photo p1_zpsc8a7232f.png  photo j2_zpsc3f43514.png  photo p2_zpse73671a0.png  photo j2_zpsc3f43514.png  photo p3_zps456abd62.png  photo j2_zpsc3f43514.png  photo p5_zps95486d0f.png  photo j2_zpsc3f43514.png  photo p4_zps481d5f13.png

Monday, April 30, 2012

I promise this is it. Now I just hope that you aren't mad at me for making you read all of this!

And now for the final chapter of  "It All Starts With Bugles and Ends with "It Came Out of My Nose!"

I hopped in the car on Wednesday afternoon, excited to head to school and get the kids and get our long afternoon underway.  But most of all, I was excited about the Bugles.

When the kids got in the car, I handed Peter the Caramel Bugles and handed Sarah the Nacho Cheese Bugles.

"Cool!", "You found them!", "Awesome!", were the excited words coming from the backseat.  Peter immediately declared the caramel ones his and Sarah took ownership of the cheese and away we went towards guitar practice.  The quiet munching from the backseat told me that they were very happy with their little surprise.

We quickly got to guitar practice and Peter did his thing while Sarah worked on her homework. When that was over, we hopped in the car and headed to Dunkin' Donuts.

It was time for allergy shots and this is always my little treat to Peter for having to endure three shots.  He chose a Maple doughnut since he had never had one of those before and Sarah chose a Sprite. She is totally over the doughnuts and would rather have ice cream instead.  But this isn't a Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts like so many of them around here are so she is stuck with the regular DD menu.

Peter happily ate his doughnut and said it was really good.  And then it was time to get in the car and head for the dreaded allergy shots.  Some weeks he takes the shots like a man and some weeks he is a total baby about it.  He decided to be a total baby about it this week.

But that's okay.  I'm used to the whining and complaining and the nurses are pretty good about it.  They are very patient with Peter and they give me lots of sympathetic looks.

We got that done and got back in the car and the sniffling and whining continued.

The complaints of "I hate shots!" and "When can I go to every three weeks?" quickly turned to "I don't feel so good.".  My first thought when this happens is that he is having an allergic reaction.

Many times after his shots he starts sneezing or coughing or itching and I have to toss him some chewable Benadryl.  Thank the Lord for those things!

But this was different.  "It's my stomach.  My stomach hurts."

"Oh.  Well, maybe you have gas.  You can lay on your side when we get home."  Telling my kids they must have gas and need to lay on their side is my typical response when they say their stomach hurts and it usually works every time.

"No.  I think I'm going to be sick."

Uh oh.

"Can you reach one of those plastic Wal-Mart bags I keep in the back?"  I hurriedly questioned.

"Nooooo! They are too far back there.  I'm going to throw up!"

I quickly signaled and pulled over and as soon as I threw the car in park I could hear it.

BLEEEEECCCHHHHHHH!   The lovely sound of a child throwing up.

And the I heard, "It came out of my nose!"

And that folks, is how you start with a bag of Bugles and end with "It came out of my nose!".

But in defense of the poor, delicious Bugle, I must inform you that after we got him home and cleaned up I discovered that he ate almost the entire  5 serving bag of Caramel Bugles by himself.  I was not aware of this when I purchased a doughnut for him.  I also was not aware of the fact that right before school was dismissed (mere minutes before he consumed an entire 5 serving bag of Caramel Bugles by himself) he ate an Italian pastry to celebrate a classmate's birthday. 

It's no wonder he threw up.  And really, with all of that food, it's no wonder it came out of his nose!


Friday, April 27, 2012

The Bugle Story Continues...

Back to the continuation of It Starts With Bugles and Ends With the Exclamation "It Came Out of My Nose!".

For several weeks I continued to pick up a bag of Caramel and Cheddar Bugles for the kids.  Well, honestly, I loved them so much that I was really probably picking them up for myself as much as for them.

The small bag of delicious Bugles from the Sheetz was starting to get a little expensive so I started the hunt in the grocery stores to see if I could find any larger-but-less-expensive-per-ounce bags there.

I couldn't find any Bugles at Wal-mart.  I checked Food Lion and I checked Lowes Foods.  Admittedly, when I was checking these places I was only glancing and was doing it very quickly.  I wasn't on a mission solely for Bugles and as I said before, the Bugles in the Sheetz were practically in the basement so I knew the company that manufacturers them was not paying extra for a good spot on any shelf.  And if I have to do a whole lot of searching high and searching low when I'm trying to shop for my real groceries, I'm probably not going to find what I'm looking for.

Finally, one week in Wal-Mart, I discovered the big, red Bugle bag on the very bottom shelf near the Pringles.  I bent down and noticed that low and behold (cue the angels singing) there was a spot for Nacho Cheese Bugles and a spot for Caramel Bugles.  Of course, the spots were empty but at least there was a spot for them.

I checked the next week and (more angels singing) the spots were full of flavored Bugles!

I should probably stop the story here and insert that when two people in my family love something, most likely the other two will not.  This makes it very hard for me to cook.  I can't find anything that everyone loves and usually end up feeling that at least half of what I cook every night is going to waste, will not be appreciated, will be eaten with loathing, etc.

Same thing with the Bugles.  Peter and I love, love, love the caramel flavored the best out of the bag of mixed Bugles.  Sarah, either really not loving them (although how could she not they are just so delicious!) or just wanting to be different, declared one afternoon that she preferred the cheddar cheese.  Peter and I both shouted, "you're crazy!" (and then happily realized that her distaste for the caramel would mean more for us) but she stood firm in her declaration of her preference for the cheddar over the caramel.

Week after week, she would pick out the cheese and Peter would pick out the caramel.  I would gladly eat whatever flavor they would hand me from the backseat as we were driving towards guitar practice. 

As I was standing in Wal-mart looking at the Bugles, I quickly grabbed up the caramel flavored and realized that the bag did not seem much bigger than the bag from the convenience store.  I checked the servings.  This bag had 5 servings while the convenience store bag had about 2 and a half.  The price was the same.  Even though the bag seemed smallish, it was really twice the size of the bag we had been eating on Wednesday.  Score!

I checked out the nacho cheese Bugles (it was nacho not cheddar but I figured it probably tasted the same anyway - processed cheese is processed cheese) and the bag was even bigger and still the same price.  I guess it's cheaper to coat something in fake cheese than it is to coat it in fake caramel. 

I smiled all the way home and hid those Bugles.  I wanted them to be a surprise for Wednesday.

Don't you love surprises? 

And a story that just never ends?


And even though this has nothing to do with the story... 

Photo from funnyjunk.com.



Thursday, April 26, 2012

It starts with Bugles and ends with the exclamation, "It just came out of my nose!"

It all started on Valentine's Day.  I attended Peter's class party and was helping put the snack foods on the plates.  In addition to the normal class party fare - heart-shaped cookies, cheese cubes, grapes, mini-cupcakes - there was a big, red bag of Bugles.

Interesting, I thought.  I haven't seen  or tasted Bugles in years.  I didn't even think they still made Bugles.

I finished loading up the plates and passed them out to all the kids.

I hovered near Peter waiting to see if he was going to eat all of his Bugles. When I noticed him slowing down, I asked  if I could have one of his Bugles.  There were plenty left in the big, red bag but I didn't want to be that mom - the one that eats out of the snack bag that she didn't bring.  So I just ate off of my kid's plate - that's way classier. 

He ate one and said "Wow!  These are tasty!". I had one and thought the exact same thing.  They were even better than I remembered.  We quickly finished up all those Bugles.  The grapes, we left. 

Several weeks later, I was headed to school to get the kids.  I stopped by the gas station to fill up my tank and realized that I didn't pack a snack for the kids.  It was Wednesday and immediately after I pick them up from school we head to guitar practice and depending on the week we also go for allergy shots.  This means that we don't get home from school until 5:15. And my kids are ravenous after school.  They get a snack and lunch at school but act like they haven't eaten in weeks the minute they walk through the door.

I realized that I had not brought a snack for the kids so while my gas was pumping, I ran into the store to grab something for them to share.

Hmmm...what to get, what to get, I thought to myself as I was quickly perusing the aisles of the Sheetz Gas Station.  Bugles!  I'll get Bugles!

I finally found the Bugles (on the bottom shelf, no wonder I didn't realize they were still being made - poor product placement!) and grabbed a bag.  They were flavored but I figured it would be fine.

"Wonder if those are mixed together or separated," the cashier asked.

"Huh?" I smartly replied.

"Those Bugles.  It says they are cheddar cheese and caramel.  Seems like it might be gross if they are mixed."

I thought the same thing but I was running out of time.  "They're for my kids.  They won't care if they are mixed together or not." (So loving and caring.)

I paid for the Bugles and the gas and headed to school to get the kids.

They were excited to get a new snack and immediately dug into the bag of Bugles.

"These are delicious!  We love these!" was their immediate response.

"Well, how about sharing your snack with Mommy," was my immediate response.

And they were right, they were good!  How have I lived so long without the sweet and salty taste of cheddar cheese and caramel Bugles?  The three of us immediately polished off that smallish-sized bag of Bugles.

And that's how it started.

Tomorrow, I'll finish the story so you know how it all ends...




Monday, April 23, 2012

Monday. Listday.

It's Monday.  Perfect day for a quick list so here goes:

1.  We went to a Winston-Salem Dash game on Friday night.  The kids are still all about the food but each game we take them to, they get a little more involved in the actual game.  Dan and Peter sat beside each other and I could hear Dan explaining different things that were going on during the game. Hopefully one of these days, the kids will love the game of baseball as much as Dan and I do.   And on of these days, we will take the kids to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. 




2.  I washed all of the downstairs windows and blinds on Saturday while Dan was mowing the grass.  I still have to do the upstairs windows but I feel like a big dirty load has been lifted off my shoulders.  I have been meaning to wash those windows for the last three years.  Have I mentioned I am a wonderful procrastinator? Hopefully it won't be three more years before I can do the upstairs windows. Although, I'm not taking any bets.

3.  Dan and I replanted the garden on Saturday.  We got a little ahead of ourselves during the warm (actually hot) weather we had in March and planted it then.  However,4 weeks later, nothing except some beet plants have emerged so we decided to start over.  Hopefully this time we will have our normal results and actually get something growing!

4. The kids had a track meet on Sunday afternoon.  I'm so proud of both of them!  The hand out ribbons based on how well you did against your teammates.  Sarah got 4 1sts and Peter got a 3rd and 3 4ths.  Even though they complain about the long track practices, I think they both have had fun.  And I am going to make encourage them to do it again next year.


Tuesday, April 17, 2012

One last time.

In an attempt to get rid of some junk last week, I was going through the garage and came across two of Peter's old Tonka dump trucks.

Oh, the memories I have of him playing with those things - the piles of dirt and sand being loaded and unloaded from the dumper, the truck noises he used to make with his mouth, the way he would get down on hands and knees to operate them.  He loved those trucks.

But they were getting old.  It had been almost two years since he had played with them and the last few times he had used them as a ride-on toy to go down the hills around our house. He was already seven when he was using them like this and he was playing this game with the rough next door neighbor boys and the sides of the metal trucks were bent down from the weight of big boys and big fun.

So the trucks sat in our garage gathering dust like most things out there until last week.  I was tired of looking at the broken toys and I was sure that they would sit there for another year so I decided to get rid of them.

Peter and Colton were playing outside when I took them from the garage to the big blue dumpster my parents had at their house for the week.

Peter immediately saw me and yelled, "Mom! Where are you going with my trucks?"

I was met with protests when I told him they were getting tossed. I knew I would be.  Peter is very much like his daddy.  Once something has been his, he finds it very hard to part with it.  And Peter is so tenderhearted I knew that tears were not far behind the protests.

I held my ground and it helped that Colton was with us.  Tears welled up in Peter's eyes but he didn't want to cry in front of his friend.  And Colton confirmed what I was saying about how long it had been since they had played with them and how the sides were bent in and how really, dump trucks were for little kids.

Peter decided to "play" with them one last time.  After about 30 seconds he was bored so I started towards the dumpster once again.

"Hey, Mom?  How about if you take a picture of them for me? That way I can always remember them."

I took the picture and will add this day to my memories of my sweet tenderhearted baby playing with his dump trucks one last time.



Monday, April 16, 2012

Spring Break is a reminder of what is right around the corner.

Ahhhhh...that's the sweet sound of me settling back into my routine.

Dan is home from his trip.  The kids are back at school.  I just went for a run and will soon go to the grocery store.

It's a typical, regular, normal,plain, boring  Monday. Just how I prefer them.

I snapped these two cute pictures of my kids this weekend with my phone. If I miss them while they are at school, I can look at these pictures and be reminded...

...that summer vacation is right around the corner!  YIKES!



Friday, April 13, 2012

7 Quick Takes The "I, I will survive!" Edition

It's Friday!  And I made it!

Dan has been out of town all week and the kids have been on Spring Break.  And as I mentioned before, we had no real plans. 

Here's what we did:

1.  Sleepovers.  Colton and Cheyanne came over on Monday afternoon and then spent the night.  Tuesday was Chey's 7th birthday so we celebrated by signing Happy Birthday.  Please note the candle in her muffin.  Don't let anyone tell you that I don't know how to party!


2.  Play dates.  Peter had a play date with one of his friends from school.  Chris is an only child with lots of toys.  But the coolest thing by far, is the zip line in the backyard.  



3.  More sleepovers.  Sarah got to spend the night with her friend Lily so Peter spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa.  

4.  Errands.  Super exciting. Okay - maybe not.  We went to the grocery store (just for toilet paper - we go through a lot of that and somehow I managed to run out!  gasp!), got Peter and Grampa's hair cut, got gas, got allergy shots,shopped for some spring clothes for Sarah...you know - errands.  It's the stuff that life is made of.  Not exactly Spring Break exciting but still - they had to be done.

5.  Music lessons and track practice.  Peter had guitar practice, which he loves and both kids had track practice which they don't love.  BUT - their friends were there and even though they were tired from the sleepover, they had FUN.  Don't ask them because they will say they didn't but I know they did. 

6. Last week we dyed Easter eggs and this week the kids got to smash them and throw them and crush them.  So double the fun in my book!

(Please note that with my excellent photography skills you can't even see any eggs in this picture. Ansel Adams, need not worry.  Well, he's dead, right, so I guess he's not worrying anymore anyway.)

7.  And the best of all (in my opinion, anyway) - I get to take Sarah to try on her 1st Communion dress.  It is ready and now we need to try it on to see if any alterations need to be made.  When I was talking to the person at the dress shop, she said, "Don't forget to bring her shoes."  To which I replied, "Um, shoes?" gulp...Y'all, I completely forgot the shoes.  I have been so busy with the tiara and the veil (yes, this is Sarah whose name means princess, after all, so we will be doing a tiara and a veil) and how we were going to fix her hair that I completely forgot about shoes!  YIKES!  Luckily I still have a few weeks and the dress shop said they have shoes she can wear while she is being fitted. 

So, it may not have been Disney World or the beach but I think we've had fun.  And best of all, I survived!  

Happy Weekend, y'all! 

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary.

 

Monday, April 9, 2012

The big nine-three.


My father-in-law turned 93 on Saturday.

93? That's huge!

He didn't want a fuss made over him because in his words, "at my age, you like to forget birthdays instead of celebrate them".

So we just went out to dinner and came home and enjoyed cake and ice cream.



Happy 93rd Grampa!  Here's to 93 more!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Right?

It's the first day of Spring Break.  The kids are out until the 16th.  And we have no plans.

Well that's not really true.  We are going to the library this morning and then we will dye Easter eggs.  But other than that, we have no plans.

Peter wants to go to Target to look at Play Stations one day.  And we have track practice next week.  And guitar practice. And they have friends to play with.  And toys. And the computer. And their bikes.

I'm sure there will be lots of "Mom, I'm bored" whining but that can always be combated with "You can clean your room." 

I'm sure we'll be fine.  We can make it through Spring Break without any official plans.

Right?





Tuesday, April 3, 2012

It was only in my dreams....(And no, this is not a post about Debbie Gibson)

I had the worst dream last night!

I was in a restaurant with an old friend from high school.  (Hi, Jeff!) 

It was an interesting restaurant.  Reminded me of a shack you might find in Key West or any other random beach town.  The windows were opened to the outside so that the sea breeze could blow in through them.

We were randomly chatting about what to order when I noticed a sign that said, "Mothers beware!  Don't let your little girls get blue tattoos!"

The sign was on the table in one of those plastic frames that you find gracing the tables of many casual restaurants...usually containing the weekly beer specials.

That's odd, I thought.  Then I realized that there was a tattoo parlor in the back room of this restaurant.

My dear sweet Sarah comes bee bopping out of the back room.  She had her hair in a pony tail and she had the sweetest little smile on her face.  "I'm getting a tattoo!" she happily exclaimed.

It was at this point that I started tossing and turning.  And turning and tossing.  Until I finally realized that she's only seven and would need my permission.

And then my alarm went off and I realized that I was only dreaming.

Thank goodness for alarm clocks!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Track Meet!



The kids had their first track meet on Sunday afternoon.  It was a long afternoon but we had so much fun!

Dan and I were responsible for getting the 3rd graders to all of their events.  Since Peter is in 3rd we were able to see all of his events and since Sarah is in 2nd and raced right before him, we were able to see her events as well.

My only concern was with my camera.  I had it with me part of the time, but it got pretty heavy so I put it down for most of the meet.  It was just too cumbersome to keep up with. I got a few decent pictures but for the most part, BLECH.  Just not too happy with what I captured.  It would have been easier to get some good shots if I was in the stands but as a parent volunteer, that's just not going to happen!


And they are off....

Sarah checking out her competition - a track no-no!

Pulling ahead!

And they are neck and neck!

She did it!
And they're off...

Go Peter!!!

Keep going!!!



Both Peter and Sarah raced and jumped very well and came away with a lot of ribbons.  There was also lots of time for goofing off with their friends....

3rd Grade Track

2nd Grade Track