I love you miss Hannigan.

You never really realize when you watch Annie as a kid (at least I didn't realize) just what a floosie Miss Hannigan is. Sheesh.
Since I've started making Hallie get into a cleaning routine which includes cleaning her room every night before she goes to bed and other miscellaneous jobs around the house, I've started to feel like a bit of a slave driver. She just complains and complains and complains. I'm just waiting for her to tell me, "I love you miss Hannigan!" Because by the way she acts you would think she was some poor little orphan girl being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night to clean the kitchen and the bathrooms before her breakfastof cold mush. You also might assume by how burdened she is with all of her resposibility that I'm super abusive, and refer to her as "my little pig droppings" and lock her in a closet and have a bathtub full of booze that I drink out of with a ladel. With this new load she has to bare of keeping her room clean, you might think I was as awful as Miss Hannigan. She lives a hard life. Too bad there's no Daddy Warbucks to swoop in and rescue her.
On a lighter note, I watched the ENTIRE first season of Glee last night. I went to bed at 4 am. I crawled into bed is more like it. I had a headache from singing along to music that I love and worrying about all the baby drama. I LOVE the cheer coach. I love how she refers to all the Glee club members as "scab eaters and mouth breathers" and all the mean stuff she says about Will's hair being permed. I'm not a laugh-out-loud-all-by-myself kind of girl. I usually need other people to laugh with, but I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. Sue is my favorite.

Seriously, everything that comes out of this womans mouth is a one liner that I want to write down in a book of insults and carry around with me for some time when I run into someone I REALLY don't like. I really want to watch this show with Nicole, Kirsti, and Julie. It would be even funnier. So there's your homework assignment for the week, go and get the first season of Glee. Just don't download it illegally, cause that would be wrong. ;)

I love Etsy.

Here's why:









I ordered these prints today from HERE. Can't WAIT to get them and hang them up in Chase's room. Can't wait.

Polly, a dog with a sense of irony.

I'll bet there aren't many dogs out there in the world smart enough to chew up the only book in the house meant to make her a decent citizen. Ironic.

On another note, Polly eats her own poop. Gross right? I've talked to the vet about it twice, googled words that I never thought I'd google, and tried watching her like a hawk so I could scoop it up as it hit the ground(scooping it warm is REALLY nasty). Well last night I was reading the above pictured book and guess what topic it covered....Beagles like to eat their own poop. WHO KNEW?!? I guess it's a breed thing. Super gross.

Lets look at the bright side here:
-She's obviously very enviromentally conscience. Into recycling. Props to her.
-I hardly ever have to scoop poop.
-The kids have never stepped in poop.
-She eats less dog food.
-I NEVER feel enticed to let her lick my face. Or any other part of me for that matter.

Just kidding, JUST kidding. We're trying to deal with this issue because it's gross.

Here's a few reasons why having a dog is harder than having kids:

-My kids have never tried to eat their own poop. (Thank goodness)
-My kids have never tried to dig under my fence.
-My kids have never pooped in my living room corner. (Thank goodness)
-My kids listen better.
-My kids don't pee on the floor because they're excited to see me.
-I had to do a lot less reading about how to make my kids decent citizens.

As you can tell most of my doggie frustrations are urine and feces related.



Despite all of these struggles...we still love Polly. She has such a fun personality and is just so cute. We just need to make it through the next year of "adolescents".

Our new life....with a dog.

The first few days were rough. REALLY rough. We are Polly's third family and she's only 7 months old. Both of her previous families claimed that their landlords wouldn't let them keep her. Who knows if that's true or not, but there is no doubt that she's totally confused. She was using my house as a toilet for three days and I was almost ready to send her on to her 4th family (just kidding, we're commited to this). I got serious, ordered books about how to train a beagle, read EVERYTHING I could find online, and I think (knock on wood) we have a success! It's been three days now with no accidents in the house. She's using the same corner in our yard, that I designated for her, everytime. I'm starting to breathe a little sigh of relief. I can see a light at the end of the potty training tunnel. Now if I can just keep her off the couches......

Oh the happiness!

So my friend, Danielle, called me on Tuesday and asked me if I wanted to go with her on an spur of the moment trip to Poland to go pottery shopping. I kind of himmed and hawed about it in my head, until Matt said "I think you should go!" My husband telling me to go shopping in Poland? Full consent? done and DONE! So we packed up the mini van with the 4 kids, a cooler full of drinks of food, 2 mini DVD players, bags full of snacks, and we were on our way! We were both a little worried about how the kids would fair on a 3 day trip intended for Pottery shopping, but they were all SO so good. And we came home with lots and lots of treasures.


We stayed at the cutest little Bed and Breakfast. Seriously loved it. It had the old, quaint feeling but was still nice and modern and clean. I was dying over the cuteness.

The owner took the girls out to stables right after we got there to meet the donkey.

Then the next morning let the kids take a donkey ride. Kid heaven. Seriously.

Love this face. Just wanna kiss it all the time.

Hallie on her donkey ride.

These two girls played pretend for the WHOLE trip. They weren't even one seconds worth of trouble. They love eachother.

This picture cracked me up because of Hallie and Rhiannon's poses. It reminded me of teenage girls posing for a picture.

The goods. OH the goods. They make my heart so happy!

Obssesed with this soup pot with matching lid and ladel.

And this casserole dish, also obssesed.

This one too.

This bowl gives me warm, fuzzy feelings.

As do these plates. The thing I love about Polish pottery is that it's all handpainted, oven safe, microwave safe, dishwasher safe, and so so pretty. I'm so excited to get a cute china cabinet and fill it up with all these lovelies.

Along came Polly....

Meet the newest member of the Horrocks Family. This is our sweet, 6 month old, little girl...Polly. We LOVE her! She's a beagle and has immediately found her place in our hearts and our lives.




This should be interesting......