A pleasant trip to the fabric store

Yesterday I thought I'd take the kids with me to the fabric store so I could pick up a couple of supplies for a new project. Simple enough, right? Well, here's how the visit went.

We pull into the parking lot, and as I'm getting BJ out of the car, Ammon says, "Mom, I forgot my shoes." What? How do you forget shoes? Oh well, we're here now and I'm not going back home just for shoes. We'll be in and out quickly anyway. In the store we go, get the baby into the cart, and head straight for the fleece. It only takes me a minute to pick out the colors I want, amidst a few protests of, "No, get the orange!" So far so good. Head over to the thread. Pass the Fall decorations and pick up 3 things my kids knock over. Pick some thread out quickly and put it in the cart. BJ starts fussing, so I hand him the thread to hold. Sissy finds something she wants and starts begging. I tell her "NO" and hit the zipper aisle. Meanwhile, Sissy, although she put it back under threat of leaving the store, keeps whining and getting louder and louder. Where did the thread go? I hand BJ the zippers and start looking for the thread. Nowhere. Oh well, better get the fabric cut. Head to the cutting counter and Sissy sees the item again and starts throwing a full-blown screaming fit (screaming, "I want a package!" she didn't even know what the item was). By this time one of my pieces is cut and so I can't leave it. I also notice a horrid stench that I suspect is coming from one of my children. The store is busy and people are starting to stare. Ammon finds a large rubber band on the ground and starts using it as a slingshot. The baby has chewed off the end of the zipper package and the zipper falls out. Sissy flops and starts kicking and screaming. I tuck her under my arm, go quickly to get more thread, and head for the checkout. Luckily there is no line. But somehow when we are getting rung up, a line of about 5 people forms behind us. The cashier throws away my cut slip (that has the fabric info on it) instead of charging it (perhaps he was distracted by the slimy, chewed-up zipper package,) so has to fish thru the trash for it and ring me up a second time. We head out the door. Phew! I made it.
It's the first time I've been there that they didn't bug me about being on their mailing list. :)

Happy Birthday Russ!

Yesterday was Russell's birthday. As usual, it was a low-key celebration and I had to remind him how old he was. He has been complaining lately about feeling old. I'm pretty sure that most people wouldn't consider thirty-anything old. To me he has an amazing amount of energy and drive to accomplish everything he does. He is a great dad and a great husband! I am a very lucky woman!

We had a yummy dark dark chocolate cake-- we were in fact surprised that the kids even liked it because it wasn't very sweet. But here is the baby boy, upset because we wouldn't give him any more.

Anyway, Russ spent a majority of his birthday working and then building our bathroom vanity (Yea!) I can't wait until it's done and we can officially kick the kids out of our little downstairs bathroom. I will post pictures of the whole bathroom when it's done.

A visit to the zoo

We had a fun trip to the zoo yesterday, after the kids were fairly patient with waiting while we shopped for some eco-friendly home remodeling supplies. They have a dinosaur exhibit right now that was really fun!

Ammon didn't like the loud roar of T-Rex. Sissy was quite scared of it. She was scared most of time at the dinosaur, actually, although on the way home she said it was her favorite part of the zoo. One of the dinosaurs they showed eating another dinosaur. I was trying to get her to talk about the long necks on the dinosaurs, but she was stuck on the fact that she thought they would bite her neck.

These pictures are kind of dark, but there is a bear right on the other side of

the glass that was pacing back and forth.Weird picture, I know. I like how both the bear and Sissy are sticking their tongues out.

Sissyisms

I'm a big grill!

Can I have some bezert?

I don't want my egg joke.
Where do I put the cracks?

Can I sit in the shopping carpet?

I left this (a necklace) outside a long long time ago!
(me: You mean, yesterday?)
Yeah, like a monkey!

My Baby Bastion

Back when I was in Utah for my girl's getaway, I promised Nina I would post of picture of my Bastion. He was born on June 10th 2004, and lived only a couple of hours. It is hard to remember sometimes that he is part of our family, but I am so grateful for eternal families and that he will be mine forever. This year on his birthday I didn't even remember until the middle of the day when I was running errands and had to pull over because I suddenly remembered and then burst into tears. We make it a tradition to visit the hospital on that day every year and donate a blanket and outfit to the grief room. When Kerry called me the other day and asked me what to say in a card to people who had lost a baby, I opened up Bastion's box (where we keep memorabilia) which I hadn't looked into in ages. It was surprisingly hard to look at all the pictures and his little clothes and blanket. That's partly because I felt guilty at how little I think about him. I want to remember, not forget.