Mr. Four

Happy birthday, Mr. Four!

Mr. loves being bigger. 

Mr. not interested in being the baby of the family.

Mr. charm your socks off. 

Mr. changer of clothes all day long.

Mr. big boy bed.

Mr. energy with a side of "I want to do it myself!"

Mr. laughs and giggles and fun.

Happy birthday to you, Mr. MINE. 

I love you. 

Oh, Target

I don't know how Target does it, but every single time I go there for regular old household items, things seem to magically jump in my cart. 

Cute things. 

That are on clearance.

(And sometimes not on clearance but are irresistible all the same.)

It's a mystery that I'm happy to leave unsolved.  

Now you may be concerned that the dress on the right is too "busy". I hear you.

That's what Jana wondered too when I sent her a phone picture of myself trying it on in the fitting room, asking her opinion. (Obviously this was after it jumped in my cart on it's on free will.)

But don't worry. I just happened to already be wearing brown boots and and a light tan cardigan and they were the perfect combo with this bright and springy little number. 

Back on the other side of the store, something ended up in my cart that was definitely NOT an accident:

The best coconut and milk chocolate candy I've ever tasted. 

They were recommended by a fellow blogger that united with me last week in my love for coconut M&M's, and I went on a manhunt for these babies!

Walmart was a bust, but Target delivered. 

Which is why I forgave the store for FORCING unsolicited clothing items into my cart, and even went so far as to purchase them and bring them home. 

It's the least I could do. 

The best ending to the longest day

Yesterday could best be described as a looong day.
 I watched my two nephews, ages 4 and 22 months, while my sister was at work, and then hosted Kendall's "Invention Convention" group after school until almost 8:00 pm.

Want to get a tired brain? 

Try to keep your strong-willed almost 4-year-old and his equally strong-willed 4-year-old cousin from arguing and fighting over every.single.thing.possible all day long, and then help 3 very fun-loving and goofy 5th grade girls stay focused all afternoon while they invent and make an EXPANDABLE SHOE.

Even with the help of Mrs. MacGyver herself (my sainted mother), it was a trying afternoon to say the least. 

At least they're cutie-patooties.

And really, they were a ton of fun. But by 8 pm I was wiped.

And then...
THEN!

I was given a surprise gift. 

A gift that was nothing but sweet manna straight from heaven, 

and guess who ended the evening the happiest girl in town?!

Not sure what that is? 

Only my favorite candy bar EVER from New Zealand.

And not just a bar... a CASE of bars!

HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY, YES!!!

Chocolate is the best remedy for tired brain :)

(Oh you thought sleep was? How silly!)

Who knew that the Grocery Outlet would carry imported chocolate? 

Dear Angey, 

my sweet friend from church
 who is now my most favorite person,

Thank you. 

God bless you. 

I love you.

Your chocolate loving friend,

Jodi

P.S. Please don't tell my husband about this box just yet. They happen to be his favorite NZ candy bar as well. And I need some time to get a good head start ;)

Oh look, more vacation pictures!

We're home from our vacation and the back-to-real-life-blues have fully set in. So instead of working on laundry from the trip, I'm reliving the beauty and fun moments we had in Eastern Oregon by looking at my pictures. (Between my phone and regular camera I took waaay too many.) Here are a handful. 

Okay maybe a few more than a handful...

 Cute road travelers. They were 5+ hour-long-drive superstars! (Blake stayed home with his Grandma and Grandpa and lived it up like a KING. Grandma and Grandpa know what they're doing!)

The view from our hotel room. Gorgeous mountains surround Baker City.  

Historic Downtown Baker City. Some pretty fun shopping and window browsing went on here. 

Hanging out watching a Walker, Texas Ranger marathon. I was hiding out around the corner reading my kindle, like any sane person would do. 

And this would be the hands-down favorite part of the whole trip for the kids!

 We are True Blue Believers!

Hangin' with my sister who also made the trip over with her husband. Yay, sister time!

Our boys ready for their final game of the year. It was crazy intense, going into overtime, and while we didn't pull out the win to take 3rd place, we finished in 5th place instead, which out of 72 1A teams in the State of Oregon is something to be mighty proud of!!!

A cool game shot from one of their earlier games during the tournament.

 One of everybody's favorite moments of the State championship game: the awesome half-time show! Okay, it might not look all that impressive, but trust me when I say that it sounds amazing... and the guy in the middle is doing an awesome solo drum routine that has the crowd cheering through the roof!

Another beautiful mountain shot, taken from the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, where a bunch of us parents with younger kids on the trip all visited one morning.

 Which is where this picture happened, because what's a visit to an Oregon Trail museum without dressing up for an old-time shot? (Where you mustn't smile of course.)

 And because a trip recap wouldn't be complete without at least one shot of some of the yummy food I ate while on vacation, I give you... this delicious oriental pork dish that I can't quite remember the name of, from The Sunridge Inn Restaurant. All you need to know is that it was good. Very good.

And finally... on the road and headed home again. It was blue skies the whole way... a perfect last day for our trip. 

So that's it. Back to the real world of laundry and having to actually cook meals again, darn it :)
Have a great Monday!

InstaFriday - road trip edition!

Chronicling our road trip to Eastern Oregon to cheer on our Cougars in the 1A Basketball State Championships, and taking cell phone pics every step of the way :)

Wednesday morning: Goodbye wet and rainy Western Oregon.

 Wednesday afternoon: Hello dry and sunny Eastern Oregon!

Traveling requires treats. 

It's a law. 

A Jodi law. 

After we arrived, ate dinner, and settled into our motel,

we went to the first set of evening games,

and discovered that Kendall came fully prepared with her own cheerleading squad. 

(I love 10-year-olds.) 

Thursday morning: our hotel room was designated kid central. 

Believe me when I tell you it got A LOT messier than this.

(All was calm watching America's Funniest Home Videos though.)

Thursday afternoon: Game time, baby!

Goooo Team!

And apparently I was too excited/nervous/focused on the game after this because there's no more game pics, but the important thing is WE WON! 

Now we're in the winner's bracket and we play again this evening. 

At some point during the day my sister Kelly and I discovered that we come prepared to basketball games... this pile came from both of our purses.

Should I be embarrassed? Because I'm totally willing to be if necessary ;)

Linking up to InstaFriday HERE

Happy Friday!