There's a Buttfly in the Chris-A-Mis

Anyone living within 30 minutes of Southlake Town Square looking for something to do this weekend should get their butt-a-flies over there for the Butterfly Festival.  I took the girls this afternoon, and they were fascinated.

Am I really holding a live butterfly?

Unfortunately, I think the festival organizers experienced their first butterfly casualty when we showed up.  I thought Haley having a butterfly on her nose would make the most adorable photograph.  As soon as it's teeny, tiny feet hit her face, she plastered that poor Monarch across her forehead.  I think the butterfly expert might have shed a tear.  Oops...so much for that photo!  

Poor butterfly's days are numbered

They had loads of butterfly merchandise for sale that I quickly steered Shelby right past.  However, I couldn't resist the chrysalises (chrysalii?) they had for $3.  I broke down and bought two.  Woo, big spender!  All the way home, Shelby kept talking about the sleeping butt-flies in the Chris-A-Mises.  I was cracking up!  Now, we can only hope to see some Painted Lady butt-flies by Chris-A-Mis...

Some local businesses were handing out free treats, and Shelby quickly gravitated to the cotton candy snow cone.  She is a true descendant of mine with that sweet tooth of hers!  I bet even our Chris-A-Mises would love a little bit of this sugary goodness.

Our Own Little Slice of Paradise (Pond)

My good friend Bev introduced me to Paradise Pond about a year ago.  It is an old sanctuary converted into every toddlers' ultimate dreamland, including a bounce house, huge obstacle course, dress-up room, plastic roller coasters, Dora's corner of plastic crap, climbing wall, lego-land, and on and on and on...

When we first went, Shelby wasn't quite old enough.  Like every mom wanting to set a good example for her kids, I lied about her age.  She certainly could get around better than most kids her age anyway.  Here she is discovering the grocery store:

And here's Haley doing the exact same thing a year later:

Some various other crack for toddlers:

All in all, I would give Paradise Pond a big thumb's up.  For $1/person, it's money well spent to expend some energy!

Rules Were Made to be Broken

Ssshhhh....don't tell the car seat police!  Baby Haley got moved into a big girl car seat today, three weeks early.  Neither she nor I could take her being backwards anymore.  From what I can tell, she LOVES it!

She was squealing and clapping the whole way to Paradise Pond.

Um, I guess she's right...

While I was upstairs cleaning out a closet, Shelby was busy running up and down the stairs, doing whatever she does when I'm not paying 100% attention.  She screamed from downstairs, "Mom, what is on the floor?"  I just ignored it.  She then ran up the stairs, asking again, "What is that on the floor?"  It then occurred to me I should probably investigate a little further, so I asked her what it looked like.

You could see her little wheels turning, then she finally announced, "A LOBSTER!"  At that point I decided I had better go see this "lobster" for myself.  I had to admit she was right when I saw one of these on the floor:

The cutest scorpion image I could find

We've seen lots of scorpions in our house since moving in, but the fact that my precious first born daughter found this one on her own makes me hate them even more!

The Grass is Greener

We have an area on the side of our house that has always required more attention than the rest of the yard.  We've seeded.  We've sodded.  We've plopped a big plastic storage container on top.  All with no luck in getting it to be a usable space.  

Bryon had big plans on ropping in our families to help lay flagstone down to finally put an end to the muddy mess.  Luckily our awesome realtor, Corey Young, said just to put down some sod and keep our fingers crossed it lives until our house sells.  

So, this weekend, Bryon leveled the mud, shoveled 1200 pounds (!) of topsoil, and, with Shelby's help, laid a pallet of sod, all before 8:00 am.  It was so cute watching Shelby tell her daddy where to put the next strip of grass and help stomp it down.  Her attempts at pushing the wheelbarrow were also VERY amusing.  

Now, let's just keep our fingers crossed (and our sprinklers running) that all of their efforts will pay off!

And, just to keep things even, I had to include a picture of Cutie Pie #2, Haley Bear.  Adorable, even with a boo-boo on her head!

Open Up and Say Aaaahhh!

Going to the dentist has become a whole different experience since I was a kid.  First there is the waiting room:

Yep, that's one of three touch screen video games you can play while waiting for your torture cleaning.   

All my dentist had was a big fish tank and two issues of out-dated "Highlights" magazines.  After you were summoned, you were led down the yellow-brick-road to a big room full of 7 other kids getting their teeth fixed in one way or another.  I think my biggest problem with it all was the fear of the unknown.  Some days, they would just look in my mouth and give me a sticker.  Other days, I would leave with four less teeth than I walked in with.  If only I would have had my mommy back there with me holding my hand...

Okay, sorry about that tangent!  I clearly still have a few issues to be resolved...Back to how incredibly wonderful Shelby's first dental visit was.

Instead of watching the other kids get their teeth fixed, Shelby got to pick her favorite movie to watch OVERHEAD while the dentist herself cleaned her precious pearly whites. Dr. Linda Steele and her assistant Eva were like two little Fairy Godmothers there to make Shelby's first experience like a playdate with her friends.  She was such a big girl and cooperated the entire time.  I could not have been more proud of how brave she was compared to the 'fraidy cat I used to be! 

There wasn't one unknown factor in this office.  They let Shelby play with all the equipment before putting it in her mouth.  She loved the water-shooting thingy and even played with the sonicare toothbrush so much it ran out of juice.  

So, thanks to changes in pediatric dentistry, it shouldn't take my girls twenty years to learn to love going to the dentist!

A Tale of Two Trips

Recently, it has occurred to me that grocery shopping ain't what it used to be for this ol' mama.  Observe the before and after scenarios:

Thoughts on the way home:

Before--Can't anyone control their kids anymore?

After--Did anyone see me almost cry in produce?

Items in cart:

Before--champagne, fat-free milk, Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches,  margarita mix, People magazine, anything labeled "spicy", and the latest snack seen on Oprah

After--champagne, whole milk, string cheese, frozen pizza, Capri Sun, anything labeled "microwavable", and the latest snack seen on Nickelodeon 

Mode of Transportation:

Before--a short half-block walk to the hip neighborhood market

After--curdled milk-smelling SUV to suburban Kroger

Biggest Indulgence:

Before--Caribbean Lobster

After--Brand name diapers

(Cutest thing ever, right??  Yep, I'm not spending hard-earned money on "Designer Diapers" unless I have a coupon and they are on sale!)

Conversations with fellow shoppers:

Before--"Aren't you my pharmacist?  Thanks for the advice on my foot fungus.  It has cleared up."

After--"Does this bottle belong to you?  Your kid dropped it by the Campbells Soup."  

Wallet is found in:

Before--Latest designer purse found at the Galleria

After--Nylon diaper bag found at Babies 'R Us


Biggest Pet Peeve:
Before-Grocery bagger crushes some of my Baked Lays bagging them with heavier items.

After-No novelty "car" carts available.

Total time spent:
Before--10 minutes to throw on a cute outfit and makeup + 25 minutes shopping from the list made in my head + 5 minutes checking out in the express lane = less than an hour

After--30 minutes getting shoes, clothes, bottles, diapers, and snacks for mom kids ready to go + 90 minutes shopping and backtracking to get everything on my detailed list and cleaning up the messes made by the mom kids + 30 minutes checking out with coupons, frequent shopper card, ID for champagne, debit card covered in slobber, and constant monitoring for foreign items that "randomly" appeared in our cart + 30 minutes loading and unloading kids and groceries = THREE hours of pure chaos