bullets!

hi y'all.  lot's of randoms today... so i will resort to bullets.

::  thanks for the kind feedback from last week.  makes a girl feel good.  :)  maybe i should add more substance to blog, eh?  i'll try.  sometimes its a little scary to put it all out there.  i try to be open and honest on here, but i do not want to over share.  i'll work on some stuff... 

::  savannah is quite the chatterbox lately.  i've been counting and she knows over 100 words!  incredible.  ethan didn't talk this early at all, so it really blows me away to hear little things come out of her mouth.  ethan thinks it is fun to teach her or get her to say a word on cue "sa-nana.  say, applesauce!"  and she will.  so fun.

::  i will dwell on the loveliness of the above bullet when ethan pushes, pulls, hits and demands that she get out of the way or stop playing with his things.  sibling squabbles are not fun!  and i feel like they are here to stay.

::  saturday.  i made a cassorole that i thought would be awesome.  F A I L.  fail x 100.  i usually whip up really good stuff in the kitchen.  i taught myself to cook from lots of cookbooks that i read, cover to cover, in college {i like a recipe to go off of, but can tweak it.  i definitely have a comfort zone.  i am lacking the whole, i-watched-my-mother-make-it-this-way-a-thousand-times-and-this-is-my-twist.} but for the most part i don't suck at cooking.  if given ample allotments of time and money, i really love cooking. but this was not good.  at all.  it involves mayonnaise {already not my favorite} and artichokes {this is a bad combo}  argh.

::  i lost a bet to faustino and now have to eat the entire disgusting casserole on my own.  i just ate a big plate full and think i am going to die.  oh, people.  mercy.

::  friday night around 11:00 i started thinking, where is chloe?? {my himalayan cat that i have had since my sophomore year at baylor} and i looked EVERYWHERE.  she's gone, y'all.  gone.  i really don't know how she got out, but she is gone.  i am hyper-vigilant about the cats not getting out, and chole never runs for the door when its open.  so sad.  i am absolutely sick.  she's declawed and a little stupid, and i fear for her survival.  last year when we lost hobbes, i held fast to the fact that he is a smart cat... but chloe...  can you add a cat to your prayer list?  is that totally silly?  i just want her furry little self to come home safely.  and i know you must think i am awful - losing a cat last year, and now this year... i promise this is completely strange.  you can read about hobbes' escape and return from last year...

::  because chloe is super laid back and not very interactive with the munchkins, they don't realize she's gone.  so at least i don't have to field 37 billion questions about it.  and endure ethan rolling the window down and calling out her name like he did last year for hobbes.  it killed me.

::  saturday morning.  we did have fun at a bounce house party.  of course, ethan didn't bounce.  he's not a bounce house bouncer.  the couch?  yes.  the bounce house... not so much.  but really, i don't blame him.  i have nightmarish thoughts still about the time as a very young child {ethan's age??} about when i was at the "yamboree" {longview folks, you know what i'm talking about} and was playing in a bounce house in the midway section of the fair and was sucked into the edge of the bounce house while big kids jumped nearby, further wedging me down between the floor and the wall.  i was screaming.  i think someone must have dug me out but i don't remember anything after that.  and don't want to.  it must have been horrid.

::  ethan helped me decide on accessories for an outfit i wore this week, and my husband said that i have hit a low point in my fashion-ability when i seek the council of a three year old.  just wait til' residency is over.... hahahha.  just kidding.  well, kind of...

::  i dressed up another time and ethan told me i looked very pretty.  {think:  blouse and shorts and lipstick verses yoga pants and a tshirt around the house}  perhaps i need to dress up more often?!!

::  i started and finished little savannah's owl costume.  so cute.  yes, i wanted her to be a little lamb.  but this was easier/cheaper.  and money talks.  so thanks to some pinterest inspiration, she's all set.

::  maybe i'll do a little halloween photo shoot tomorrow. 

::  we celebrated sue's birthday...

:: and then went to a halloween trunk or treat carnival at the kids' school.  fun times.  i now have my bribes fully stocked.  :)

::  the lord has blessed me with a napping preschooler.  hallelujah!  almost everyday.  really.  did He know that i was at the brink of my sanity??

::  we are the humbled, thrilled, beyond grateful recipients of hand-me-down clothes for the kids.  last week it was cool enough to need a winter coat, and it was ethan's first time to see it.  he was so excited that he won't separate himself from it and sleeps with it every night!!!  i showed him a sweat shirt and he has been sleeping with that one, too.  lordy!

::  think how happy kids who really need a coat are when they get one.  the kids in the foster system.  or homeless kids.  so sad.  that motivates me to really find ways to give to children in need.  and to involve my children.

::  and one last thing, because it sounds like savannah is beginning to wake up.  do you have an iphone 3gs??  have you done the software update??  i am dying to... but scared.  please, do tell!  my inner nerd is dying for a 4s because i want Siri....


xoxo, stephanie