Samantha vs. The Sandwich

Samantha had a sandwich for lunch today.  

It was a good sandwich. 

It had turkey.  And bacon.  mmm...bacon.  

And lettuce.

And tomato.

Mayo too.

I think she even put mustard on there too. 

And I don't just mean good.  I mean GOOD!!! 

The kind of GOOD!!! that makes you do this...

 

...close your eyes and savor the GOOD!!!ness.

The thing about GOOD!!! sandwiches though...

...most of the time, they are BIG!!!

Samantha's sandwich was BIG!!!

I told her when she started that there was no way she was going to finish it.  

She insisted that she would finish it.  

Shortly into the second half, I knew she was done for.  

Wanna know how I know?

Cuz she looked at me like this

And she looked at the sandwich like this...

 

The Sandwich won that day.

Not another bite was taken.

But it was still a GOOD!!! sandwich.

Wanna know how I know?

Because halfway through Egypt, Samantha was ready for a nap.

Samantha - 0; The Sandwich - 1

But there's always the next GOOD!!! sandwich, right?

Bella says...

Being home with the girls is so fun sometimes.  And sometimes the things that come out of Bella's mouth make me spit out my coffee.  Today she has verbally tickeled me more than once.  Here's a small sampling.

"Mom...I'm moving out." 

"I thought you said you'd live with me forever?" :(

"Oh, don't worry.  I'm just moving to the corner of the living room, we'll still be close, but I've got my own house now."

She had the Dora playhouse all set up...complete with the play kitchen, little couch, and an alarm clock.

Then, later, I told her she was growing up too fast, and her response was...

"Yeah, it's like you are a car, and I'm a car and I'm speeding right past you and you're shouting out your window for me to slow down.  But, I just keep speeding."

:)  

Then, just moments ago, the one that made me run to the computer to post this...

As she's reclined on an impromtu couch on the living room floor, complete with her arms crossed behind her head and her legs propped up on pillows, covered in a blanket...she calls to me in the kitchen...

"Mom!  My life is fantastic!  This is the BEST day of my life.  I mean, like, Maya is totally doing EVERYTHING I ask her to do.  Like, whatever I want her to do.  I get thirsty, she brings me drinks.  I want a book, she gets me a book.  It's like, the most perfect day EVER!  My life is sooooo fantastic."

WHERE does she come up with this stuff?  WHEN did she turn into a 16 year old??  Please make it stop...

Homeschool Friday!

So,  the sexy plumber accidentally took the only working key to our Kid-Mobile (a.k.a. mini-van) with him to work.  Now, this threw a few kinks in our day...mainly that I couldn't take the kids to school.  But the thought of plunking them in front of the TV all day so I could get my chores accomplished, while easy, made me feel guilty.  So, I decided that we would have a little "school"-time, the Loperena Way.  

First, Belle practiced her cursive while Maya did some letter worksheets.

Here's Belle doing her cursive.  At school they started introducing cursive writing after the kids came back from Christmas Break.

 

  

  

And Maya doing her letter "worksheets"

 

  

Then, when they tired of that, they started a "game".  

Here's how it worked...the girls picked a letter, then took their shopping cart and "shopped" around the house for items that began with the chosen letter.  

  

First they picked B.  Since Bella was too big to fit in the shopping cart, they found...

 

...Boots, Barbie, Blanket, and, the two I was really impressed with...a Bendaroo and a Basset Hound!  Impressive!

Then they picked M.  Here's what they found...

 

Minnie Mouse

 

A Monkey

 

A Maraca

 

 and a Marker.

 

The next letter choice was D.

They found...

 

a doll...

 

a Dad...

 

a  D magnet 

 

a Dog

 

and a dolphin.

 

 Before they lost interest, they searched for E things...which turned out to be quite difficult.

But they came up with...

...an Elephat, Ear Muffs, a egg, and a dumbbell.

 

Now, you may be saying, "Dumbbell doesn't start with E!  What are you teaching those kids?!?!"

Well, to Bella, my dumbbell represented...EXERCISE!  Creative thinking!  Love it!

So, now, in addition to getting the dryer to actually dry clothes, getting the dishes done, and cleaning the computer/homeschool area, I actually feel like I accomplished something! 

Nevermind that Bella poked herself in the eye with her scissors.  That, we will pretend never happened.  ;) 

A Grownup Party!

Wow...a post about something other than the girls!  :) 

Here are a few pictures from Maria and Christy's 25th Birthday party!  :)  (Some pictures taken by Sandra!  Hope you don't mind I stole them from your Facebook Page, my friend. :) )

The Birthday Girls! 

TIME FOR CAKE!!!

That's Kate (white shirt) and Sandra, the evening's wonderful hostesses.

I think Maria and Christy were just a little embarassed, but, isn't that the wole point of grownup birthday parties?  Plus, the cake was GOOD.  WAY worth the embarassment!

We were all enjoying it though!

(Andy, Maria's husband; Kate; and Sandra)

We are such a rowdy bunch!  :)

Seriously...we are.  Don't let Nellie, Sarah, and Ronna fool you.  They might be sitting on the couch, but they were rowdy too! ;)

Sarah's classic head tilt...one of my favorite things about her!  :) 

Jessica and Sarah - notice the grey shirts?

Nellie and Sarah...seriously...did I miss the memo about the grey shirts?

Sarah and Sandra.  OK...whew.  a black shirt...(which is what I had on).

And there's me and Sandra.  I had my grey coat on...not sure if I was coming or going??  The black shirt is underneath! LOL!

Sandra, Christy, and Kate.

Oh...there were a few men folk there too. Left to right:  Ryan (Sandra's hubby), Andy (Maria's Hubby), and Dave (Kate's Hubby).  My Hubby stayed home.  :(

I feel so lucky to have made so many good friends!  I love you all!

More Fun at the Museum

OK - I want to get these museum pictures posted for my dear cousin before time goes by and she's here for next year's annual visit.  ;)  These are just random pictures from around the Children's Museum when we went a few weeks ago.  See Fireworks of Glass, Barbie, Diggin' for Dinos!, and My Personal Favorite if you missed them. 

Bella and Evan

Maya checking out the Vintage (I was going to say "REALLY REALLY OLD!"  Now I feel sophisticated! ;) Winnie The Pooh stuff.

Playing "chairs".  The entire point of this is to see how many chairs you can stack on top of each other before it falls over.  I don't think we got past six...which is pretty shameful if you consider I'm almost THIRTY-six, and should be able to master a child's game with ease.

Yeah.  And then Bella came over and totally made me feel totally inferior.

 

The kids played video games (we could have done that at home, kids!)

Here's Belle playing some Lego Star Wars game.

Maya playing Pac-Man

Avery playing old-school Super Mario Bros.

Evan's turn for the silly Lego Star wars game...the kid's got skills. Seriously.  I tried playing that game and couldn't leave the room I was in.  He concoured the world in 15 minutes.

And then he taught Sam how to play too. ;)

On the way out, Avery found her soul-mate.

Got the kids to pose for a picture on the banks of the Nile River in Egypt...

...but only by promising them they could do this next.

Belle was a little grossed out by Jabba The Hut...

...and Evan sure did like Mace Windu's costume.  (The real one from the movie!)

And, finally...just a really cute picture of Belle and Evan, at our house, after Sunni and I's annual Carter's Shopping trip. (Hence Bella's very cute brand new unstained shirt!)

Now...we must go do something else fun so I have something to post about again!  LOL!