Yesterday my mom took me to the mall to get my ears pierced. I was very brave and smiled the whole time. It only hurt a little bit. My friend Gracie came with me to watch and then we went shopping afterward and I got new sunglasses and a skirt. Everybody says I look beautiful in these things and I agree with them! 
The kids have been sick all week and Tim is leaving for a fishing trip next weekend so I was given the green light last night to take the night off and do anything I wanted to. I went to the mall and did some shopping and then I did something I've never done in my 29 years of life...I went to a movie by myself. At first I thought I'd be self-conscious and it would bother me, but it really didn't. It was actually a freeing experience; just sitting there enjoying the movie by myself with my popcorn. I saw Walk the Line with Joaquin Phoenix and Reece Witherspoon...excellent movie. Since the Christmas season, I have seen the following movies in the theatre: The Family Stone, Rumor Has It, Brokeback Mountain, Glory Road, Just Friends and now Walk the Line. By far the best movie out of those in my opinion was Brokeback Mountain. Like the trailer says, it stays with you long after you leave the theatre. Go see it...it's not what you think it will be. I also encourage you to try going to a movie by yourself sometime...it's not so bad!
On one of my visits to my mom's this month, she was telling me about the chiropractic office where she works and what a positive environment it is. They typically do not ask patients the question "How are you?" because the doctor does not want people complaining and saying negative comments. The employees are encouraged to always respond positively if the question is asked of them. To which I questioned, isn't that being fake or not genuine? My mom told me to think of it more as a choice...to put yourself in that state of mind. The more you say how great your day is, the better you are going to feel about it. So this past week I have been paying more attention to my response when people ask me how I am. My natural tendency, or perhaps a habit I have created, is to respond with I'm tired, or crabby, or rushed, or busy. All negative responses. From now on, I'm going to make an effort to find something positive to say when people ask me how I am and see if it makes a difference in how I feel! So..."How are you?"
Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to a hotel last night because there is no school today. So Tim and I went out for a nice dinner together and then went to the grocery store. This is something that we NEVER do together...mostly because we've always had young kids so one person stays home. It is interesting to see the differences in what each of us sees as worthy of spending a little extra money. Ria to Tim..."Do we really need to spend $6.00 on four cans of Mountain Dew 'Amp'?"Tim to Ria..."Do we really need to spend $4.00 on that People magazine to read about your close friends, Brad and Angelina"? Tim insists that we should buy only name brand products regardless of whether or not he will be consuming the product. I say buy the generic cheaper stuff for the daycare kids (though we both agreed that the Flavorite graham crackers taste like cardboard and even at $.99 they are not worth the money.) So we compromised on some things and agreed on others, and learned a little about each other along the way. Just in case you are wondering who did most of the compromising...we did NOT purchase the overpriced Mountain Dew, but I did come home and catch up on the romance of Brangelina in my magazine!
For all of you wondering about our little actors...we went down for the call-back on the ice cream commercial on Monday. The boys did great and even got to eat ice cream cones for the directors of the commercial. We found out today that they didn't get the commericial...but still feel it was a fun experience for the boys! They said they would be happy if they got it...but wouldn't be sad if they didn't get it. On to the next thing!
It's a full house today at Ria's daycare...all nine kids are here for a day at Tiny Acorn. There must be some sort of limit for the amount of times one human being can change a poopy diaper, wipe a snotty nose or change peed in underwear. If there is such a limit, I must be close. Can you tell I'm ready for the weekend?
Kennedy went to Target with me last night. She sure knows how to work her mother. It started out that we were just going to buy pop for dad. She just wanted to "LOOK" at the clothes in her size. Well long story short, she ended up falling in love with this outfit and is now the proud owner of it. Even big sister Katelyn was eyeing it and wondering if she could borrow it. (I'm not ready for all of that borrowing clothes stuff yet; they are growing up too fast.) So she couldn't wait to get dressed for preschool this morning to put on her fancy new outfit. I got to thinking about how the clothes you are wearing have such an influence about how you feel about yourself...even at such a young age. Kennedy was dancing around the kitchen like a little diva saying "Baby's got it going on!" whatever that means. I think she takes after her dad.
The kids spent all day today playing outside on the sledding hill, making snow forts, and snowmobiling. It is back to work and school tomorrow! Having just spent time with all of our family over the holidays, I am reminded what a fantastic family we have. We are better for having you in our lives and I just wanted to take a minute to let you know how much we appreciate all of you...I know we do not express it enough!
My big brother and his wife and two girls were here for the weekend so we could have our Christmas celebration together. This year, in lieu of gifts for each other we decided to go out to dinner and a movie with each other. So it worked out that grandma was here to babysit the six grandkids and throw them their own little "Eve's" party, while the parents went out on the town. We got reservations at the Cork & Cleaver for 6:00 and when we arrived, we realized we were eating with generations a few beyond ours. Apparently those in our age group don't head out before 9pm. The resolutions around our table seemed to revolve around cutting down on some things while firming up others. After dinner, we were off to a movie...what to see that both the man and woman folk would enjoy? We settled on The Family Stone; good choice for a light-hearted feel good movie relevant to the season. Then it was back home to see if the house was still standing...good news...it was! Thanks grandma! Tim and I made a quick stop at a friends New Year's Eve party to say hi to everyone and headed home for a full night (into the morning) of card playing.
On another note, at our final Christmas celebration of the season (number 7 if you're keeping track) some of my faithful blog readers were wondering what I decided to do with my day off last week. I decided to take a poll to see what they thought I did. I'm curious to see what the rest of you would guess...so click on the comment link below to place your vote.
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