Blog Awards and Bug Inspectors

I was very flattered to be given a Brilliant Blog Award by A (she shares my name :) at Our Journey to Madelyn. Madi is just gorgeous and they are such a sweet family. We adopted through the same agency, but haven't been able to meet in person yet, maybe someday.

The deal with this award is that I am supposed to answer these questions starting with every letter of the alphabet and then pass the award on to other brilliant bloggers, so here goes:

A. Attached or single? Attached

B. Best friend? Hubs

C. Cake or pie? Cake

D. Day of choice? Saturday

E. Essential item? Diet Dr. Pepper

F. Favorite color? depends on my mood, could be pink, black, green, or brown

G. Gummy bears or worms? Bears

H. Hometown? Madison

I. Indulgence? Grande Light Mint Mocha Chip Frappucino (it's a little piece of heaven truly)

J. January or July? July all the way

K. Kids? 2

L. Life isn’t complete without? Family and faith

M. Marriage date? 02/03/01

N. Number of brothers & sisters? One younger sister

O. Oranges or apples? Apples

P. Phobias? Not really a phobia, but I'm afraid of my kiddos getting sick

Q. Quotes? I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength! Philippians 4:13 (I kept the one A had)

R. Reasons to smile? my crazy children

S. Season of choice? Summer

T. Tag seven peeps! (see below)

U. Unknown fact about me? It wouldn't be unknown if I told you :)

V. Vegetable? lima beans

W. Worst habits? running late

X. X-ray or ultrasound? weird question, neither

Y. Your favorite food? Mexican

Z. Zodiac sign? Pisces

Now for my 7 Brilliant Blogger Awards:

1) Jamie- I just met her in real life for the first time at the CWA picnic. Her children are precious. I just want to squeeze the cheeks of her little Kyrgyz cutie!

2) Gen- I finally met her, too, at the picnic. She has 2 little Kyrgyz dolls just months apart. Adorable! She is also a wealth of knowledge on adopting from Kyrg (2 adoptions in 1 year will do that to you).

3) Cherie- I met her last year at the beach. She has a very handsome son adopted from Romania and just returned home from Russia with a new little heart breaker!

4) Adrienne- She lives right here in my hometown and I have never met her. But, I enjoy reading the honesty in her blog. She has an adorable son from Russia and is in the process of adopting domestically.

5) JJ's Mom- I met her in real life this summer, too. She is mom to the adorable JJ. AP and JJ were in the Tokmok orphanage at the same time. She is also expecting another little bundle of joy!

6) Maria- She also lives right here in middle TN and we have never met! She has been to Kyrg to meet her little princess and is waiting, waiting, waiting for her court date and pick up trip! She is also mom to handsome little J.

7) Allison- She has two little cuties from Russia and just had her court date in Kyrg for a little princess! She will be going to get her in the next few months.

I read many more brilliant blogs, but those are a few that came to mind. Thanks again, A!

On to the bug inspectors. It is very rare that my two are actually engaged in some activity quietly by themselves for more than a few minutes. However, the other night they were enthralled by the dead beetles on the patio. They inspected them with sticks for close to thirty minutes! (Yes, I know that means I desperately need to sweep!)

Reality Check

So I was engaged in a conversation Saturday at the birthday party we attended with a few of the other mothers. We were talking about what our kids were "in to". I told them that C was in to your average superheroes- Batman, Spiderman, occasionally Ninja Turtles. He also still really likes shows that cater to younger audiences, like Mickey Mouse, Diego, Little Bear, Wonder Pets, etc. Then things like Hannah.Montana and High School Musical came up in the conversation. I confidently shared that C didn't know anything about those really and had never seen them or even mentioned them. Fast forward to today. The kiddos and I ran into Wally World to pick something up. In the Back To School aisle there was a life size cut out of Hannah M. C says "look mom it's a real Hannah Montana!" I said "who?!? You don't know who that is." C replied "Moooooooom (already in that you don't know anything tone of voice), it's Miley Cyrus." (what?) So, not only has he been sneaking and watching Hannah behind my back, he also knows that is just her alter ego and her real name is Miley Cyrus! Ugh, I'm not ready for this.

C can Wii too

These are really blurry b/c I snapped them with hub's phone. C was too funny figuring out the Wii tonight. He really got the hang of it and even picked up a few spares!

Party Time

We had a great time celebrating C's friend's birthday this afternoon. It was way hot, but the kiddos enjoyed playing in the water. C and the b-day boy got into a splash war.

AP had more fun on the swings and driving this little Jeep.

C's friend has a pinata at his birthday every year. We now have more candy than we should ever eat! This is C blindfolded and taking a turn.
We did hit the mall afterward b/c both the kiddos needed new shoes. When better to buy shoes than when you save the tax, right? Well, that would be true if the entire STATE hadn't been there, too. I got very frustrated more than once, but we did find a few good deals and accomplished our mission.

Sliding and Sampling

Yesterday the kiddos and I tried out a new party jump place that opened right here in our town. My two LOVE to jump and we had been driving to the next town over. We were so excited to see bouncing fun right down the street. The kiddos had a blast. The slides were new and improved and FAST. I didn't get any good pictures of them b/c they were going down so fast! Here is a blur...

Then last night I went to a Pamp.ered Chef party at a friend's house. I have been wanting a trifle bowl for a while so I finally broke down and ordered this one.

I also decided I needed this cool tool.

We have a busy weekend ahead full of baby showers and birthday parties. I also hope to take advantage of the tax free deals!