What the Flu looks like

Well, Ellabee calls it "The Flubes" but I call it HORRID! It's 5:09 and I would just like to say that I opened the wine bottle at 3:48. The worst of it is that John is in Selma tonight for a fundraiser with the Hospital so here I sit, nursing my glass of wine ($2.97 Oak Leaf from Wal-mart - the South's very own version of 2 buck chuck). The weird thing is that they girls are playing and act like they are fine and then the next minute they are in a heap on the floor throwing a fit - actually, that is happening right now as I type at my feet with Miss Anne Bailey. Anyway, I shot some pictures of what the Flubes looks like at the Stone house!

And on a different note, I'm typing at you tonight from our new computer!!!! We broke down and bought a home PC that we can use for pictures, blogging, iTunes and for the girls to play. WOO HOO!

They are being creative at least and making up games to play together - this is called,

"Hey Anne Bailey, push me around the playroom"

All would look normal to an outsider...

But then she comes for a "pick up" and ...

And just like that, it all falls apart and this is the flip side of "happy but sick" Anne Bailey.

Helmet Hair, Spaghetti and the flu...

So, this week is turning out to be a pretty eventful week, which turns out to be UNeventful. Let me explain. We have the FLU, so while that is definately news in the Stone home, it means we are on QUARENTINE until we are fever free for 24 hours... at this point, at the beginning of our sequestered state things are ok. We're well stocked with Dora popsickles and lots of crayons. Anne Bailey is taking it in stride (as I would expect her little personality to do)... Ellabee, on the other side of the coin... well, she's not very happy to be stuck in the house. Especially when she's not the one with the flu (although I think she's well on her way to being sick... running a fever, complaining of a sore throat... God help me).

Anyway, the entire family now has stock in the Tamiflu company - wow that stuff is expensive - but we figure it's a good investment to make in not getting it or being sidelined too long with it. So, that's our eventful uneventful week.

On a funny note - Ellabee has decided that she wants to be Franklin the Turtle, so we had to fashion a helmet like Franklin's which she proceeded to wear for the entire day... especially while I was driving down the road - what a sight! I snapped a picture from the front seat so you could delight in my child's opinion of my driving ability.

AND, we've discovered that our precious Anne Bailey - who we refer to as Vacuum Stone - has a love of spaghetti...

hoping that her big sister would see her love and decide that she too should taste this delicacy, I gave some to Ellabee as well. She chose a chicken nugget - go figure.

Anne and Anne

For Ellabee's 4th birthday, Anne and Diane flew all the way in from San Francisco (really Mill Valley) to celebrate with us. Unfortunately, our plans went amiss when Anne came down with a stomach bug and spent the entire day on Sunday at the Hampton Inn - what fun.

They came by Monday morning before they made the trip back across the US to their home. We were able to catch a few photos of Anne and her namesake.

We Love Our Aunt Anne!

A Big Girl Room for EBS

For Ellabee's birthday, Mother decided to give her a big girl room, so with some collaboration between the two of us - this is what we did. We had to figure out how to maximize the space and give this growing girl a bigger closet (her current closet is probably 4 ft high by 4 ft deep and 3 feet wide - I think a family of "little people" lived here before us. That's probably my most favorite feature in the room. Also, we're still fluffing. I'm looking for little touches to bring in - but for the most part - here it is!
A big girl bed for our big girl! With all her treasures right there at her fingertips - who needs sleep?

The dresser stayed on the same wall, but the fairy painting was moved - and the focal point for our color scheme.

A wall of fabric...

To hide the closet area - a work in progress!

A Week Long Birthday Celebration

So, she's the big FOUR! I can't believe that Ellabee is four years old! We celebrated the morning with Daddy running in the mercedes half. He did pretty well and while I don't have pictures from the event (it's a bit harder juggling two children along the race route) I can attest that he did well and looked good and didn't boink! That night we started the weeklong birthday celebration with a small party at our house for just the fam (and Maw Maw and Paw Paw). I made a floppy cake and we had a grand time.

Anne Bailey said, "Forget the singing - can we just dig into that cake now?"

Everyone singing in unison about you just never gets old, does it?

On Tuesday, the first day since the big birthday, Ellabee got to take cupcakes to her friends at school. Talk about continuing the sugar high.

Then, sandwiched in between the birthday celebrations, there fell valentines! It took a while to explain to Ellabee that Valentines isn't a continuation of the birthday, but a "celebration of love." Which I will tell you all that I think is a load of you know what designed by our capitalist society to sell more crap that no one needs and profess our undying affection to each other. John and I actually protested by sitting at home in our pajamas, watching tivoed shows and doing work.

Happy Valentine's Day there honey pot!

Daddy and his Valentines

Finally, time for the big day! I hope to get more pictures from the event from various family and friends (HINT HINT HINT) because i was in event mode and not really able to concentrate on great photo taking. But you'll get the idea of the celebration - can anyone say Princess Party?

A party fit for a princess!

The big four year old - Princess Aurora-bee

Thanks Maw Maw for the cupcakes!

Seriously - think this should be sent in to Disney for an advertisment!

Anne Bailey even got into the present opening act!

Poor Capp - No chance with all these little girls around!

Emma was not impressed with the princess party!

A Glorious Day at the Park

The weater is here, wish you were beautiful... I've always loved that line from the Jimmy Buffett song of the same name. It is a little ugly but funny too. I can joke because of the irony in my life right now. I'm in Birmingham while my family (parents and sister with her family) are on a cruise. SO, the weather is here, wish you were beautiful.

We enjoyed the fantastic weather yesterday by joining our friends at the park yesterday. It was gorgeous and the girls had such a good time with their friends Andrew, James and Ann Wright. Here are some pics:

Ellabee and Andrew enjoying their lunch from Zoe's.

Anne Bailey and Ann Wright hanging on the playground.

In other news, I had quite a scare on Monday. Laurie, Aud and Capp came over for the afternoon to play and as we were talking I looked down at my hands to realize that my diamond ring was gone! I hadn't left the house so I knew it was somewhere to be found but where?!?! I had just told John that morning that I was worried I would lose my rings because as I've lost weight, they have gotten looser and looser. In fact, I can shake them off when my hands are wet or have lotion on them. Anyway, after a frantic search through the house, dirty diaper bin, trash and every else my hands had been, we found them stuck down in a box of invites I had been working on for McWane. WHOO. I was relieved but promptly took my rings off and put them away. I am now only wearing them when I wear my 5th anniversary ring (it's smaller so works to hold the rings on my finger).

On that note, I hit my 2nd 10% goal this week with WW. 54 lbs and counting.

One more pic before I go - Ellabee has turned into quite the Picasso. She discovered a pink highlighter in a box or something and has been making abstract highlighter art all morning. Here's a sample of her work.

A Ho Hum Attitude

I have to admit that I kindof have a "ho hum" attitude these days. Things of life have just gotten on my shoulders and while I face them head on, with my head down and my chin up, I find myself doing a lot of soul searching and wondering. I wonder, for instance, what defines my value. Is it work? Is it my children? Is it my house or my clothes or my other tangible items that I can point to and show where things are going "right". The consistent theme that God keeps bringing me back to is that my only true value is in him. In HIS sacrifice and in who HE says I am as one of his children. The reality of not being able to "earn" anything gives freedom and hope but also a "ho hum" attitude. I don't know why.

I sit in my office while the girls play around me and look out the window on a wet and gross day. Ellabee is trying her hardest to put on a puppet show intermingled with conversation of her upcoming birthday party and a sleep over she's decided she and Audrey are ready to have. Anne Bailey is doing her best to disrupt the show / conversation - wanting to be part of everything. I'm inundated with email and a work "to do" list. Dinner to cook and a house that needs to be cleaned. And yet, a ho hum attitude penetrates my mind.

We spent the entire day yesterday at home. John ran a few errands but we stayed here, in our pajamas all day. It was fantastic and yet at the end of the day, I was exhausted. John said it is the longest day he can remember in a while. And perhaps there's the answer. Perhaps it's the slow down that God has been pulling us towards. I long for "more time" but it only comes when we push away the things of this world and just be... just be together and play and stay isolated away from the world. So, here I am again with no plans to leave the house except to go fetch John from work. Knowing full well that my list of errands is growing by the minute but with no umph to go and do them. I need stamps (about 500 of them), I need masks for a work thing, I need to do a lot of things but I intend to stay home - with the girls and our music and puppet shows and some work mixed in.

some pics from our week.

A self portrait - Mommy and Anne Bailey.

Playing in the kitchen... didn't mean to dress them alike (funny part is that John dressed EBS and I dressed ABS)

The newest obsession - playing in the dog crate.

A playground feast in the front yard. James and Andrew came over to play.

We'll always have dress-up! Princess Ellabee.