Jillian's Ice Cream birthday party

Jillian had an ice cream birthday party this afternoon. Ice cream is her favorite treat in the world and Rainbow Sherbet is her favorite flavor. So she decided she wanted an ice cream party. I made her a cake with two scoops and think it turned out pretty cute. She and her 16 friends had fun making ice cream sundaes, decorating treat bags, playing games, eating cake, opening presents and running around like crazy monkeys. She had a great day being center of attention and now can't wait to play with all the presents she got!

Facebook it is!

After my post last week about whether to join Facebook or not I still hadn't decided what to do. Well, my sister Sara decided for me. Last night while I was asleep she set up my page for me. Then this morning my friend Karin called and said, "Good morning Facebook buddy!" I had no idea what she was talking about. Well, now it's done and I'm officially a member of the Facebook world.

So if you'd like to be my friend send me a friend request. My name is set up under Stephanie Jones Fry. Now, how do I tell Bryan....

Happy Birthday Jillian!!!

Today my princess turned 5. She is very excited about it, but it breaks my heart. I just can't believe how fast the time is going by. We asked her what she wanted to do for dinner tonight. I told her I could make anything she wanted or we could go out to dinner. Bryan said, "We could go to Texas Roadhouse, Chevy's, Applebee's, Chuck E. Cheese, John's Incredible Pizza Co, or anywhere else you want." Jillian got a huge smile on her face and said, "I want to go to my favorite place to eat. BURGER KING!" So if you're wondering where we are tonight, we'll be at BK!

Jillian Marie-5 years old

Jillian and her preschool crown

Naked alert!

Maddie loves to be naked. Now that she's potty training she loves to wear panties. The only problem is that's all she wants to wear. I can't tell you how many people have come over and found her in nothing but panties. The mailman, UPS, Young Women's presidency, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. On Saturday, Bryan was taking the kids to the park. He told Maddie she had to get dressed if she wanted to go. Well, this is how she came out. She said, "I ready go to park now!" Not only was she still in her panties, but she had on sandels. It was 50 degrees outside and she started crying when we told her she had to put clothes on and real shoes. She cried, "I already got dressed!"

Random Acts of Kindness Week

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
-Helen Keller

Random Acts of Kindness Week
2010: February 15-21

I just found out that it's Random Acts of Kindness Week and was inspired to do something. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm going to focus on this for the next few days. Hopefully "random acts" will come to me and I'll act on them. If anyone else is so inspired let me know what you do. I'd love to hear stories about the kindness going on around us.

How to have a wonderful Valentine's Day...

1. Spend the day with the love of your life.

2. Enjoy chocolate covered strawberries made especially for you by your amazing husband.

3. Who doesn't love getting flowers?

4. Gotta have decorations. They're even better if your kids do the decorating.

5. Must have themed food- heart shaped pizza, cookies and rice krispy treats.

6. Watching your 3 month old smile is always a sweet treat.

7. Being surrounded by the cutest kids is the best gift I could ever have.

To Facebook, or not to Facebook. That is the question.

I know that I'm probably the last person on the planet without a Facebook account and that is why I'm posting this. I have some close friends here in town who are all Facebook buddies and they are begging me to join. I've held out for so long, but now I'm wondering if I should just break down and do it. What do you think?

Here are my reasons for not doing it:

1. Bryan doesn't really care, but he spends so much time cleaning up viruses at work from people on Facebook that he'd rather I not do it.
2. I have no time for anything else.
3. I don't want to have crazies find me. One of my best friends accepted a friend request from an "old friend" and it turned out he was a stalker.
4. I'm a horrible blogger so I'll probably be a terrible Facebooker too.
5. I'm scared of opening myself up to the online world. Blogging is already scary enough. I've heard horror stories and don't want to put my family at risk. (I know I'm a little crazy!)

Reasons for doing it:
1. Keep up with my friends & family.
2. See what all the hype is about.
3. My friend Karin is friends with Gap and gets coupons that I don't. My sister is friends with Babies R Us and got a free $5 giftcard. I want freebies too!
4. Eventually my kids will want accounts so I'll need to keep an eye on them.

I Did Something New!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm horrible at doing my girls' hair. I can do pig tails and the side clip, but other than that I'm clueless. My sister in law, Jeanine, showed me how to do a side ponytail and that was the first change I'd done in years. Well, yesterday I decided to try something new, a braid! My girls hair isn't long enough or even enough to do a whole braid so I tried one on the side and I think it turned out pretty cute. I'm so excited to have tried it myself and that it turned out cute. Now I know my creative hair friends (BJ, Sadie, Melissa, Mimi, Alyssa, etc) will think I'm lame, but I'm pretty darn excited right now!

Jillian said, "Mom, I love my braid! Who taught you how to do that?" I said, "No one, I just did it." She said, "Wow! You were a teacher AND you know how to braid!" Who knew those two things were enough to impress her.

Jillian

Madelyn