Attack of the Killer Robots: A Love Story

Once upon a time, there was a lull in sales between Christmas and Easter, so florists {some of whom are related to me} and greeting card companies created a holiday to generate some revenue in boring, cold February.

This holiday is meant to center around love, happiness and romance. But to little {and big} boys, this silliness seems ridiculous.

Unless it involves robots.

In our house they are alien robots and they have a story.

On a planet far, far away, 2 robots landed and were enjoying their sweet life- filled with candy and barcodes.

Then, as luck would have it, they found many alien robot friends to play and live with them.
They were loving life in a delicious foreign world we will call CandyLandisous.

Then one day, an astronaut arrived!

He tried to take over their village and eat their eyes and feet {GROSS}!!!

Unfortunately, only one robot alien had arms, but he did all he could do and led the others in a revolt.

They circled the astronaut and told him there was NO way off this planet alive.

When the standoff was at its worst, a nearby hero came to the rescue.
Thomas the Tank Engine also lived on their planet. He settled the fears of the anxious alien robots and he brought some food to the astronaut so he wouldn't be hungry.

Thomas married a lovely blue robot and they all lived happily ever after.
The End.

: : : : : : : : :

To make your own alien robots with crazy plot lines, you can go to Family Fun Magazine online and print your templates, add candy and have fun!

The only step that they don't clearly outline in the instructions is this part on connecting the robot bottom together.


Some other hints are:
* Double sided tape is REALLY helpful.
* You might need a cutting partner {4 year old interest seems to wax and wane depending on where you are in the story}.
* Be sure that you don't need to return your cereal, granola bars or spaghetti before you cut the labels off everything in your pantry.
* Children will flock to this project because of the candy. They will also "accidentally" break pieces to see if those are okay to eat. Don't say I didn't warn you.

We plan to finish the arms and address them {on the back} soon- hopefully before the party on Friday.

We also made this Monster Mailbox for Ollie to take to school to receive other stupid Valentine's cards that hopefully have candy his class cards.

What are your Valentine's Day plans?
Do you do anything special with your significant other or children?
{Jason and I cut and put together robots for V-Day. If that definition of romance is wrong, I don't wanna be right.}

The Saints Go Marching In

I know that I owe you a post on Blissdom. But the truth is that my camera has been dropped one too many times and now won't focus on anything but a postage stamp.
And since I never seem to have any of those, nor a reason to take a picture of one, I'm waiting for Mary and Darcy to get their pictures uploaded to the Blissdom flickr group so I can show you all about my weekend.

For now, here's a sneak peak of my weekend {if you are seeing a rainbow of fruit flavors, I have NO IDEA why, but the video works. Just press the play button below}:

Harry sings to me (and everybody else) from The Other Mama on Vimeo.

Congrats to Harry and his Saints for pulling out the big win at the Super Bowl.
I love an underdog and a good story.
And I love a good Super Bowl commercial just as much.


Doritos won in my book this year hands down. And apparently all these were made by people entering a contest- not professionals {see Dorito dart-throwing outfit if you question that}. Gotta love those underdogs!

What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?
And if you were brave enough to watch 2 whole videos, don't you just love Harry?

Countdown to Bliss

It's finally here! I'm headed to Nashville this morning for the Blissdom Conference and cannot wait to arrive!

Here's the final countdown:

10- outfits packed for 3 days {Don't judge me.}
9- pairs of shoes {This is a girly affair, folks.}
8- million cords and chargers {This is also a geeky affair- in a cute way.}
7- sorts of hair products {'cause I'm a Southern girl and I need some poof}
6- secret candy bars stashed in my bag
5- bags packed {seriously, but they aren't all big bags}
4- extra camera batteries
3- sweet guys I'm leaving behind
2- hour drive
1- man waiting for me. Hello, Harry. I'll be there soon..

Live reports from Blissdom next!

Do you know any other bloggers going that I can meet?
And any special words you'd like me to tell Harry?

O.C.D. {Operation Cute & DisOrderly}

We usually get a good report home every day from Henry's pre-school teacher: he shared, was a perfect angel {for her, of course} or he loved his spaghetti so much that he needed a new shirt.

My favorite this week, though, was when his teacher told me that all the children lined up trucks on a car rug and he went behind them and faced all the vehicles in the right direction and lined them up so they were exactly on the carpeted road.

I have no idea what she's talking about.*

No child of mine could possibly be so persnickity.

{Oh, shoot. I actually have evidence of him in action.}

His latest finished project {heaps of small toys compliments of my in-laws- Merry Christmas!
I should add they really are wonderful and we are super thankful for all our small gifts that may or may not be headed back to their house in an unmarked package }.


While he may follow his big brother to the ends of the earth,
this little brother is completely different in personality and quirks.

Any clue as to why my second born could be so orderly?
And how he can get his lines so straight?
Do y'all think he's trying to teach me how to clean?

*All pictures of Henry's work, as I'm sure you guessed. I just happened to catch a few of these, but he does this with chairs, socks, balls and any and all toys.

I'm planning on keeping him away from the medicine cabinet.

Praying for our Children

I'm sad to admit it, but a lot of my days include this prayer right around breakfast time:
"Dear Lord, Please do not let me kill these children today. It would be entirely too messy and I'd have to explain myself to many people- specifically a JUDGE. Amen."

Seriously, we do pray for our children and family every morning, but my friend Gina gave us this amazing prayer chart at Bible Study recently that lists a specific character trait to prayer for your child for each day of the month as well as Bible verses to correspond with those.

This is what it looks like:


Don't worry, I thought of you, too! Go to Scribd by clicking here to print one out for your refrigerator, daily notebook or wherever you will see it each day.

Please note that I did NOT create this. Full credits are listed at the bottom of the page and it is from Frazier UMC in Montgomery, AL {a wonderful church} and adapted from an article written by Bob Hostetler in Pray Magazine.

This is a great chart to use even if you don't have young children! You can pray for your current or future spouse, your friends or your family. All of us need these characteristics reinforced in our every day lives and who wouldn't love a little praying?

Speaking of prayer, one of the most wonderful prayers I've ever heard was about 4 years ago from my friend Jill's husband Casey. They work in ministry {so, he has an "in" with God} on college campuses {now at LSU}, but they visited our Sunday School class to talk about their ministry.

The majority of couples in our class had young children and he prayed that our children would come to know Christ at an early age {how had I not been praying for this??} and he prayed for our children's friends- that they would be good influences in their lives.

How powerful are both of those things?
Amazing.

I've already started praying for my children's spouses {is that spice?}, as well, so they will be able to put up with me.
I have a strange feeling I'm going to be a handful.

What do you pray for every day {for your children, family or yourself}?
Also, if you want to leave a prayer request in the comments section, I would be honored to pray for you and I'm sure everyone else would, too! {You are welcome to leave it anonymously}.