Sadie

Sadie started pre-school 3 or 4 weeks ago. Lately I have heard her singing a little song sometimes, so I finally asked her what she was singing. Here it is:

The lyrics: "We will eat a little, just a little nibble,

munch, munch, munch, crunch, crunch crunch

This is the song they sing before snack-time at school.

About a zillion years ago...

I was a technician with the BYU Ballroom dancers...but I totally could have been a dancer...don't ya think? At least if it was only based on how I looked in a ball gown, not talent.

This is what happens when you start going through all of your stuff. Pictures from the past pop up.

Saturday

Every time I looked at Sadie I thought of "Eloise."

Most Saturday's around here are pretty boring. We usually run errands, clean, lawn work...you know the drill. Today I didn't have anything that I really needed to get done. Plus, the kids were up cleaning their rooms and bathrooms at 8:00 am. I was still in bed!!! After lunch I took the kids to the school playground. Poor Ben, we left him home to do homework-that's a new concept for us!

Labels, labels and more labels

Just before we moved here (18 months ago) I ordered a whole bunch of Tupperware. I have this fascination with the idea of being organized. I say the "idea" of being organized, because it doesn't always manifest itself outside of my mind. However, I did actually put food in all of the Tupperware before we moved. So, that sounds pretty organized...right? Well, nothing was labeled or put away very neatly. Today though, it happened. I pulled out the label maker and we labeled away. I love feeling organized.
I must have started something. Samuel went upstairs and labeled, his room, his toy buckets and his piggy bank when we were done.

The kids were so excited!

I took William in for his 6 month check-up last Thursday...well half a visit anyway. So, they gave me a list of foods that he can eat now, and on it was teething biscuits. I have actually never given these to any of the kids, but the older kids have been waiting and waiting to feed William some "real" food. He didn't really understand it.

On a side note, I had to leave the appt half-way through since they were running behind (due to the 200 people trying to get flu shots) and I had to go pick up Sadie from school.

The first "Kid's are in school" project

Before

When we moved here, we almost doubled our living space. Our dream of having a place for Ben to go when I had the Visiting Teacher's over (other than be exiled to our bedroom) finally came true. Fortunately, the basement was beautifully finished. Unfortunately, we had absolutely no furniture to go down there. Then, I unearthed this table base.

When Ben's great grandma died shortly after we were married, I loved this base. It is metal (and at one point had a glass top). It was painted green, but was rusted and chipped. I think we stored it at Ben's parent's cabin until we bought our first house, where it sat outside. I think the glass broke in the move to GA. Then, in GA, I don't even remember where it was...probably in the storage half of the 2 car garage. In FL I shoved it up in the attic over the garage.

Finally I found a use for it. I cut a piece of plywood for the top and it was our first "official" furniture in the basement. For some reason, the kids thought it was okay to color all over it...top and bottom. After a year and a half of this, I finally spray painted the legs black and sanded and finished the top to match the woodwork in the basement. It is a huge improvement!

After

The TV was on the floor, as was everything else, until I built this:

The shelves on the left actually pull out (courtesy of IKEA).

Then, we found a great sectional at the Macy's outlet store. We have a great basement now - if only it had more light fixtures...

Free Chik-Fil-A day

I know that for a lot of you Monday was Labor Day. For the Gillis family though, it was Free Chik-fil-a day. Now let me tell you. I am a huge Chik-fil-a fan, however it was not always so. When we first moved to GA, I had never eaten at a Chik-fil-a, but really wanted to support them when I found out that they are not open on Sunday. Of course I found this out when I tried to eat there on a Sunday when we first got there and hadn't moved into the house yet. So, I went. I didn't particularly care for the chicken sandwich or the fries, but I loved the lemonade.

Chick-fil-a was actually started in GA, so there are a LOT of them there. Now, I love anything for free, so when Ben started coming home with coupons for free Chik-fil-a sandwiches, I just kept going back. Now I love it - the fries, the lemonade and the sandwich (no pickle, add mayo.) I also love the chocolate shakes. Oh, Ben would get coupons when he donated blood.

Samuel loving the Lemonade (although was really disgusted that I got the regular Lemonade, not the skinny....what???)

William can't wait until he's old enough...can't you see the anticipation???

Anyway, on Labor Day if you wore a team shirt to Chik-fil-a, you got a free sandwich. Guess where we were Monday for lunch. Unfortunately Ben didn't get to join us since he is in UT for his sister's wedding.

Tea party and chocolate

Sadie getting my tea

Today I decided to take a break from the painting and wood stripping. So, Sadie and I hit the mall. We have 2 malls that are within about 5 minutes. One is high end stores where I can't afford anything unless it's 90% off. The other mall is just your regular run of the mill JcPenney, Sears mall. That one has a playground in it. Today we went to the closer, more expensive mall. It doesn't have a playground, but it has something better - Pottery Barn kids. Sadie and I love this store. William didn't seem to mind either. Sadie plays with all of the strollers, dolls, dollhouses, and play kitchens. I walk around and get inspired (of course I don't actually do anything with that inspiration, but it's fun to dream). Today we were there for over an hour. They had a little tea set out, so Sadie and I had a tea party. I also signed her up for a Barbie workshop. Saturday Sadie and I are going to PBK and make a free Barbie dream room. I have no idea what this means, but I think Sadie and I will have fun.Flower & butterfly mobile...I could totally make this for less than $49. Will I make it??? Probably not, but it's cute.

I also went into the Godiva store and signed up for their free "Chocolate Card." This entitles me to one free truffle of my choice each month. Yum.

I finally cracked him!!!!

Those of you that have come to visit me know that we have a neighbor on one side of us that is an elderly widower. After living here for about 5 weeks I finally asked another neighbor what the deal was. I had never seen anyone come or go. He told me that our neighbor's wife passed away a couple of months before we moved in. He also told us that our neighbor is just a grumpy old man. Hmmmm....intriguing. After a couple of more weeks I laid eyes on the "old man." Since we didn't know his name we refered to him as the "old man." After about 4 months, my kids left a toy on his side of the front yard (which due to the hill, I didn't see) and he brought it over to me when I was in the garage. He didn't say anything, but he smiled....maybe not so grumpy after all. Then, in October, my mother-in-law asked me about one of the old man's plants, so I took the plunge. That's right, after 6 months of smiling and nodding, I went over and introduced myself to him one day while he was in his garage. However, he answered my question about his plant, but didn't recipricate with his name!!! So, it was still "old man." Moving on to January (9 months after moving here) I saw a woman about my age shoveling his driveway. Finally!!! I met his daughter (can't remember her name), but I found out his name.......wait for it......John!

All winter long, we shoveled his sidewalk. We have also picked up yard clippings for him. At the beginning of the summer, he asked me if I knew anyone who needed a crib mattress, since he had a practically new one to get rid of. I took care of that...no problem. A couple of weeks later I talked with him about some yard work that I was doing on the border of our two yards. After all of the ivy pulling I had piles and piles of it around. He asked what I was going to do with it because he had some branches to get rid of. So when I got rid of the ivy, Ben and I got rid of his branches for him also.

Now, 18 months later it happened!!!! He saw me outside, called me by name, and thanked me for getting rid of his branches!!!! Maybe the next step will be taking him cookies...in a couple of months. I wouldn't want to go to fast.

My Birthday

Today was the day. The day I turned 34. Of course, when someone asked me today how old I was I told them 35. I must be the only woman in the world that not only can never remember how old I am, but actually ages them self when pressed to guess. We had a couple of families over for dinner from church and one of them brought homemade chocolate hazelnut ice cream and delicious homemade brownies. Yum! What a fun day.