Money spent on useless, non-list items at Wal-Mart: $50
Gas money to get to and from Wal-Mart: $8.00
Having groceries delivered to my door for a $10 fee, not taking 2 or 3 kids to Wal-Mart, not driving to Wal-Mart, and not spending money on useless crap while at Wal-Mart:
These have got to be the funnest, cutest, most whimsical crafts I've ever made. Okay, I haven't made that many crafts, so there isn't much competition, but I'm sure these will be at the top of the list for quite a while. 
Look at the cute PopTarts. They were a little tricky to get sewn on, but with my mad sewing skills, I had them done in 15 minutes flat. Okay, that's a lie. More like 2 hours. But still, so worth it. You can see the cookie that Emma sewed. It's the one with the sprinkle face. Maggie helped too, but the chocolate cookies she did are awaiting the purchase of some brown thread before they can be finished.
And a close up of the handiwork. I also whipped up a cute bag with a cute button closure to keep all the goodies in. I think these will be excellent sacrament meeting attention keepers. Nice and quiet, until the fighting starts anyway.
I have to give a special thanks to DesignMom for finding and posting these for us Molly's to copy.
Okay, enough anticipation. You can relax, I'm back.
We decided to spend conference weekend in Downtown Chicago with the girls. We rode the train from our stop to Union Station. It was quite an adventure. 
The girlies on the train. Maggie was pretty excited about it. And she said she wasn't scared at all.
We stayed at Embassy Suites on Columbus, near Navy Pier. The rooms are nice, and the pool is inside, so the kids were happy. Gretta woke up Saturday morning and couldn't get enough of the tall buildings outside our window. She stood there and yelled at them for a good 30 minutes.
Gretta and the girls looking at the city streets below.
Saturday morning we walked to Millennium Park to see the Bean. We also stopped and got ice cream and donuts to appease the kids on the long, long walk. Afterwards, we hopped in a taxi, which was very cool according to Maggie, and headed to the Shedd Aquarium. We spent all day there. It was exciting to see all the sea life. The girls, and Sugar Daddy and I, especially liked the dolphin show.
Contrary to this photo, the dolphins don't actually fly. They are neat to see up close, though.
This is the Watertower in Downtown. This was on our long, long walk back to the hotel.
Sunday we spent at Navy Pier and the Children's museum. I think it was more fun for Sugar Daddy to play with all the stuff than it was even for the kids. But with the nice weather, there were a ton of people out in force. Joggers, cyclists, dog walkers, families, it was nice to see there is human life in Chicago after such a cold winter.
And finally, Saturday night we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Maggie was terrified of the animals. I mean terrified. She was screaming bloody murder. But we dragged her in there and made her have fun, whether she wanted to or not. I wonder where she gets that from?
It was a pretty fun weekend. A lot of walking. A lot. But the girls were troopers, and handled it all very well. Now I need to catch up on laundry and dishes and such.
Please leave a message, or come back tomorrow for a wacky weekend update.
Beep.
I think this is my second post using the title of a cereal, but what the hay. Let's get to the good stuff.
Sugar Daddy and myself at the game. Notice his new hat. Yes, they make one in his size.
The old skool scoreboard. This think is awesome. I had no idea that there were people in there updating all the stats and such. This is baseball purism. I also found out there is no "bull pen", which is strange I guess, and that if you sit in the bleachers below this sign, you shouldn't take kids or those sensitive to the party crowd. 'Nuff said. 
And we were there to see the Cubbies break the sweep against the Brewers. I guess we really are their lucky charms. Hence the title, get it? 
And the perennial sign shot. I wish I could take credit for this shot, but I think the fact that I already told you they beat the Brewers, and this sign clearly says Pirates, you would catch me in a lie. So I give credit to this guy. You don't need to click the link because I don't know him, but I don't want to steal his work. You know, the whole copyright thing, yadda yadda yadda.
I have to give a special shout out to ESPLeeAnn for her immense knowledge of both the sport and the field. It's always good to have a true fan along for the ride.
So there you have it. The blog fodder I promised. I hope you weren't disappointed. Later.
I got nothin. Nothin, I say.
But luckily, I have potential blog fodder for tomorrow.
You see, it's nice to have friends in high, and low(?), places.
We got free tickets to a Cubs game. Yippee.
They play basketball, right Meg? All I know is we have free tickets, and a free parking pass, which alone saves us, are you ready, $65! $65 to park at Wrigley field! I.HAD.NO.IDEA!!!
Wait, if it's basketball, why do they play on a field? Hmm. I guess I'll find out.
So tune in tomorrow for a hopefully entertaining story about my inaugural basketball game in the Windy City.
Later.
Did anybody watch DWTS last night? I'm all about abbreviating it, too. The title, that is, not my watching it. Although after last nights "performance" by Kylie "tranny" Minogue, I'll certainly be more careful about what goes into my brain. It made me speechless. And that's a hard thing to do with me.
via Dotspotter
Shouldn't somebody have been there to tell her that she looked like a fat tranny? I wonder if her drag nickname would be "All Beef Patty"? That would be mine if I was ever a drag queen, so don't get any ideas about stealing that. I mean seriously, what was with that wig? I understand she has battled breast cancer in the past, but that was what, like 2 or 3 years ago, and her hair has grown out since. So why on earth would she do that to herself? And why oh why would a prestigious institution such as DWTS let such a mediocre performer on stage, especially when she is clearly in the midst of some sort of breakdown? I had higher hopes for DWTS, and for the caliber of performer they could muster up, but it seems as though that train has left the station, and no credible, actual performer would be caught dead doing that show. And after last night, that was the exclamation point on that scenario.
Ah, 'nuff said.
Carry on.
It's raining here. A lot. A really lot. Like, as in if it ever rained this much in Utah, the weather persons would have nothing to talk about because the drought would be over. Honestly, I don't remember ever seeing rain like this. Ever. It comes down in sheets. For hours. Yesterday I had to use my windshield wipers on the highest setting. I don't think I've ever had to do that.
And now we hear that the Des Plaines River, (it's pronounced just like it's written, no fancy French accents here in the Midwest), is at flood stage. Goody. Luckily for me, we live a few miles from the actual river, but a lot of our Ward lives out that way, so not so lucky for them. I think the rain is supposed to let up today, so hopefully the river will subside a smidge.
*photo courtesy of Red Cross
*Oh, yeah, and we're pregnant
I've got to give her credit for trying. Notice what is the most expensive thing on the list. You'd think I was making her pick it up with her bare hands or something. 
Here is the finale of the week of crafts. We took painters canvas and wrapped it with cute fabric and then stapled it to the back. Super easy, super cheap. The kids love them. 
These are for my room/bathroom.
This is Emma's. It matches her room colors almost perfectly.
And then Maggie's. Butterflies of course.
So that's it for this week. Next week we're back in school, and hopefully back to "normal". In the meantime, I'll be vacuuming, dusting, and just generally trying to clean up after myself.
Poor, poor Maggie.
She and Emma were playing, ie, screwing around, with the seat belt on Wednesday night. Emma threw the seatbelt in the air, and it "inexplicably" hit Maggie in the forehead. You can imagine the blood. It was running into her eyes, and it was all over her hands. Thankfully we were near our destination, Wal-Mart, where else. I rushed a bloodied Maggie inside to swarms of onlookers, and started cleaning her up. In the meantime, Sugar Daddy was on the phone trying to figure out what ER we should take her to for stitches. New insurance, new town, you get it.
Turns out, we don't need no stinkin' stitches. 
All we needed was this. A waterproof bandage, covered by a Curious George Band-Aid. Because all we needed to cover up was this:
The crying is because some of the patients hair was pulled out during bandage removal. Sorry 'bout that. The said "injury" was only a tiny little spot on her forehead. But I'm tellin' ya, that sucker bled like crazy. I was certain under all that blood was going to be some serious damage. 
And whilst all this doctoring was going on this morning, what with the bandage removal and crying and such, Emma slumbered peacefully until 9:50 AM. She is not a sleeper-inner. She's up with the sun. So I guess our crafting this week, and perhaps her penchant for Top Chef and Ultimate Recipe Showdown at 10:00 PM have put her over the edge. Good thing Spring Break is almost over so she can relax.
I'll post pics of our latest craft adventure tomorrow.
I love getting mail. At least the kind that isn't weighted down with a "please return you check so we can take all your money" envelope inside. This kind of mail is the very best of the best. It comes in a box with a big "Q" on the side. We all know what that means. And it's delivered by a nice man in a brown uniform, that says things like "Ma'am" and "Y'all". I mean really, that is what mail should be all about. It makes me feel like a real grown up, which we all know is a warped sense of self, because I'm certainly not grown up at all. But on to the contents!
Here is the "Q" box, in all its glory. Inside were foam peanuts, which I'm sure I'll be finding for days to come, as they seem to have permanently attached themselves to various parts of my house, and also another box taped to high heaven on all sides. It was like the Fort Knox of mail. Now my interest we really piqued. Is that the correct usage of that word? I think so, but if not, let me know and I'll promptly change it.
And here is the beauty that lay sleeping inside. A cool stained glass bouncing dragonfly. Oh my! I'm pretty sure the kids were entertained by this for a good 5 or 10 minutes, which is some kind of record for something not animated or containing a princess of some sort. It really is cool to pull the little hanging string and then watch it bounce and flap its wings. I think when it warms up enough, I'll hang it outside over the patio. For now it has found a home hanging from the formal dining room chandelier. 
And I like this picture, because it shows how intent Gretta is on grabbing that string. I also like that it shows off her newest obsession, Backpack from Dora. All 3 girls have used this backpack, but Gretta is by far the most territorial over it. She wore it all day yesterday.
So, thanks, Momma. You're the best. The kids also enjoyed their color-on T's and Sugar Daddy has gobbled up at least 5 suckers. But honestly, we don't need you to send us gifts for letting you stay here. You can stay for free, anytime. We don't usually expect house guests to leave us treats. We do, however, expect quarters on the counters for bathroom usage. I'm just putting that out there for future reference.
Since we're off school This.Whole.Week, I've decided to be a good little mom and make sure my kids have something to do each day. Yesterday we started off with a bang by making foam board doll houses. They turned out pretty cute, but were way more work than I had anticipated. Cutting the foam board dulled my craft knife in 2 seconds flat, so I was left using my fabric cutter and mostly just sort of bending and ripping it. No biggie, they're just kids. But since we had plenty of cute paper to cover the board, and plenty of cute magazine cut outs for furniture and accessories, it all came out fine. 
Here's Emma and her friends Shivvani and Mary Kate. Partners in crime. 
And here's the finished product. It was funny to see how the girls reacted to not having any "rules" for what they could put in their houses. They kept asking if they could use this or that, and I just kept reiterating the fact that when it comes to crafts, you just do what you like. No rules. Towards the end of the project, they really got the gist of this, and just started cutting and pasting whatever they wanted. It was fun to see what they picked out.
Thanks to NieNie and Cookie Magazine for the inspiration.
We were successfully visited by the Bunny. He delivered many a sweet treat for the children.
Mom may have snuck some, too. 
He also delivered cute matchy matchy dresses for the girls. 
Here are the girls opening their baskets. Do you love Gretta's 'do? 
And here's Miss Gigi showing me an extreme close up of her new bunny. She says "Ooh ooh, Aah aah", like it's a monkey. Whatever. It's soft and fluffy, what does she care that it's not her toy monkey?
We were treated to a special choir program at church, for which we were 20 minutes late due to dad ironing his new shirt and pants. After church we had linner (lunch/dinner, get it?) at our friends house. Ribs with Au Gratin potatoes and rolls. Very Eastery. I made a yummy cool whip and pineapple angel food cake recipe that was featured in this months Kraft Foods magazine/mailer. Very delish.
Pretty much a regular Easter Sunday, except this was the first "real" Holiday spent away from our families. It's definitely a strange feeling being away from "home". It's not like homesickness like in college or girls' camp, it's more than that and less than that all at the same time. I enjoy having my little family traditions started, but I miss the chaos that is "Grandma's house". I guess it just makes the memories that much sweeter. Sniff sniff.
*I seem to have used an exceptional amount of "" , (), and / in this post. Feel free to report punctuation overuse to the appropriate authorities.
Gretta enjoyed the slides, too. 
But she especially loved the swing. She kept putting her arms out the leg holes and laughing her butt off. She's such a silly kid. 
Maggie getting her slide on.
Emma showing how "brave" she is. Such a dork. Ah, Wal-Mart.
You may remember my post yesterday about not getting my kids dressed to go to Wal-Mart. Well, I went. And I did. Get them dressed, that is. But that doesn't mean that we didn't enjoy our Wally World experience any less.
First, let me tell you that our WM is in Antioch, Il. Which is a teeny tiny border town full of lakes, and fishermen, of both water and ice, and one big honkin' high school. It's a weird town. And since it's a good 15 minutes away, their weirdness obviously has no influence on my cute little town.
So I make my way from the very back of the parking lot, because we all know that when you go to WM, there is never anywhere to park but in the way back. And as I'm walking, I realize Gretta has lost yet another binky. Now for a little history. Meg and Gretta are a horrible binky tracking team. Gretta loses them, and Meg doesn't notice. We lost 2 on Friday. So the one that wanted to stay put in the WM parking lot was our last. No matter, I'll just buy 2 more while inside. So I stop at Dunkin' Donuts to buy donut holes and a Diet Pepsi, (because I'm back on the hooch), reciprocate the Greeter's friendly smile, and head to the baby isle. I find the cutest double pack of Mam's with pink and brown spots, and I can't believe it, they're the last ones! Heaven! I open the package and insert binky bliss into Gretta's open mouth. Now we can shop til we drop. Which is nothing compared to Meg and Jill, but I have my own shopping standards.
Skip ahead an hour or so. I'm at the checkout line. Of course, the only one that is open, and I'm 3rd in line. Figures. I start unloading my full-to-the-brim cart onto the moving belt, and realize, again, Gretta has no binky. I search my surrounding area. Nope. I search through the remaining goods in the cart. Nope. Pockets. Nope. DOH! Gone. So I have a dilemma. I'm half unloaded, and there are people behind me. Do I just nix the whole binky thing altogether, or just buy the one remaining one and call it a day? Of course I just buy the one, I need at least one binky to get her through the night. So all the way home, I'm just mad. Not at anyone or really even about the binky in particular, just mad at WM and parking, and Antioch, and the car in front of me and yadda yadda yadda.
So I arrive home, unload all the groceries, and go to lay Gretta down for her afternoon "nap". Nap meaning 15 minutes of her yelling from her crib that she is NOT taking a nap. After unloading groceries, I start picking up the toy room. Toys, garbage, shoes, socks, dollar bills(?), and, what is this? 2 binkies! Hallelujah! Suddenly I'm a happy woman. I'm easy to please, apparently.
Moral of the story: Don't blame Antioch for crappy Wal-Mart parking and don't blame WM for lost binkies when all along they've been hiding right under your nose.
Is that even a moral? Probably not, but next time I'm up thataway, I'll try my best not to be so nasty about it. I really do love the WM.
It would seem I have successfully hacked up a lung. I'm thinking I may need that later in life.
I love being sick. I held this cold off for as long as I could, but after Team Keli left, and I entered my post family funk, it hit me full force. Last night I slumbered peacefully in my NyQuil coma, but as soon as my alarm went off this morning, the coughing began again. I've started to make a kind of game out of it. I like to see what color the phlegm will be. Hey, I always look on the bright side, you know that.
Now my house has gone to hell, and my kids look like orphans, and I have no energy to care about any of that. I'm out of Diet Pepsi, and chocolate, and I need to go to the store. What's a girl to do? I guess I'll throw on the same clothes I've been wearing since Monday, stained shirt and all, and head to Wal-Mart. I may not even have to get the baby dressed. It is only Wal-Mart after all, she'll fit right in in her diaper and unsnapped onesie. On top of all that, I have to think about what's for dinner tonight. That alone causes a coughing fit, almost as if in attempt to bypass the dinner making all together. I guess I can always pick up a whole roasted chicken for dinner. That's always a crowd pleaser. Peel up some taters, and cook some frozen corn, and that there's a meal. I feel better already.
I hope you have a coughing fit free day. And just in case you don't, check out the phlegm and think of me.
Well, it's come and gone. Team Keli visited this weekend, and we had a total blast. The entire weekend was packed with excitement, as it always is when 5 girls get together. But first things first. I got new furniture! Yay! It arrived a mere hours before TK, so it was close, but it made it. I'm glad, since we needed the extra space for the kiddies to play. 
Here it is, the blue suede sofa and the circle chair. I never thought I would own anything blue. I thought I was too traumatized from Mommas house all those years with blue carpet, furniture, drapes, you name it. But I guess not. I love it.
Now, on to the weekend. Of course, many, many fun things were had, said, and seen, but there were a few highlights for each of us. This weekend included:
Here's Team Keli, sans Keli. Jill with Gracie, Momma, Kelli, and Meg. It was tough letting them leave. And I'm not sure when I'll get to the point where I don't cry all day after they do, but it's worth it to have them here. So thanks for everything, gals. I love you guys!
I actually met someone that does NOT have internet service. Nothing. Not at home. Not at work, nothing. I didn't think they made those kind of people any more.
I started thinking about what I would do without internet access.
Here is my baby girl. She likes to hide anywhere, these days. But one of her favorite spots is under the computer desk. And apparently she likes to chew on pencils, too.
Today she learned to say "uh oh". She thinks she's pretty smart. 
And here is Emma. Do you love the hat? I bought that for me in Halifax, (read, humidity and naturally curly hair cut into a short A-line not a good mix), but she has usurped it. 
