Birthday surprise!

First, I have to say that Brad helped me fix my laptop from a distance last night. It is working great again and I have access to private blogs once more. YEAH! He is one amazing man.

It snowed this morning. I should have known it wouldn't bode well for me.

I took Stinker to Wal-Mart to do her birthday shopping and get her birthday pictures. At least Stinker hasn't taken scissors to her hair yet. She was asleep when Roo did that. Besides, she doesn't have enough on top to cut anyway. She does, however, have a huge bruise on her cheek. She whacked Roo, and he tackled her and she landed head first in our Little People Nativity Set. It is quite a bruise. Of course it would happen right before pictures. Anyhoo, the grandmas sent money so we could pick what she needs. I gotta say, I really love that. My original plan when I arrived, was to get her pictures done in her pretty blue dress first. But the photographer was helping someone else and said it would be 15-20 minutes. I asked if there were openings in an hour, and she said I'd have to wait so she could check because she was busy. Uh, no thanks. Stinker and I had a blast shopping, and then my phone rang. As soon as my mom said, "Guess what!" I practically screamed, QUENTIN!!! Yeah! Travis, Resa, and David drove as fast as they could from CA to AZ, but Q beat them there by an hour. If you make it through the slide shows, there is the only picture I have of him in all his cuteness. I can hardly wait to get more, but I know that they are just cherishing every second with him and haven't gotten a chance to send many pictures out yet. I am just so excited that Quentin and Stinker get to share a birthday! It sure will make it easier to remember, and as scatterbrained as I've been lately, it will help!

Stinker and I finished our shopping, and headed back to the picture studio. She was with another family this time. Said I could wait in the waiting room. Great. Decided to unload groceries instead. Kept Stinker busy with a sucker. She was sticky head to toe. And somehow, in that hour, her white hose had tons of brown scuff marks. And the bathrooms were closed for cleaning. Of course. Pleaded with the janitor for paper towels. Wait some more.

She finally got us in. Asked when the last time we'd been there. October 13th. "Oh, well, that is the same promotional period, so I can't give you the discount rate." Like heck you can't. I told her it was $4.99 last time and it is $7.99 now and that isn't the same. When did it start in October. She didn't know. Can she look it up? "No. I'll just give you the discount and get in trouble." I'm not asking you to get in trouble. Just look up when the stupid promotion began or something. "No, no, I'll just do it." Fine. Stinker smiled about once. Then she refused to sit. Refused to smile. Didn't want to play. It was past nap time by this point. She kept using a feather duster trying to get Stinker to smile. I asked if she had anything else. Props? Distractions? Something glittery? Something sparkly? Something noisy? "No. There is nothing else. Just this reindeer." Seriously? You take pictures of kids all day and the only smile motivator you have is a feather duster and a reindeer? No props? Nothing? You've got to be kidding. She said to wait awhile and maybe she would be in a better mood. I said, "No, we've already been here for an hour. This isn't going to get better." I mean seriously? Is she going to go buy something cool to use as a prop or smile inducer? Because if not, what is the point of staying. So I just left. I'm going to have to try a different store again tomorrow. But Stinker's pretty blue dress is pretty sticky, so I don't know what I'll put her in.

It snowed the whole drive home while Brad let me complain about said photographer. He is so good to me. Stinker was asleep before I got home. I unloaded her and the purchases. Wrapped presents. Helped the boys get more icicles. Ordered a birthday pizza. Ate said pizza and then it was off to the Y for swimming lessons. I couldn't resist the opportunity to have some hot tub time. Ahhhhh. I love sitting in a hot tub and watching snow outside. Waited outside the men's locker room for 30 minutes for the boys to come out. Argh! Family locker rooms people! Look into it! Got home late, but Shan, Zac and Lindsey were still there. Helped me take pictures and video because I only have 2 hands. Love them. Then it was try to get the hyped up kids to bed. And blog about the insanity. :)