Sisters

A bit of trivia for all my readers outside of Arkansas. Here in Northwest Arkansas we are actually part of the Tulsa, Oklahoma Mission, being only two hours from there and three and a half from Little Rock. Well, while I knew there were sisters in the Tulsa Mission, in the past five years we have never had any over here, until this month. We now have sisters! Funny that I put an exclamation point there cause to be honest I never really cared. We fed the Elders about once every other month and they were fine. The last few were great because they were all big sci-fi geeks like Jeff, so everyone had lots to talk about. Wanting to be different, we always serve the missionaries breakfast food; waffles, pancakes, sausage, eggs, bacon. It is cheap, easy, filling, and different. But would girls want that? I mean I like it, but girls can cook and generally have a more refined pallet right? Well I went ahead and made waffles and the ladies seemed to like it, but you never can tell with missionaries. I greatly enjoyed the conversation and maturity of the sisters. The evening went well and I hope the sisters enjoyed theme selves and I plan to have them over again. Okay so SUPER boring post. This is why I don't post daily. I promise to devote some nap time tomorrow to an installment of Things That Must Go, and don't forget to tune in on Friday for the giveaway announcement.

Intervention

I think it may be time for my friends and family to hold a hoodie intervention. They may need to retain the services of Clinton and Stacy (from What Not to Wear,) because I need professional help. It is not that I think hoodies are the height of fashion. They are just comfy, cute, and have pockets. Last count and I have seven in rotation. So since I know this is a problem why do I keep buying them? Well, I can't stop. Yesterday the GAP had a 40% off everything sale, now how could I pass up a purple hoodie on sale? Do you have a fashion violation that you are aware of? What would your loved ones say?

Sunshine in October

I just returned from a kiddie group soccer game put together by my lovely friend Jill. Never have I known a woman so devoted to giving her children amazing experiences. Jill is a superior example of motherhood that I am grateful to have in my life. My memory is a bit fuzzy on how we met, but it seems like ages ago. Jill was one of the first friends I made here in Arkansas. We have been each other's visiting teacher at different times, she threw me a shower for Max. I remember how helpful she was when I had Max. She took me to Target a few weeks before he was born and showed me around the baby section, teaching me what to buy and basically raising my parenting level to competent. It was so helpful! Jill never has a bad thing to say about anyone, (I am shocked we have anything to talk about!) I never feel judged around her and that says a lot cause she knows so much about me. A few months ago when I went crazy I was driving around not sure what to do crying and driving, generally going nowhere, and when I called her she directed me to her house and took me in. She then watched my kids while Jeff took me home. Jill has excellent taste. Her house is lovely, warm and always smells good. I know that last one sounds weird, but houses' smell, some good some not so much. One nice thing about Jill is she is married to Nate. We seem to be hit and miss with couple friends, but Jeff and I love Jill and Nate. We even went to Dallas together, 10 hours in a car with me will test any one's friendship. Two years ago when our power went out in the great ice storm we were taken in by the Messicks and kept warm. (Hence the above picture.) These guys love game nights and we are so excited every time we get asked over. Jill rocks.

Fight Entropy

I must compose at least two or three blog posts in my head each day. I spend a lot of time mentally adding things to Things That Must Go. Yet, my laziness usually keeps me from posting. I have a goal this week of posting something every day. This will be a small way for me to fight my laziness, mental discipline if you will. This week will be reserved for my thoughts and musings, and will not be about the kids unless something spectacular happens. I think I will also add a give-a-way at the end of the week so watch out for that also.

Random thoughts for the day....

1. Despite my new calling as ward Librarian, I have absolutely NO power to order or do anything other then make copies and hand out chalk. This was made VERY clear to me on the first day, so I am making a conscience effort not to care. So that being said, it was not my fault that there was no toner today.

2. I have always been rather snarky about Fast and Testimony meeting. I appreciate a really good testimony, but those seem to be few and far between. I often feel that it is more like Open Mic Night. The worst is after youth conference or the camps when all the weepy girls get up cause they were coached to. Yuck! I do like it when someone gets up there and says something crazy. Like a lady a few years ago who talked about the Negros in Northwest Arkansas. I mean who doesn't love a bit of entertainment? Anyhoo, I was wrongly skeptical today when a reactivated lady in our ward got up, I was genuinely moved by the loveliness of her testimony and will now try to rethink my preconceived ideas of people and their testimonies.

3. Having won all the hair products this weekend, I decided to blow dry my hair. This is something I do so infrequently that I actually had to search for the dryer. It looked fine, but I guess it looked fantastic to everyone else, cause everyone was complementing me on my new haircut. All everyone said to me today was about my hair, which leads me to the following possible conclusions...
a. my hair looked better then I thought.
b. my hair looks so awful most of the time, that people feel the need to encourage me with praise when it does look good.
c. most people have nothing else to say to me and this is the best they can come up with. (I know this sounds snarky, but I have been known to do it to others.)
d. I am a very forgettable person, and people aren't sure how my hair looked last time they saw me.
e. my hair looked better then the fat rolls beneath it.
Honestly I think it is mostly c. I come to this conclusion because I am in the library and I have noticed that many people feel they need to add chit chat to their chalk orders. Don't get me wrong, I like the chat, but if you have nothing to say to me that is cool too.

As a special treat for you all I am enclosing a recent picture, as I have noticed that I don't have many on here of me. Max took this last week. It is small, cause I look fat and the smallness helps with that.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!

It has been quite the week of luck and prizes. Last week I attended the grand opening of an Ulta store, (it is like a big Sephora, but with less expensive brands and more drugstore stuff,) at the Promenade. The lady in line in front of me got a $50 gift card, I got a $5 card and the lady behind me got another $50 gift card. Oh well. I bought some stuff and filled out random stuff. Then proceeded to forget all about it. Well I got a phone call on Friday saying that I won a gift basket in the drawing! Whoot! So I head down not sure what to expect. When I inform the ladies at the register that I am here for my prize I do notice this HUGE basket behind the counter fill with awesome stuff like a CHI straightener and full size perfumes. I was hoping that was mine, nope, the ladies went back and brought mine out. It was full of lots of nice stuff; all their own brand of hair products. The thing is, I don't really use a lot of product. So hey, free stuff, but I just hope this wasn't my life's best win.

Also a winner this week was Jeff's co-worker. Apparently this guy and his family eat a Chick-Fil-A a lot. So much so that they we in a special exclusive club and won a free dinner for family and friends! And we are their friends! So here we are at Chick-Fil-A yesterday, the tables were set up for us and menus laid out. Our orders were taken at the table, and weirdly enough Max was not seated next to either Jeff or me. Well not to worry for Max. Not known to us at the time, Max just pointed to what he wanted when the waitress came to him. You can always count on Max to take care of his own food. I love free food. We had so much food. Yum Yum Yum!

Sunday Morning

Baby Alert!

I see that Mae's Birthday post got hijacked by a grandparent's visit post, so I think I need to share a bit about my favorite girl. Mae went to the doctor and is in the 50% for weight and height. She is a bit of a chunk, but it is all of the fun to squish kind. Mae is one and already has her own distinct personality. She wants to do things her own way. She wants to feed herself and dress herself and she gets frustrated when we have to help her.

She wants to know what is going on and follows me everywhere I go. When Jeff or I go into the other room we often send out baby alerts to let the other know we are being followed. When she hears these alerts she speeds up cause she knows she is about to be caught. She loves to take the books off our bookshelves and loves to play with toys. She can spend an hour or so just playing in Max's room.

Grandpa Tobler amused her with making a clicking noise and she was determined to figure out how he did it. She would stick her hand in your mouth trying to solve the mystery. This led to me almost choking when I yawned and she shoved her arm in my mouth. She has now mastered the sound and loves to make it.

Mae isn't perfect she makes a really ugly squawk when she is mad. She is the world's lightest sleeper. She sleeps not in her pretty nursery, but in the spare room downstairs and wakes up if you try to go downstairs at all. She still loves Max. Last night she and Max were in the bath and Max decided to spout water in her face. She laughed so hard I was afraid she was gonna fall over into the water and drown. We all love Mae and look forward to what the next year brings us.