the thought, "I wonder if God makes my kids miserable on purpose Saturday afternoon so it is easier for me to go to work on Sunday and Monday!" Sheesh.

My favorite text from Daddy while I was away this weekend was: "Em just asked me why I always fill Benny's milk 1st! She said I should always do hers 1st, THEEEEN benny." ha!

I then got a picture text of Emma on Monday wearing a lovely church dress. She is on a girlie girl kick and needs to wear a dress every day now. She screams, "I WANNA WEAR A PRETTY DRESS!!"

My favorite Emma-ism of the day: Out of the blue as we were driving in the car she announced, "I want a kitty cat for my birthday. Can you get me one?" I questioned whether she wanted a real kitty cat or a toy kitty cat and she looked at me with disgust, "Mama, a toy kitty cat!" Duh, Mommy, duh.