dun dun duuun....

humiliated beyond belief...

at around 4:00 this afternoon i decided to make a quick run to the grocery store.

i have been really into cooking lately, and finding that i am not half bad at it. i've been on the search for good hearty meals that are fairly good for you and relatively quick to make. i'm almost the "queen of casseroles"... which is what my family loves!

i relish the satisfaction it gives me to not eat yoder's food. after all, yoder's has been such a huge part of my life over the last almost 10 years. and i have concluded to the fact that i have made myself a little too comfortable at the thought of just picking up supper there.

i spent most of the early morning while the kids were at school researching, and filling in my cookbook.... yes, it did have actual dust on it! sad!

i gathered up my list and off we went.

i could have avoided the whole situation had i not needed butter!
butter is bad!
for it was right next to the butter that levi's eyes came across a rather large man. and in that very moment my naive, innocent minded, and unknowing three year old pointed while shouting for all around us to clearly hear "mommy look... that man has a giant belly!!!" people looked... my face and most of my upper body quickly turned a beet red color. i could feel the heat from my complete and utter mortification rising all the way from my stomach pounding into my forehead.

what to do, what to do?
how do i fix this?
how can i make it right?

i quickly looked at the man... "i'm so sorry sir, we have not yet crossed this bridge"
he gave me a look as i wheeled both my carts away down to a more vacant isle.

i told levi to look me in the eyes and quietly explained....
"i'm not angry, i know you didn't know this... but, words can hurt people. and those were mean ones to say"
i explained to him that jesus made people in all colors, shapes and sizes and sometimes people forget that. and sometimes it hurts their feelings to hear that other people think that they are different.

i honestly still don't know if i handled the situation well, i was so taken completely off guard in the moment. it was just the first thing that popped into my head to say to him. i hope it taught levi some sort of lesson....
we all go through it or something like it right?

i know he is a good boy, with nothing but love (and energy) in his heart!

it would be just my luck though that i had to pass that man three other times while finishing my shopping!


onto this evening...

i guess today was all about levi learning lessons.


i made ham and cheese casserole for dinner tonight. alivia requested seconds.
levi is such a horrible eater these days, and i reached my limit of it this very night.

i put my foot down while he cried and shouted "i don't like that kind of ham... NOOOOO"
i made him sit at the table from 6:45 - 9:03, well pass bedtime. he watched his sisters go off to their slumber, still not budging from the plate of food. finally i told him (only because of school in the morning) he could go to bed and eat it tomorrow... but that he WOULD be eating nothing else until he at least tried a bite of the casserole. i told him there would be no story for him, and that he would not get his quiet TV time. finally after 15 more minutes of crying in his bed a puffy eyed boy came out of his room and said "i will eat my dinner now!"

score one for mommy!

argh... what a day, what a day!

three piggies in a tub...

nataley faye upgraded her bathtub apparel tonight.
that's right! she can now sit up and splash her hands and feet in the water with the rest of the gang!
honestly, where has my tiny one gone? time is zooming by far too quickly for me!



she throughly enjoyed herself for over 20 minuets. grabbing every toy that floated her way, and kept reaching for alivia's hair.... naturally! i could see the "it's about time mom! what were you waiting for?" look on her face the entire time.


i had that bath chair with alivia and it still is fabulous to me! and as you can see i can get all three of my little piggies in the tub at the same time!

speaking of the chair. alivia got caught in it tonight. i had brought it in from the abyss shed and went quickly back over to drop off the old one. mere seconds passed before i was back into the family room where i found alivia freaking out and screaming in a teary wreck "help mommy, i go stuck!". and stuck she surely was. it took me nearly half an hour before i got those chubby little legs (which by the way she had both of in one side) out.
right when i had decided to give up trying to bend her lower limbs in ways they should not bend all by myself i thought it best to call in my reinforcement (aka.. my hubby, brian, and daddy). the ordeal had already made quite a sweaty mess of both her and myself.... and then suddenly, her foot popped out!
thank heavens!

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levi almost lucked out on sunday. you see, brian has a hard time saying no to "his boy". and levi kept begging and begging him for a rabbit with those big blue pouty eyes of his. and my husband was almost crazy enough to give into his only sons wishes (as usual). i keep praising god because the pet store was out of bunnies on sunday so my boys settled for and brought home two swimming frogs.
add it to our ever growing list of emrich pets!
we now have:
1 dog
2 cats
2 hermit crabs
1 fish
and now 2 swimming frogs.....
pretty soon we will have our own zoo, and we can make some money by charging people to come visit the animals! ;)