thank goodness for ramen noodles

imagine this....

i go to kroger on a saturday and stock up on everything from turkey to toothpaste.  they are out of milk.  how is a grocery store ever out of milk?  it's beyond me, but we can't function without several gallons of milk at all times because, hello?  cereal doesn't work without milk.  chocolate milk doesn't work without milk.  oreos don't work without milk.  my children don't work without milk.  so....i go back to kroger on sunday to get some milk.  and then i remember that wes has to take snack on monday.  so i get snacks while i am there, too.  so, the snack and milk problem is solved.  

on monday morning, the dear, sweet husband tells me that he needs some evaporated milk and mouthwash and deodorant.  because apparently he didn't notice that i went to the store the last TWO days, and he felt that i needed to make an appearance yet again.  in case you don't remember, i hate wal mart, so if i can get it at kroger...i will.  plus, they double coupons.  anyway, monday morning after i get some stress out at the gym, i walk back in kroger to the amazement of the sushi guy standing there who sees me more than his own family because yeah...i live at kroger.  i get the needed items, and yes i do consider mouthwash and deodorant necessities for the husband.  i could do without evaporated milk, but i'm not sure i'd want to live with a husband who didn't get his coffee like he wanted it in the mornings.  that would be like telling me to drink my chocolate milk without the chocolate.  while i'm there, i notice the easter M&Ms are on display.  you can't just walk by the easter M&Ms.  the holiday M&Ms are the absolute best.  i don't know why they taste better than the regular ones, but they so do.  and one of my friends and i decided that the easter pastel ones are the best.  so i had to grab a few bags of those as well.  yay for easter M&Ms!  so after i get a quick shower, i head to pick up reed at school.  as he climbs in the car singing the all-time classic "twinkle, twinkle traffic light," i notice a note stapled to his bag.  said note is informing me that reed is in charge of snack for wednesday.  cuss word!  

so here it is tuesday, and i am about to go to kroger for the 4th time in 4 days!  i gave you all of that background to explain why we will be living in a tent in the near future.  aside from the fact that i go to the grocery store every day of my life....it seems that the cost of everything in that grocery store goes up from one day to the next!  it is so stinking expensive to feed my people.  people who are starving 1 hour after they eat a meal.  people who eat pb and j sandwiches in the middle of the day to hold them over.  people who eat bowls of cereal after supper so they don't starve while sleeping.  it makes me wonder...what's more important...college or supper???  kidding.  kind of.  

however, there is a bright spot in the midst of all the hunger over here.  reed has a favorite meal.  and without hesitation, he will tell you every time that he is hungry that he wants "noodles."  ramen noodles. without a doubt the cheapest thing in all of kroger.  and then he pulls up a chair and stares longingly at the microwave while he waits.  he's a little obsessed.  

if i could talk everybody else into eating ramen noodles once a day, maybe everybody will still be able to go college.  or maybe kroger will just let us pitch our tent in their parking lot.  

happy teeth

i guess february is teeth month at every school everywhere.  william and wes both came home with new toothbrushes and toothpaste.  reed came home with all sorts of tooth projects, and he will be sure to tell you that you need to brush your teeth "two times a day for two hours so they won't be sad and brown."  i think something got lost in translation somewhere, but nonetheless he is happy to brush his teeth.  for now.

they capped off teeth month by going on a field trip to the dentist.  they watched a bear get his teeth cleaned and then watched a monkey get some x-rays.

this was not the dentist that we go to, and he didn't understand why there was no movie on the ceiling for the bear to watch.  i think we've been spoiled by our dentist!!

this picture has nothing to do with teeth, but this is reed's favorite girl in his class.  her name is sadie, and they were deep in 3 year old conversation when i snapped this pic.  i love it because she looks a lot like my high school bff's little girl, mary laine.

this is mary laine.  see??  it's kind of weird, right?

what can i say?  he has good taste in the ladies.  as a bonus, he likes to vacuum.

and let's not forget.  he likes to brush his teeth, too.  for two hours.  twice a day.  some girl will be lucky to catch him one day!!

his first lead out

y'all remember having lead out before the big dance in high school.  everybody is all fancified (is that a word?), parents are all crowded around with cameras, and each couple walks out to an introduction.  i'm having an anxiety attack just thinking about it.  i've played in tennis matches and basketball games with tons of spectators....that's different.  please don't ever put me up in front of a group of people and make their eyes look at me.  stress me out!!!  today for valentine's day, the first graders got to experience that!!

it seemed to me that all the girls really loved it.  all the boys, however, weren't loving it so much!!  :)  but they did look cute!

william and ella

william, ella, and will

knox and william ("please....is this over yet?")

a seriously cute rehearsal dinner picture for at least one of these boys!  jack, knox, william, and noah

i can say that i'm very proud of the fact that i'm now just one of those parents with a camera!!  happy valentine's day!

things they say

reed is my grocery shopping partner most of the time.  he knows where everything is, and he has opinions about what we should get and what we shouldn't.  a few mornings ago we were in the dairy department picking up some eggs.  he likes to open them and "push" on them to make sure they are ok. i picked up a dozen and opened it to find about 6 busted eggs.

reed:  "oh no!  some of those are crappin'!" (cracking?)

so i picked up about five different cartons and all had cracked eggs in them.  

reed:  "they all have eggs that are crap-ted." (cracked?)
me:  "yeah.  we should tell somebody that works here that they have an egg problem, shouldn't we?"

wrong thing to say.  i was just talking.  he took it literally.  so as we passed a skinny, young guy on the way out with a blue kroger shirt on....

reed:  "hey.  y-y-you got some crappin' eggs!!"

i bet that's the first time in his life that he's ever had somebody tell him that!


*****************************************************

in the middle of a wrestling match in the den, i overhear from the kitchen:

william:  "get your phalanges off of me, wes!"
wes:  "you get your phalanges off!"
william:  "do you even know what phalanges are?"
wes:  "no.  but i don't want them on me!"


******************************************************


now imagine the following said in a 5 year old, southern drawl.  (sin = seeyun)

dear god,
we all just sin and sin and sin.  and if you didn't send somebody to take it away from us, we would all just go to hell.  but....you sent us jesus.  so.....thanks.
amen.

this was wes' prayer a few nights ago.  i've never heard the word "hell" come out of a 5 year old before.  but, he used it correctly, and it makes my heart happy that he at least somewhat understands the concept.  now i've just got to work on the 3 year old saying "crap" to the kroger boy!

in case you were wondering....

mississippi state is not good at ice hockey.  at all.  not even a little bit.  even though we could not even get the puck on our end of the floor (court? rink?)....we definitely had the cutest fans!

i don't know anything about hockey, but i found myself doing the same thing as everybody else around us....hoping for a fight!  i guess if you can't score, the next best thing is seeing somebody get tossed into the wall.  in other news, our tennis team won this weekend.  so....we're just going to forget about hockey over here and cheer on our tennis boys!!  go dawgs!

a whole lot of randomness

i don't think it's ever going to quit raining.  i have forgotten what sunshine looks like!  william got a telescope for christmas, and we have not had one single non-cloudy night since christmas for him to use it.  poor kid.  however, you can see straight into the neighbor's kitchen and even identify what they are eating for supper!!  :)  ha!  i was the one that discovered that.  i didn't let him in on that little secret.  i'd rather him sit around and wait on the stars to come out!!

speaking of rain, doesn't everybody's back door look like this?  muddy, wet piles of clothes are normal, right?

and since there is no sunshine or dry ground to play on while william swims, we have taken to doing homework in the front seat while we wait.  he's not a fan.  go ahead and start praying for me now.  please.  thanks.

we found out on friday night that fried ice cream isn't all it's cracked up to be.

reed just decided to take an extra basket of chips for his own instead of eating dessert.  smart boy.

wes' class celebrates their 100th day of school this week.  he hates to dress up, but he was pumped about bringing 100 of something to school.  especially since he chose 100 gumballs.  so....he won't be dressed as an old timey person, but he will have enough gum for an army!

i don't know why we even try to have order in this house.  when the furniture is all over everywhere because the room is about to be painted, the little people prefer it that way.

in this case, they were the judges making up new laws.  let's be honest...they would more than likely do a better job at that than the elected people we've got doing it now.  sheesh.

in other news, chase is the new face of mississippi state.  wait....neither of us gave permission to use his likeness.  we should demand royalties, right?!?!?

hope you were able to stay with me while i bounced all over the place here.  maybe i'll be a little more organized once the sun makes an appearance and all the little people get back outside and out of my house!  hurry up, sunshine!  we miss you!

routine

this morning was the first day of 2013 back in the routine.  and by routine i mean dragging people out of bed, telling them to eat their breakfast 14 times while they continue to stare at it, and searching for the inevitable missing shoe!!  hello, 2nd semester!!!

two were ready to go!

one was not!

oh well...2 out of 3 ain't bad!!  :)