I scream! You scream! Ice Cream!

If you are looking for a CUTE birthday party idea, my youngest sister just had the cutest ever birthday party for her 6 year old son............an Ice Cream Party!

Mainly the kids just played in the yard (that's my kind of party, if I'm the hostess...no arranged activities!). However, she did have a few activities planned: Pin the Cherry on the Sundae (too cute...sorry, no pictures), and "Find the Cherry." Each child was given a paper plate with a cherry on it. She sprayed Whipped Cream on the plate and the kids had to find the cherry without using their hands! Too cute ! (See photos above!) They LOVED this. She served ice cream and let the children add their own sprinkles and toppings, and the cupcakes were baked in ice cream cones (again, no pics...sorry). But my favorite part of the whole party was the favors. They are sugar cones with Double Bubble bubble gum in them (see photos!). She put the gum in smaller cellophane bags and placed the bag inside of the cone, then put the cone and gum in a separate cellophane bag tied with a cute ribbon.

(And i had to add the cute picture of Mimi that Sunshine took, as well as the picture of Sunshine and my brother -her uncle- hugging on each other because, well...how could I not?!)

Hope you get some ideas from this!

Have a great day.

Thanking God today for family and birthdays! Happy Birthday, Landon!

Sunday afternoons in a college town can be a ton of fun...especially when there's an Auburn/Georgia basketball game! KitKat, AAA, and two of AAA's friends and I tried to be one of the first 1000 fans so that we could all get a pink Breast Cancer Awareness T-shirt. We weren't one of the first 1000, but we still all received a nice blue and orange sunglass holder which can be perfect for holding a ...........tiara (even though she obviously is not acting like a princess!)!

Sick and Tired

God gave me KitKat to keep me humble, because I was well on my way to writing a book on "How to be the Perfect Parent." My first two children are naturally obedient and eager to please. Their number one goals in life are to please Jesus (well, at least that's AA's) and to please their mom and dad. No joke. So you can imagine how great I thought I was at parenting. I thought that they were this way because I had raised them to be this way. I looked down on parents whose children didn't listen, talked back, didn't eat healthy foods, or didn't take their medicine.

Then God gave me Kit Kat.

And the rest is history.

I have been on my knees ever since - every day, sometimes twice a day, and occasionally...all day!

I adore that child, but she is tough! Most days I feel like I'm in uncharted territory. Her will is strong, her personality is strong, her demeanor is demanding! And I am totally lost!

Today is a perfect example. She ran a 103 degree fever most of the day. Dog gone it! That meant I needed to give her medicine! No!! Help!! I paged M. He didn't call back. KitKat slept most of the afternoon. I paged M again. Thank goodness he called back. "Get home, please. KitKat needs medicine and it will be a two-man operation." He came home. He said, "KitKat, it's time to take your medicine." I laughed to myself because I knew what was coming. "NO! I'm not taking that medicine." He has met his match! But she has met hers! She gagged as she tasted the pink bubblegum flavored medicine. 30 seconds later her head was in the toilet. So M crushed up a grape tablet in the apple juice and handed it to KitKat. She refused to drink it. M lost his patience and said, "Get on the bed. You're getting a suppository." She looked at me with the fear in her eyes. M said, "Come on." KitKat screamed, and I hate to admit it, but I was on the verge of dying laughing! In a last ditch effort to get her to take her medicine orally, I pleaded with her, "Kat, drink this right now so you won't have to put your medicine in your bottom." "I'll drink it - I'll drink it!", she sobbed. So she sat on the edge of the tub. I sat next to her. And M got comfortable (see photo above). She wasn't going anywhere til she drank that medicine. So we sat. And she sipped. And sipped. And sipped. And sipped . Finally, she was towards the bottom of the cup, where the majority of the medicine was concentrated. Then she started gagging (of course)! Then she ran to the toilet and threw it all up. The drama! The hurling! The noise! The coughing!

M said to her while her head was in the toilet, "When you're finished, I'm giving you a suppository." She replied, "Can you bring me a chair in here? It's gonna take a long time."

Me? What was I doing? Trying not to laugh but not succeeding! (oh yeah, and I took a picture).

So we brought out the suppositories. 45 minutes later, we were done.

I'm beat! M left for a meeting. And KitKat is no longer running a fever to she's running around like a wild Indian. I think I liked it better when she had a fever (Did I really just write that!?!?)

(I had to take a break from typing this so that I could feed the kids. This is what I walk into: KitKat says,"Mom, they don't believe me that I had to take my medicine in my crack." AAA and L'il Man asked simultaneously, "Did she really?" I replied, "She really did." Then KitKat added, just for kicks, "Dad had to stick his finger in my bootie." Y'all I swear I try to keep this G-rated, but my kids won't let me!)

You're gonna have fun whether you like it or not!

The reason that Sunshine is asleep in the middle of the floor at the hotel is because she passed out from sheer stress and exhaustion after having spent an hour in the same room as Cinderella's stepmother!

When M and I decided a few months ago that I would take the youngest two girls to Walt Disney World while he stayed home with the older two, Sunshine seemed to be genuinely upset at the idea of going to Disney World. We finally realized that it was because she was terrified that she might either see pirates or Cinderella's stepmother. I convinced her that we would not have any contact with pirates and assured her that we would not see Cinderella's stepmother. Then I made dinner reservations for us to eat with Cinderella and Prince Charming one night. We were just about to be seated when the host told us that he had a special guest for us that night...Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters!! Sunshine ran as fast as she could out of there! I chased her to the lobby of the hotel while at the same time looking back at the host and yelling, "We'll be O.kay. I'll be right back." Sunshine was crying and begging me not to take her into the restaurant. I assured her that it would be O.Kay and the stepmother would NOT come to our table. We went back inside the restaurant. Sunshine basically sat in my lap the whole time. I asked our server to please tell the stepmother and stepsisters to please skip our table, but apparently they didn't get the memo. Each of them made their way to our table and tried to get the girls to have their pictures taken with them. Sunshine didn't speak because she was so scared. Of course KitKat looked straight at the evil stepmother and said, "I'm not gonna have my picture taken with you 'cause you don't look cute!" Even I was was scared of the evil stepmother after that! Finally, we finished our dinner and left the restaurant. Within minutes, Sunshine was passed out! Bless her little heart. What kind of mommy am I ? I ought to be ashamed for making her eat dinner with the mean ole step-monster!

Wishin' and Hopin' and Prayin'

This is THE FIRST chance I've had to sit down and blog since our return from Disney, which was a complete blast! I took my two youngest children, KitKat and Sunshine, and my mom. My youngest sister also stayed with us, along with her 5 year old boy and 2 1/2 month old baby girl (who slept through the night!! Thank you, Lucy!). My other younger sister was there for part of the time with her 5 year old boy. The time together was priceless! We laughed about "nothing" the entire time!

KitKAt made a wish the first night that we were there at the "Dreams Come True" fireworks celebration. I begged her to tell me what her wish was. She was tight-lipped until I told her that it was O.Kay for little girls to tell their mommies. Major mistake. Of course her wish was impossible. And then she blamed me for her wish not coming true. So the next night she said, "I want to stay and make another wish since you ruined my life and made me tell you my other wish and it didn't come true." She's five years old! What will it be like when she's fifteen years old. I'm so scared! She has a very strong will and I'm not ashamed to tell you that her will IS stronger than mine! I've never been strong-willed. I don't even want to be strong-willed. But I know I better start! That girl is going to exhaust me! I love her to death, but boy howdy, she's one strong-willed little girl! I better get ready for a wild ride!

I'll post more pics later, but just wanted to say "Hello"

Thanking God today for that strong-willed little girl who will keep me on my knees!

Back from Disney!

Family (Circus) Night

Tonight was "Family Night." We haven't had Family Night since before Thanksgiving because there were so many holiday festivities that interfered with our family night. But tonight...I made a fun dinner (Chicken on a Stick), baked brownies for dessert, and brought out the really fancy BINGO game. But Family Night never seems to go quite as planned. First of all, Sunshine comes in the kitchen crying real tears. "Daddy said I have to take my medicine." I replied, "I'll give you some Sprite to wash it down! How would you like that?" She took her medicine like a big girl then cried and asked, "Can I go lay down in your bed and go night night?" I hugged her and kissed her and off she went. So now it's "Family Night Minus One" .

So we played BINGO. Thank goodness that Kit Kat won! Otherwise it would have been "Family Night Minus One Plus One Was Sent to Her Room For Being A Sore Loser." So BINGO was fun, but we decided to take it a step further and play until the whole card was full. Not a good idea. A little too much down time. KitKat was winning again and chanted over and over, "I'm winning, Y'all are losing." And then, just for fun(?), she adds, "Boo Dogs!" Now them are fightin' words in our house! So AAA and L'il Man, of course, shout back, "Boo Auburn!" Well KitKat can "dish it out" but she can NOT take it! So she cried. (Help me, what am I going to do with this child?) Well the never-ending game of BINGO finally ended and next thing you know we are playing the "Charades for Kids" game that Aunt Holley gave us for Christmas (which can be purchased, I am sure, at one of her fabulous toy stores, Spots and Dots in Brookwood Mall or MAE's In Crestline. Holley, you can pay me later for the advertisement). Anyway...to make a long story really short, KitKat started crying (or maybe she was still crying from BINGO?) because I told her that she could just make up whatever she wanted to be. Well M walked back in the room and KitKat said, "Daddy, mommy said I could just make something up that I want to be." M went into this long explanation about why she couldn't because then we wouldn't know if she was right or not and it wouldn't be fair and she just needs to play like everyone else and read the card and be whatever it tells her to be. I would have reminded him that she can't read, but by this point, she's already crying because she "really wanted to be a princess." And,anyway, he's been on me about teaching her to read! Then Li'l Man did something ...next thing you know, he's in tears, too.

This was only going down hill (and fast!) so I "took the bull by the horns" and quickly ended the charades game with a "You know what? We have had a really fun night, and now everyone is getting tired. Let's get ready for bed because it's already past your bedtime, And let's pretend like we quit right after KitKat won the first game of BINGO. That was really fun." Kids are sooo easy! "Yay!" , they yell, "That was fun. Thanks, Mommy!" No problem...glad that was so easy. So off they went to brush their teeth, say their prayers, and go to bed. And guess what, two of the remaining three kids actually said "and thank you, God, for Family Night." Now that is something! Sweet things!

"We are Fam-i-ly!"

These are my two younger sisters dying laughing and making fun of the gifts that I gave my mom!! I'm serious... that is what they are laughing about! They were having such a good time over there that I had to take their picture!
If you are wondering what I gave her that was so funny, I have to tell you that, first of all, I had no idea that the gifts were funny. MM said that they only reason she was laughing was because of the look on Holley's face when she saw the first gift. Otherwise, she says, she wouldn't have laughed. Right. And by the way, MM called first thing yesterday morning because her sweet husband said that I probably had my feelings hurt by the way they were laughing at my gifts. I assured her that I didn't. And I really didn't. I joined in the laughter. In fact, it became the highlight of my night.
Back in late September, Belk's was having a really big shoe sale. Their summer shoes were 75% off, then an additional 33% off the clearance price for that particular day. So... I bought my mom 5 pairs of shoes and stuck them in the attic until Christmas. I think it was my dad who said, "The 75% off, plus the additional 33% off should have been your first clue." (first clue that these shoes are ugly). ha! That really got the girls going! The first pair of shoes was a pair of canvas Keds sandals. I wouldn't wear them, but they looked comfortable, and my mom is almost 60, so I thought she'd like them (and she did, btw). Holley and MM immediately started laughing about the old lady sandals. I heard some laughing and mention of bunions. It just went down hill from there!
The funny thing is that earlier in the evening, Holley said that if she wanted the truth about something, she'd have to ask MM, NOT me. I was shocked, because I'm pretty honest when it comes to telling people - especially my 3 sisters - the truth about how this looks or that looks. So I said, "You're kidding? She said, "You'd tell mom. Then mom would tell me." Oh the dynamics of our family!! We sure have a good time, though!!

Thanking God for my fun family!!

That Darn Elf!

So the "Elf on the Shelf" is bad for my marriage. I didn't realize I was going to blog about this until I was telling my mom about this and we both were so tickled that I snorted while laughing and she had to get off the phone because she was laughing so loud it was interrupting my dad and brothers! Anyway...yesterday morning the kids woke up and the first thing out of their mouths was, "Where's the Elf? Where's the Elf? " Immediately I thought, "Oh no!! I forgot to move the elf! He's still in the freezer". So I distracted the children while I ran to the kitchen to retrieve the Elf (he was in the freezer from the day before - reminds him of the North Pole). But he wasn't there! I looked behind the frozen waffles, the ground beef, and even under the brown bananas that are waiting to be made into banana bread. He was gone! So I grilled the children, "Did anyone take him out of the freezer?!" They all say no and we all started searching frantically for him. I'm wondering,,"Did the elf really move himself? "The kids were running through the house yelling, "Mark?! Mark?!" Remember, they named the elf after their dad! Anyway, I finally spotted him sitting cross-legged on top of the pie safe. And I wondered, "How did he get there?" I even wondered if maybe I put him there after I took two Benadryl to help me fall asleep, and maybe I just don't remember. I finally decided that I must have done that. Now you all may be wondering, "Hello...your husband moved him." But...helloo,... Mark doesn't do elves. So I paged him later that morning and he told me that yes, in fact, he did take the elf out of the freezer and place him on the pie safe. He explained that when he opened the freezer earlier in the morning and saw the elf staring at him, he thought he shoudl take him out in case he would ruin from frostbite. But back to my story...so AAA says, "I wonder what mischief he did last night." "NO!!", I think to myself. I sent them to brush their teeth while I found a bag of marshmallows and dumped them all over the floor in the dining room. There! Mischief! The kids were so excited about this. I mean they were over-the-edge excited! Well around 6:00 that night, M was about to leave for his meeting, when I heard him say, "I want whoever did this to get in here right now and pick this up!" Oops - silly elf! M walked by me and I can just read his mind, " Elf? Marshmallows? On the floor? All day long?!?" I just flashed a smile. Not until he returned from the meeting and AAA asked him to unclog the vacuum cleaner because the hose was clogged from too many marshmallows. I heard her explain, "I asked Mommy and she said the vacuum cleaner would pick up marshmallows." Apparently I forgot to tell her to suck them up one at a time. I thought to myself, "If he says anything to me about this, I'm just going to tell him what a hard day I had and it all started with that darn Elf and the kids waking up wondering where he was and what kind of mischief he had been up to!" I know he had to put people to sleep and give epidurals all day, but he doesn't know stress of four little kids waking up and wondering about the Elf that mommy forgot about! So don't tell me about stress!

Saturday we went to the Georgia vs Auburn Ga. And boy was it fun to win against Auburn! The score was 17 to 13. The boys were not there they were at the house letting us have a GNO!{Girls night out!}Now here are some pictures..................
POSTED BY AAA

Boo Ya'll!

Thanks to the Dawsons for having us over! We enjoyed it!

AAA was a witch, my little man was a Georgia football player (he had to yell "War Eagle" a few times before anyone would give him any candy), KitKat was Gabriella (the star of the show...but of course), and Sunshine was Monique (HSM cheerleader). They were darlin'! Weather was perfect...maybe a little too chilly. Company was great ...nothing like old neighbors who have watched your children grow up from the time they were born. Candy was yummy...anything chocolate. Neighborhood was amazing...trick-or-treating in Asheton Park is too much!
Somehow the children came home, brushed their teeth, and went straight to bed. Yeah , we skipped the baths tonight! That's alright...we give them a bath once a week whether they need it or not. There's always tomorrow or Saturday...as long as we get it in before church on Sunday. I was so glad that they went to sleep. They kept asking M if they could have"this candy" or "that candy" and he kept telling them "no." Now normally I try really hard not to undermine his authority (and he better not undermine mine like I did his!), but it's Halloween and they are kids and it is candy ,for goodness sake. So, with a smile on my face, I told them to ignore their dad and eat all the candy they wanted. M. just looked at me like I'd lost my mind and explained that they would never get to bed because of all the sugar, it's a school night, they have to be up early, yada yada yada. So I'm really thankful that my little darlin's fell fast asleep. I didn't want to hear "I told you so" and I really didn't want to have to put 4 hyped-up kids to bed by myself as I'm sure M. wouldv'e signed off on that one. Sunshine didn't even make it home before she had passed out in her car seat in her little High School Musical cheerleading outfit and size 3T white tights with velcro Keds (I could eat her up!).

Happy Halloween!

I have three fun, pretty, talented, creative sisters. When I'm with them, I am literally laughing the entire time. We have a blast! I think that they are all three funnier than me. (And their breasts are bigger. One of them has even had a reduction. Go figure. )
I spoke with one of my younger sisters, Holley, today. I laughed my head off. She has the wittiest sense of humor- love her. As she was talking and making me laugh, I said, "Holley, you should write a blog. You'd be hilarious." She said, "Whatever. I don't have any stories like yours. Nothing like that ever happens to me. It's like you're an airhead, but you're not. You're a fake dim-wit. Like Ellen."
Gee thanks.
I think that was supposed to be a compliment.
My friend, Carrie, told me that her sister, whom I think I've only met once, called to tell her that she had a "Tiffany story." I couldn't wait to hear it. It was about a friend of hers chasing a chicken down the street in Montgomery.
Go ahead. Laugh.
Why am I putting myslef out here like this?!? For your enjoyment?!?! Apparently.

Ya'll have a great day!!
** I haven't had many comments lately and I'm in need of an ego boost. I know you're out there. I can see you on my sitemeter. I just don't know who you are.
Comments are fun!

Busy Weekend!

Greetings from the Arnalls

Busy weekend on the home front. Between movie premieres (HSM 3), soccer games, birthday parties, Halloween parties, a Chili cookout, the Emmaus Walk, and football games, it was a busy weekend! Nothing especially blog-worthy, unless I include the conversation from breakfast morning. While we were eating breakfast (it's Sunday...so ya'll know what we had!), M. says, "Look at all the squirrels in the yard." Sunshine says, "That's why I want a real gun." Hmmmm. My delicate, dainty flower.

And oh yeah - speaking of football games...How 'bout them dogs! And Roll Tide, too!
Eagerly awaiting the Bama/Auburn game and Auburn/Georgia!


Thanking God today for busy weekends that end on Sunday so we can all take a rest!

What is it about cousins?!

What is is about cousins?! Why are young cousins so attracted to each other? How do they know to love each other like that? Do they see a resemblance? Do they feel a special connection? I've never seen anything like it! (Although I was the same way with my own cousins when I was little. ) My children's cousins on both sides of our family are their very best friends! They love each other through and through. In fact, Sunshine even wants to be one of her cousins!


I bet we can all agree that the relationship between our children and their cousins is something rather magical and even mysterious. When they are together - oh, it melts my heart! Li'l Man has a special cousin and I am so thankful for that relationship because Li'l Man has 3 sisters and no brothers! And boy does he want a brother! I'd give him one if there was a guarantee that it would be a boy . But there are no guarantees. And it's not that I don't want another girl - well, actually, it is. Honestly, I don't want a boy or a girl, but I'd be willing to have another child if I knew it would be a boy. And then I would love it as much as I love the rest of these little ones, but at this point, the desire just isn't there! Anyway...back to the cousins! It is such a rare, magical, special relationship! My sister just spent the weekend here with her three little ones. There were lots of tears and even some wailing when they left today. I LOVED watching those kids play together! It reminded me of my own childhood. The boys (ages 8,6, and 5) played tackle football in the front yard. The girls (ages 3, 4, and 5) played barbies and babies in their bedrooms upstairs. The girls were like teenagers! Within minutes of AL's arrival, they had thrown open her suitcase and tried on all of her clothes. AL only wore KitKat's and Sunshine's outfits while she was here, and KitKat only wore AL's clothes - down to the panties. KK loved AL's Dora panties, and AL loved KK's Barbie panties!

The pictures were taken this past weekend while my sister was here. Can you believe I only took ONE picture of the boys?!? However, this ONE picture says a thousand words. For those of you who know SJ, you know that he doesn't do germs. But there he is, in the middle of his brother and cousin, sharing out of the same drink! I'm telling you...it's a cousin thing!

My sister has already called today. We're trying to plan our next "cousin-fix."
In fact, we're trying to plan it for this coming weekend!

Thanking God today for our cousins! What a blessing!