"Bear"necessities!

We had the greatest night last week with a little visitor from Kindergarten. In Sam's class this year every student got the chance to be the "star of the week." They got to wear a special crown and sit in a special chair and even got to bring in a show and tell item everyday of the week and a treat one of the days. Sam loved it and made sure to take his crown back every day.
Well, when that was finished and every student had a turn, Baby Bear joined their class. At first Baby Bear just watched the kids in the class and then would choose which table or student was being the best at listening and then he would go and sit with them. After awhile though it was decided that he would like to go home with each Kindergartner but only after each student had written a letter to Mama Bear to ask permission. Sam's letter said, " Mama bear I em gunu tak cir uv bab bear. I wl brnk hm bac. Sam" (Mama bear, I am gonna take care of baby bear. I will bring him back.)
Sam waited with much anticipation and not much patience for his turn. We even had an emotional breakdown one day when he made a wrong choice and was sure if Mrs. Bell ever found out about it that he would never get to bring the furry critter home.
But alas, the day finally arrived and when I picked him up that afternoon I could tell from the joyous look on his face that something big had happened.
He was carrying a cute little diaper bag in one hand and his backpack in the other. Inside that diaper bag was Baby Bear, a note from Mama Bear, a blankie, Baby Bears favorite book, 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' and a disposable camera that we could take 2 pictures with.
Sam had a great conversation with the little guy in the back seat on our way home. "Baby Bear, I can't wait for you to meet Tiger. He's kind of just like you except he is a tiger. His tail is just like yours, cept it is kind of skinnier and kind of longer. He has paws exactly like yours cept yours are so bigger then his. Oh and he has stripes." (Tiger is Sam's favorite baby animal at home.)
That night we took Baby Bear to see Spiderwick Chronicles at the dollar theatre. While Danny and I were busy whispering back and forth about whether we ever should have brought them to something that was so scary and whether we should even stay, Sam was busy covering Baby Bear's eyes and watching with his wide open. (We did decide to stay so they could see the conflict resolution and know that the scary all worked itself out - and then chalked that experience up as another entry for the mother and father of the year award.)
Baby Bear also took a walk to the park with us and then Sam let us know that Baby Bear would really appreciate if he could watch Sam play video games even though Sam still had 4 days of being grounded from them. Sam reminded us several times that we should respect that request because, "after all he is the guest." (Nice try buddy :-)




That night Baby Bear got his own bed in a giant Pampered Chef Box that he shared with all of the stuffed friends that live at our house. I think he got scared and crawled in bed with Sam that night because the next morning we found him cuddled up next to our little guy. Sam said, "Maybe he just got cold."
It was a little sad to pack up the diaper bag and send the two of them off the Kindergarten the next morning, but Sam seemed pretty contented.

23 Cent Pizzas?

Ahh, life in Metropolis! Last Thursday we planned on having pizza for dinner as did all of Northeast Ohio. For 23 cents! If you haven't heard this story yet you are in for a treat and here is a little run down of what happened.

Papa John's made some t shirts that were given out at a Wizard's game with #23 (Lebron James' number), and CRYBABY was written where Lebron's name should have been. Well Cavs fans when nuts and called for a boycott of the popular pizza chain. Papa Johns Corporate had not approved the t shirts but to make amends decided to choose a day and offer 23 cent pizzas (Large one topping). For more, read this article..

I don't think Papa John's really knew what they were getting into. The local newspapers wrote about it for days before, and the anchors from most of the news stations had already broadcast what their personal topping would be. Everywhere I went I heard people talking about how they were planning on getting two or three with the help of family members. Schools were planning pizza parties (no clue how they thought that would work) I don't think that Papa John's could have served everyone who intended to be served if they had offered the deal for a week.

The doors opened at 10:30 a.m. and the lines started hours earlier. When I watched the new that day this is what I saw. Make sure to check out the last link to the story by Michael O'Mara. Some people think that this could only happen in Cleveland with our poverty level where it is but human nature is such that I think it would be a repeat in any location big or small.

Thousands of people lined up throughout the day and waited sometimes over 5 hours for pizzas. A couple locations went out and gave coupons for a free pizza when they knew they were going to run out but most franchises just shut the doors. Fights broke out, people were arrested and chaos ruled at times just for a bubbly, little pizza pie. 23 cents is a good deal but in my opinion not worth trading a day of my life for.

Way to go Papa John's!

Needless to say we just ate leftovers from a lunch I hosted that day and were all the better for it :-)

How many Sarah's does it take?

I thought this was kind of fun. Their are 270 Sarah Parks in the U.S. but I thought it would be interesting to see how my maiden name would rank!

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

How fun is that to be one out of how many million? Does it still count that I am no longer just Sarah Pead and that there is now a Parks at the end? I think so.

Turning 5!

This happened a couple of weeks ago but for some reason slide.com decided it no longer likes my computer and I decided I no longer like the time the website has sucked from my life. So I went back to smilebox and love, love, love how easy it is and that I can make a slide in less then 5 minutes.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

How lucky am I to have this precocious child in my life with all of her silliness, charm and love of all things dramatic, pink and princessy! I love her giggles and smiles and flare for words. I love that she has to take things and make them her own. I love that she knows what she wants and rarely compromises (Did I just say that?)I love her creativity and imagination and the conversations she has with all of her invisible sisters and cousins. (They can be quite funny, who needs a radio or television?)I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending this one to me. How did I get so lucky? What fun that I get to see her grow up. I know that amazing things are in store with this one. How do you say, I know all of this? In Emily's words - "Because my heart told me."

Pink, Lace, and Frills with lots and lots of GLITTER!

Emi Rose turns 5 tomorrow. I can't believe that time has flown by so fast and that my youngest child is now 5!!!I wanted to make a quick slide with a few of my favorite birthday girl memories and it ended up huge. I don't know how to pick and choose very well because all of them are my favorite.
I get so emotional as I looked back at all the fun things that we have done as a little family with this precious little girl that is ours. She has been so much fun - ALL GIRL, and pink, and princess and frills! Exactly like the little girl I always dreamed of having as I grew up. It also made me very baby hungry :-)

Who Rules this Roost?

"Who Yah, Dat what I'm talkin' bout. . ." is what I heard as Sam presented his latest project to me. "Now ya know."
I think we are going to have to bring this 6 year old back to reality:-) I realized that he was starting to read and write in Kindergarten but the new vocabulary was a surprise.

While You Were Out. . . I went a little crazy.

This is my latest project almost finished! A few years ago when I was in and out of the radiology lab on a regular basis getting xrays, CTscans, MRIs and my PTscan I fell in love with a series of flower xrays hanging as artwork on the wall. They are incredible and when you look up close they look like a fine pencil drawing. The lines are amazing!!! In some of them you could even see the seeds.
Then, a couple of weeks ago I was beyond excited to find them for 75% off at Joannes! I bought them with my birthday money and decided they would be perfect in our bedroom. I have always done cute things with the kids rooms but I never seemed to get around to ours. So for the first time in almost 10 years of marriage our walls are no longer white.
I decided to do a "while you were out" for Danny. I spent a couple of weeks (respending my birthday money a couple of times:-)) collecting pillows, sheets, the comforter, sewing the curtains, choosing the paint colors and then stashing it all in my closet. Thursday morning when Danny got up for work I got started. My friend Jessica Larsen helped me out with picking up Emily from school and watching her until I picked up Sam from school. I wasn't able to get all of it done before Danny got home that night but all painting except the second coat on the trim was done. It was really fun to suprise him and he seemed to really appreciate it and is enjoying it as much as I am. I still have to get new knobs for the shutters on our windows and I want to save up for lamps and a chocolate leather chair for the corner for reading and for Danny to sit on when he plays his guitars. (Got to book more Pampered Chef shows, I think that I have spent all my birhtday money too many times to use that excuse again:-)

Bubbly is currently Emily's and my favorite song! If you look closely you will see that Danny still has his nightstand full of yoyos, rubik's cubes and other various toys.