Little Bit of Life

A New Home part 2

2010-11-13T19:42:00.001-06:00

So here is the thing. I changed my blog address again. I just didnt like typepad that much so I am back with Blogger. My newest new blog is HERE! I hope you all will come on over!

Making some changes

2010-09-03T15:34:00.003-05:00

I really was planning on keeping this blog going. I have been here for a few years now. I recently started a blog for my photography and I think the best thing to do is to combine my two blogs. Sooooooo....with that being said please make note of my new blog address! You can now find me at littlebitoflifephotography.typepad.com . Hope to see you all there!

How did I not notice?

2010-08-29T18:24:00.002-05:00

The boy and I went for a walk yesterday to see what kind of cool old buildings were in our neighborhood. I even took several photos of him. I still did not notice. Do you see it? I have noticed that his hair was all over the house. I even said to Brian this morning that I thought the boy was pulling his hair out. He wasn't. I asked him why there were a few strands of hair in front of the computer and he came clean. He had given himself a haircut! Of course we discussed why that just isnt a good idea! ;)

Introducing....

2010-08-25T20:44:00.002-05:00

Little Bit of Life Photography

I have wanted to give photography more attention than just the occasional photos of my own kids. This is a pretty big step for me as it is sometimes hard for me to put myself out there, but I am feeling good about it. I have the support of my friends and family and that means the world to me! With that said, please check me out and bare with me as I learn how to navigate things over there on typepad!

Oh and one more thing.....this family blog of mine is still going to be here so don't run off!;)

They Will Not Forget

2010-08-20T13:41:00.002-05:00

While we were dealing with an unpleasent situation of our own this week I was reminded that as bad as ours seemed others were dealing with worse. One small town here in Tennessee was grieving the loss of one of its own.
He was a Marine who lost his life in Afghanistan. He was also a firefighter here in this small town. I took these photos with my phone. I did not know that morning we would be there when this town got to bring there hero home.

There were so many standing and waiting for the parade of vehicles to come down the street. They all held their flags up in silence as their hero was brought home. Please prayer for the family of this hero. He gave his life for our freedom.

Too Tired to Write Tonight...

2010-08-18T20:46:00.003-05:00

Instead check out this sweet face. He had to have his tooth put to sleep the other day because he had sugar bugs in it and he did so well he got a cool toy from the toy box at the dentist office!

Now I am going to sleep........today was a big day and tomorrow will be bigger. I will leave you with a quick publis service announcement. No person, parent or not, has the right to try and ruin a child's life. I feel so blessed to have four very special children in my home even though they can sometimes be overwhelming. I know that my sweet sister is a part of our family because it was God's plan and I am so proud of the strength she has shown today!

Flood Progress

2010-08-16T18:14:00.002-05:00

This is what my Dads house looked like on May 4th of this year after two days of heavy rain devastated Middle Tennesse. My rockstar husband stepped up and organized the rebuild of this house. General contractors put the cost to repair the damage done from the flood at around $65,000. Brian was able to get it put back together for around $23,000! Below are a few photos post flood!

Thanks to all of the folks that helped make this happen!

Loving These Kids

2010-08-15T15:29:00.000-05:00

Off

2010-08-11T06:38:00.002-05:00

These pictures have nothing to do with this blog post. I just couldn't post without at least one picture. I am off of work until next thursday. I have to get the kids to school and then I almost feel like coming home and sleeping but I wont.
I really don't know what I am going to do. I am going to have lunch with a friend today though. We are going to a restaurant close by that we call "The Pig". It has been featured on Emeril before. I can't wait! What would ya'll do if you had a few days off and the kids were in school?

First Day

2010-08-09T08:17:00.003-05:00

We walked to his room. We put his backpack and lunch in his cubby. We found his name. He let me take one picture of him and asked if it was time for me to leave yet.
He is a school boy now! No tears were shed this morning. Not a single one!

A Fun Gift Idea

2010-08-07T22:16:00.002-05:00

I was very excited when I saw this idea on Amy's blog. Since my mother in laws birthday was coming up I thought it would be perfect! Amy has posted all the instructions you need to make one on her blog if yall click here!
I sure hope Meme likes her one of a kind art!

five

2010-08-05T06:25:00.001-05:00

Our sweet boy is 5 years old today!

Happy Birthday! We love you!

School Was AWESOME!

2010-08-02T21:11:00.002-05:00

Kristen called me after they got home from school. She said it was awesome! I am so glad my girls had a great first day! All three of them are in middle school this year. Two of them are at the 6th grade campus and one is at the 7th and 8th grade campus. Here are some photos from our first morning back! Enjoy!
The boy was still very tired. He goes next week.

Half eaten breakfast left behind for mama to clean up.

paperwork everywhere!

I love these girls!

Turtles and Kindergarten

2010-08-01T19:39:00.002-05:00

We were driving to my Dad's house after church this morning and this little guy was in the middle of the road. Hannah begged me to turn around and save him. By saving him she meant bringing him home. I tld her she would have to let him go eventually. By eventually I meant as soon as we got home. She played with him for a few hours and then she said he threw up......uh...gross. I said well then it must be time to let him go! She did.
I took the boy to open house for Kindergarten this afternoon. His school has six Kindergarten classes. Four of them have play houses inside. He loved those. He started making friends quickly.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for our kids. The boy has testing on Tuesday and then he goes back next Monday for boys day. Next Tuesday is girls day. Next Wendesday is the first official day of Kindergarten. I am so very excited for him. He is going to love it! The girls all go to middle school tomorrow. I can't believe how big they are!

Crazy Kid and Cupcakes

2010-07-27T22:32:00.002-05:00

I guess I should call this post crazy haired kid and cupcakes....yeah...so he got his hair cut today.
Ok onto the cupcakes. All you need is yellow cake mix, pudding( I used some vanilla and some banana), and chocolate frosting.

Bake the cupcakes. Easy so far. I used a ziploc bag and a decorating tip to get the pudding into the cupcake. Make sure they are cooled first and make sure to squeeze it in the top. The icing covers up the hole.

Very easy and very tasty! Boston Cream Cupcakes!

Here is one more photo for yall. My boy is a HUGE David Gray fan. Weird huh? When I was pregnant the radio station we had at work would play "This Years Love" all the time. When he was a newborn we noticed he would calm down instantly when that song played. Now he is almost 5 and will have You Tube videos of the song playing while he plays games on Nick Jr! I love that kid!

How Stinkin Cute is This!?

2010-07-26T20:08:00.002-05:00

I ordered this beautiful tutu for a sweet friend and coworker of mine from LilyJill Bowtique a couple of weeks ago. We had planned to have a little work baby shower next week, but our new baby had other plans! The sweet girl was born around 4 weeks early over the weekend and she is doing great! This little shower gift arrived on my door step today all ready to be wrapped up and delivered to the new Mama and sweet girl!

This one is made to fit newborn to 6 months, however Ms. Katelyn can make these in various sizes and colors! She does amazing work!

2,468

2010-07-25T19:15:00.002-05:00

I think that is about how many trips up and down these stairs I have made this weekend. You see I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to start making my girls be responsible and clean their own bathroom. I haven't been in there in oh maybe a few weeks. Saturday the boy went to spend the night with his Meme and the girls went swimming with a friend and for 2 whole hours I had the house to myself. Did I sit on the couch and catch up on tv? NO! I went upstairs and walked into their bathroom..........BIG MISTAKE! Have y'all ever seen "How Clean Is Your House?" They would have had a field day swabbing the baseboards, sink, and tub in my kids bathroom to see what kind of super germs were hiding out in there! So I spent my 2 hours scrubbing their bathroom. That led to the closets in their rooms and OH the Chaos! I do not exaggerate when I tell you that I have bagged up 4 or 5 trash bags of clothes to send to the Goodwill! The bad news is that I am still not finished. If I go missing please send someone up these stairs to find me!

Picnik Anyone?

2010-07-23T00:39:00.000-05:00

I first heard about Picnik from my girls who love to edit there photos on it for Facebook. Then I saw that Chris at Just Beachy had written a blog post about how she edits a lot of her photos. Thats right folks! Picnik once again! So I decided to check it out. I think I kind of like it. Now don't get me wrong. It will not replace all the photo editing software I use but it is great for blog photos! The best part is that it FREE!

Guess What

2010-07-21T20:51:00.003-05:00

I got nothing! I really dont have much to say today. I went to the doctor this morning to see if I had a sinus infection. I did. My doctor told me the medicine he prescribed would make me crazy and have the munchies.........GREAT! That particular medicine is for a headache I have had for 10 days....yeah...10 days! I am over it. None of this has anything to do with the picture above. I just loved this old abandoned building that was in our neighborhood. I say was because it caught on fire recently and had to be torn down. Its just a pike of sticks now.

Sooooooooo......sorry for being so boring today. Thats all I got!

Mmmmm..Treat Time!

2010-07-20T05:30:00.000-05:00

Okay first I will start by saying that I saw this on a blog.......but I can't find it now. I made them anyway.
Just spread the Hazelnut Spread on the crescents. Roll them up and sprinkle with sugar then bake!

They make a yummy after dinner treat that is super easy to make!

So We Have an Old House

2010-07-19T00:58:00.000-05:00

I am feeling the need to get some things done around our old house lately. I have even had the kids on a mission to get rid of stuff that we don't need anymore. Do you ever get like that?

Well, our house is over 100 yrs old and sometimes it feels like a blank canvas. There is so much that needs to be done and we have been on hold since the floods. Dad's house will be finished in the next week. Of course cheer season starts at the end of this month and then school starts in August but thats life and we can work around that! By the way, did yall know that my baby boy is going to school this year and I only work four days a week which means I will have fridays all to myself!?! I know, right? I am a little excited about that one.

Okay so back to the photo. That is what our front porch looks like today. Kinda sad, isn't it? I think I am going to get on that first. I can't wait until Fall when I can put about 153 pumpkins out there!

Have I rambled enough? I think I probably have! Until tomorrow....

13

2010-07-18T09:30:00.002-05:00

Today is Kristen's birthday! She is 13! We had a sweet party friday night. It was supposed to be outside, but it rained.......alot!
DO you know what happens when you give a group f 13 year olds some shaving cream and silly string and tell them they can decorate the birthday girl? Yep, the also decorate each other! They had fun and even went outside even though it was wet.

Before all of that, we had cake and lots of sweet treats!

Oh and a nice group picture before the chaos started!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! I love you!

A Sweet Preview

2010-07-16T13:23:00.002-05:00

I am not really sure why I thought it would be a good idea to take time away from the chaos of planning a party to write a quick blog post but I did. If you are wondering it took one huge bag and two medium bags of M&Ms to fill that jar and it isnt quite full! Thats a lot of M&Ms!
Things are a mess right now, but it will come together.....by 7 pm!

We have lots of candy. That is what makes it a "sweet" party! There will be alot of sweet things. We have candy, cookies, and cake!

My sweet friend, Heather, whipped up these cute invites since we planned this party at the last minute. Thank you Heather! Maybe....just maybe I will have more pictures on here before the weekend is over....maybe!

Already???

2010-07-15T00:56:00.000-05:00

I can't belive that summer break is almost over here! The girls start back to school in just a few weeks! They go back August 2nd! The boy will start his first official day of kindergarten on August 11th. I won't lie. I am excited about him starting school. I just didn't realize it would be here before we knew it! The list of school supplies is long and every year we try to clean and organize closets to see what clothes need to be purchased. I can hardly believe that in a few short weeks I will have an 8th grader, 2 6th graders and a kindergartener!

A Sweet Baby Shower

2010-07-14T00:22:00.000-05:00

Remember those cookies from the other day? Those were from this baby shower. I had such a good time helping out with it and getting to meet some great people! Don't you love the "clothes line" we put up? I thought it was super cute!
Check out these center pieces! A friend of the mommy to be made these. They were adorable!

Here I am with the mommy to be! She is one of my dearest friends! I can't wait to meet little Tripp!

How I Roll

2010-07-13T00:10:00.000-05:00

I thought I would write a little post about the two best cars in the world! They may not be fancy, but they get the Carts to the places we need to go. I like to refer to our newest vehicle as "The Beast". It is actually new to us. We had to get her when we realized that the 6 of us would have to take two cars if we went out all at once! She seats seven!
She is a Ford Explorer. It was either this or a minivan......I am not a minivan kind of girl. There is nothing wrong with them. They are just not for me. I love a big truck though!

Ahhhh, this is my sweet little gas friendly ride. He barely seats 5......and I do mean barely. We got him a couple of years back when gas went up to $20 a gallon, Ha! I usually drive him back and forth to work. I hated this car when we first got but once I started driving it every day I came to love it. You really can park it anywhere!

He is our Suzuki Reno. You might want to google this one if you are in the market for a fuel efficient ride! So there you have it. That is how we roll! How do you roll?

A Bunch of Rambling....

2010-07-11T22:05:00.003-05:00

I went to a baby shower this weekend. Actually I drove around 175 miles to go......by myself! When you have four kids it is a rare treat to be able to spend that kind of time alone...even if you are in the car. I won't lie. I missed my family. I left on saturday and came back after the shower tonight. I went early to help out with some of the food and decorations. We had some really good food and some really neat decor. The shower was for my friend, Amanda, whom I worked with until a couple of years ago whne she got married and moved all the way to New York. She is from Illinois so that is where the party was. She and I worked on these cookies for ever trying to get them the way we wanted. I think they turned out pretty cute for our first time! They have the new baby's initials on them. I like them...and they tasted yummy also! I did manage to leave my camera at home. I know! I can't believe I did that either! Hopefully I will get some photos from the shower so I can show yall some of the decor soon.

On to other news! Kristen will be turning 13 soon. In honor of her birthday, I have decided that we should have a "Sweet 13th party"! It is sweet because of all of the sweet candies and cookies that we will be serving! That is going to be friday night and I can't wait! I did manage to catch a little cold this weekend so hopefully I can shake it and get on with this week!

Our visit to the Splash Pad

2010-07-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

I love these kids!

Hannah found frogs....two of them. She really wanted to keep them, but she put them back so they wouldnt be scared.

It was very hot out today!

What about that face?!

What Do We Do When the A/C Goes Out?

2010-07-08T00:07:00.000-05:00

At the Cart house we break out the baby pool and have a redneck pool party! Don't yall worry though. Our good friend came over and fixed our unit right up and we are back in business!

The Piano Bench

2010-07-07T00:21:00.000-05:00

Okay before I get to the bench, let me update yall on my Dad's house. We did finally get a building permit. It took about a week and a half after the first meeting to get it, but it is done. The county reassessed the damage and put it under 50% which means he will not be required to elevate his house! We are relieved! Since we now have a permit construction has begun. Electrical, insulation and drywall are up and it is almost painting time! At the rate they are going we are looking at the house being finished in a few weeks!

Now onto the bench! Brian came across this old piano bench a couple of weeks ago. At first I thought about painting all or part of it and distressing it......but then as it sat in the hall I couldn't decide wether to paint it or just leave it be. What do you think?

Laundry

2010-07-06T00:52:00.000-05:00

First let me say that I am sure that my sweet husband is horrified that I posted a picture of our massive heap of laundry on my blog for all the world.....or at least my 3 readers to see. However, we have four kids in our house and this pile is nothing!
So how do you tackle those tough stains? I heart this Oxyclean stuff. It is great when you have a load of smelly clothes. Just add a scoop and your good! Oh and lets not foget the Tide and Clorox pens!

What about fabric softner? Do you prefer dryer sheets instead? If you look closely in the last picture you will see those also. I like both!

I have this dream. It is a little silly but I would love for the kids to have perfect white socks all the time. I know....it unrealistic, but I try sometimes. That is why there are socks soaking in a bowl on the dryer! Incase any of you are wondering I would say that in a given week the Cart house will run around 10- 15 loads of laundry. How many do you do?

Its Party Time!

2010-07-05T11:32:00.002-05:00

My very sweet, very special baby sister had a birthday. If you have followed my blog for a while then you know that she has lived with us since November. Since it was her birthday we had a party!
There was Rainbow Cake! Thanks again Meg for sharing this idea!

There were presents!

Lots of presents!

Happy 11th birthday Summer! I hope it was fabulous!

Praying About Tomorrow

2010-06-01T21:43:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow will be kind of a big deal. Brian is taking Dad to try and get a building permit to fix his house. The reason it is such a big deal is ...well...you can see from the picture that there was a little water in it. The county has already come around and done their own assessments and determined what percentage of damage there is. Anything over 51% that is in a flood plain has to meet special criteria before it can be repaired. Dad's house was almost 54%. We don't exactly agree with that figure, but that is a whole other post. Dad could be given three options tomorrow. The first and the one we are praying for is that we can obtain a building permit and repair the house as it sits. He is 71 years old and the odds of him ever seeing a flood like this are very very very small. The second option and probably the one we fear we are likely facing is mandatory elevation of the house as much as 8 feet! Yeah that uh...doesn't work well for a 71 year old man who will not be getting any younger. On top of that the cost of such a project would almost rule it out. As far as the actual number of feet it would have to be raised, I don't really know until they tell us. The third option should raising the house become unrealistic would be to demolish the house and hope the city buys the property. With that I am asking that y'all pray that we get our building permit tomorrow without any trouble. We are ready to start putting the pieces back together.

Its About Time We Got a Good Laugh!

2010-05-30T14:22:00.003-05:00

I thought it would be a fun idea to let the kids paint the driveway using homemade paints. They are just water, corn starch, and food coloring. It really did start out as an innocent art project...

See how innocent that looks!

Then my Dad got involved. His car was destryed during the recent floods so my little sister gave him her old beater to drive for now. He told the kids to paint it! That is where this project got interesting!

Don't worry! It will wash off!

Tomorrow is Clean Up Day!

2010-05-07T21:04:00.002-05:00

This is Dads car. It was completely covered with water during the flood this past weekend.
Here are some of his photos and things that we are letting dry out.

This is whats left of his kitchen. Tomorrow it will all be torn out.

This is the front of his home. Flood waters reached almost to the tops of the windows. The spray paint on the window is a notice that this house has been searched and that no one was there. Dad wasn't there because his neighbors were able to kayak to his house and get him out. They had not officially met him before sunday. They let him stay at there house until we could get him out. They have worked to organize a team that will help tear out the bad stuff. What awesome neighbors! Even through this storm we are so blessed!

Praying For Tennesse

2010-05-02T21:54:00.004-05:00

I live in Middle Tennessee. This weekend a huge portion of our state has been devastated by up to 18 inches of rain. I think the prior record was around 6 1/2 inches. These rains caused flooding like we have never seen here before leaving a unbelievable path of destruction. Our interstates and roads are flooded and crumbling. Houses and buildings are being swallowed by the waters. My step father had to be rescued by boat when flood waters reached the inside of his rural home. I can tell you that hearing him call in panic and knowing there was nothing we could do was horrifying. Some folks that live close by drove their boat around his neighborhood and took him from his home to theirs. What amazing people they are! The photos I have here are fairly local to my town and do not even begin to tell the story of this storm. Please pray for all of us here in Tennessee. So many have lost so much already and now that the rains have finally stopped the real work is just beginning.

Supermodels?

2010-04-05T21:22:00.002-05:00

Last weekend the kiddos had a chance to model in a fashion show at our local Dillards. They were part of a large group of kids that got to show off the spring line of clothing. I could kick myself at the quality of the pictures but I was trying to juggle four kids and take pictures and well...I didnt pay attention to my settings.

Here are the four stars! Well they are my stars! They all did so well!

Hannah Bug struttin her stuff!

Kristen in her polka dots!

The boy stole the show with this little number! What can I say? He is a natural! Hmm I need to get another picture of Summer soon. Well there are plenty more pictures to be posted this week!

30

2010-03-21T23:07:00.003-05:00

Today is my birthday! I am now 30 years old. For those of you who are new around here and can do math, yes I was married a month before my 17th birthday and I was also 17 when my oldest daughter was born. So all of those numbers got me thinking about where I will be in 10 years and well.....I think I will stick to where I am right now.

Sunday

2010-03-07T08:21:00.001-06:00

"We love Him because He first loved us."1 John 4:9-10

So Much to Say!

2010-03-03T20:41:00.003-06:00

First let me say good bye snow! It has been funa nd I can't wait to see you again next winter. Unfortunately your inability to decide weather you want to come or go has made for a lot of missed school around these parts and alot of sinus problems. So until next winter!

About the sinus thing, it has knocked me down over the last week and I havent accomplished anything. I had big plans to get more stuff in my Etsy shop. Didnt happen. I am going to be on top of that this weekend.

Now about that Etsy shop, I am going to see if I cant change my shipping rates to free. You see I think that people have a hard time buying from an unknown seller and I need to sell so I am going to offer free shipping and add more items. There is a button on my blog to take you there!

One more thing about my Etsy shop and then I will drop it.....I started this shop to earn a little extra money to spend on my photography obsession. It costs money and I have four kids now and not much extra money soooooooooo.....please support my addiction...errrr cause!

I have a lot on my mind lately and I do want to share some things with you all so I will be working on some posts this weekend also. Be warned they could get intense, but I have stuff to say!

Now I need to get to bed at a decent hour because I am still fighting this crud and I really want to be done with it soon so night all!

A Friends Giveaway!

2010-03-01T20:43:00.002-06:00

A friend of mine is hosting a giveaway on her blog! What is she giving away? Funny you should ask....she is giving away one of my camera strap covers! Ya'll should hop on over to Rachel's blog and see how to win! Good Luck!!!!!

Stuck in the Mud!

2010-02-22T19:41:00.002-06:00

Do you all want a good laugh? I knew that you would. I went to pick up the car today at the daddys work. It was parked on dirt this morning....but it rained today and guess what!? That dirt turned to mud! Guess who got stuck in the mud trying to get the car out?! ME! Thanks to the Wilson brothers I did get out of the mud! They hooked my little car up and pulled it right out with one of the big trucks like it was nothing!

Etsy Anyone?

2010-02-21T20:08:00.002-06:00

I have thought about opening an Etsy shop for a while now, but after getting an email from a friend who wanted to use something I made for a giveaway on her blog soon I decided to just do it. That is what I have been working on this weekend. I do currently have a couple of items listed in my shop, however I am still in the process of making my shop "pretty" so I will link it in this post until I get a button. Now its nothing fancy but I hope that ya'll will like it. So please check out Little Bit of Life the Shop!

Brace Face! Day 1

2010-02-17T20:03:00.003-06:00

Kristen finally got her braces today! She was very excited when she went for her third consult last week and Dr. G said she was ready! She opted for hot pink bands, which definately suits her personality. Unfortunately, she underestimated how sore she would be afterwards. She is currently on a very soft food diet for the next few days. Oh and if you are in the middle Tennessee area and you need an orthodontist, well Dr. G is the best evah!

Valentines Day Crafty Goodness!

2010-02-14T20:01:00.003-06:00

I LOVE Paisley! I love it almost as much as I love toile. I have had this fabric laying around for quite some time now trying to decide how to use it. I have been thinking about a cover for my camera strap for a while now and finally decided to try one out tonight.

.........I think I am in love! I love my camera and now she looks even more pretty with her new strap cover!

Fire Station Visit

2010-02-08T12:05:00.000-06:00

We made a new friend while at the post office on friday. He is a local firefighter and invited Brian out to see the trucks yesterday. Brian's favorite part was turning the sirens on by far! He even got a new fire hat while he was there. Our firefighter friend told Brian to come back when ever he wanted so of course he thinks we should go back soon!

A Treasure Hunt?

2010-02-07T14:02:00.003-06:00

As the demo begins for the new doorway, we came across a few treasures buried under the walls. This is one of the fun parts of living in a very old house.

Here are a couple of photos of the treasures we came across. While they are mostly worn booklets and old mail, it is fun to find them. Some of them are dated to the early 1900s!

The old Coca Cola bottle cap is from a bottling plant in Dickson County. I do plan to frame some of the pieces to hang mainly because they do provide such history from our house. I can't wait to see what we uncover with future projects!

One Into Two...Part 1

2010-02-05T22:57:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple of "before" photos of the big green room. The goal is to turn this very large bedrrom into two smaller bedrooms. By smaller they will be roughly 11x14 each. Not too shabby if ya ask me! Obviously we had already moved some furniture and hauled the drywall upstairs before I got around to taking photos! Yes that is Goggleman sitting on the bed so he could be in the photo. This side of the room will be the bigger challenge as we have to add a doorway and closet. It will be Hannah's room.

The other side of the room has the existing doorway and closet. It is really a matter of a wall and some electrical junk to get it separated. It will be Summer's room. It will probably appear slightly smaller than Hannah's because of door placement, but it will have a larger closet.

Both girls have been working with us to pick out paint colors for their rooms. We look for this project to take about 2 to 3 weekends to complete not counting new carpet which will come in a month or two. As of now the rockstar husband will be doing most if not all the work himself!

A Bedroom Makeover

2010-02-02T21:19:00.003-06:00

This pepto bismol pink room used to belong to Hannah, however adding a fourth child to the mix meant some changes needed to be made. A few weeks ago we moeved Kristen into the pink palace only she didn't like the pink part so when it snowed over the weekend we decided it was a great time to paint!
We also decided a closet remodel was in order so my rockstar husband got right on it!
Here is her new closet! Note thew adorable "K" painting above the closet that Kim did a few years ago!
The paint color she picked out is Nautical by Valspar I believe. We werent too sure about it going on, but when it dried it was lovely!
There are still some bed issues we are working on because the big purple bed doesnt exactly go well, but we will save that for another day! Oh and this weekend we will start a huge project! We are putting up a wall and a new doorway and making two bedrooms out of one huge room so that all the kids have their own rooms! I will have before photos up in a couple days!

Oh Boy! What was I thinking?

2010-01-26T19:49:00.002-06:00

I have NOT been motivated to blog the last few days. Why? Well there is a very good reason. I decided that in honor of my fast approaching 30th birthday I really needed to start including some form of exercise into my weekly routine. I can't believe that I am about to post this on my blog but those who know me know that I am NOT a big person. I am in fact only about 5'2 and I weigh in at a whopping 102 pounds. This is the point in which many of you will probably stop reading. The problem is that I have almost always been this way so I never really felt the need to exercise too much. I have always eaten what I wanted also. I have come to the realization, however, that better habits need to be in place because with time my lack of exercise and bad eating habits will catch up with me. So Brian and I have started walking every night no matter what the weather and it is COLD here....very cold. We are even easing our way into jogging. The jogging part has been tough. For a person who really hasnt had much exercise after two days of walking/ jogging I feel like I have been riding a horse for a week straight! My legs hurt...BAD! I am going to do this though because I need to so maybe once I get through the pain of starting out my blog can take a priority spot again! Until then..well we will see!

Fun Friday with G Man!

2010-01-22T08:41:00.004-06:00

I have been waiting for today all week! Since I work four days a week and everyone else is at work or school except for the boy, fridays are our days. I am excited for Gman to start school this fall, but it will also mean that my fridays will not be the same. I enjoy our fridays together and now the countdown to kindergarton has begun.

So what are we going to do today? I was over at Meg's blog and saw this recipe. I think we will make it for dinner later. We have a couple of errands to run and I think we may pick up some water colors while we are out and paint some pictures today also. If he is lucky I may pick him up some finger paints! I will have pictures up later!

So what is everyone else doing with their friday?

Our Staircase Remodel

2010-01-18T20:36:00.004-06:00

First Let me start this post by saying thanks to everyone who visited my blog recently! Now back to my post. This is not a new project, however since I have a few new readers I have decided to post some of our projects from the last year or so for a few days. We have big plans for our farmhouse in the near future and I can't wait to share them with you all! I need to apologize for this first photo. It was taken with my cell phone about 4 years ago when we were looking at buying this house. I can't get my scanner to work right now so I had to work with what I had. This is the upstairs hallway before the knotty pine was painted, before the carpet was removed, and before the staircase was redone. It is the only photo I can find right now that shows the iron rail that was here when we moved in.

The next two photos were taken after the iron rail was removed and we were in the process of remodeling the staircase.

And finally the staircase as it is today. Actually I took these photos just a few minutes ago! The knotty pine paneling was painted a pretty neutral cream color. Of course, we finally finished that floor upstairs!

The Floor is Finished!

2010-01-17T19:05:00.005-06:00

First let me say that my husband is a rockstar! He has done most of the work on this project. When we were at Lowes on saturday and I said "Hey, Lets paint diamonds on the floor!", he didn't question this crazy idea. Turns out we are both full of crazy ideas. So we picked out the paint and got to work. We thought the painted floor would be fun upstairs, because that is where all of the kids rooms are. So what do you all think?

So Here is the Plan

2010-01-16T21:56:00.003-06:00

This is the carefully calculated drawing of how the plan is going to work. What is this exactly? We are painting the hardwood floors in the upstairs hallway! You see when we took up the ugly carpet over a year ago to reveal that there were hardwood floors underneath, we were stumped as to what to do about them. So we did nothing.......

See that rough floor?! That is what it has looked like since we took the carpet up. It was going to prove to be a daunting task to refinish them and honestly we wanted something more fun. The second floor of our home is were all of the kids rooms are and they also have a playroom. Now as I type this post, Brian is working on this floor so you will have to come back tomorrow to see the finished project. I can tell you that it is turning out better than we expected!

The Story of Goggleman

2010-01-13T20:52:00.000-06:00

I don't know why I haven't told you all this story sooner! Over the summer Little Brian got a pair of green swim goggles. He LOVED them. He wore them everywhere. One day we were eating lunch with a friend and of course, he had his goggles on. From that day on my friend declared him Goggleman. He may or may not have a fan page on facebook........okay he does, but only after numerous requests from friends and family. For Halloween, we thought it only appropriate to really create Goggleman. Brian told me that his hair had to be red and blue and he had to have the rain boots and he had to have a "G" on his top and he had to wear a red cape. There you have it! The story of Goggleman!

****Note**** Goggleman did NOT answer the door with nothing but his goggles on when my friend came by to drop off his birthday invites......That did not happen!

Im Gonna Pretend That Didnt Happen...

2010-01-12T20:44:00.003-06:00

I am going to pretend that one of my children did NOT sit a bag of frozen chicken tenders that may have costs around $8 on the floor in front of the freezer when I clearly told them to put it in the freezer. I found it the next day!

I am going to pretend that my oldest child, you know the honor roll student, did not change her facebook status to "I taught my daddy something knew today"...........really?

I am going to pretend that the same child did not send me a text message today telling me that she got all As and won B.........again really?

I am going to stop for today. I am certain that my children will continue to provide more material for a later date and time. I guess I need to keep a notebook!

Sunday

2010-01-10T21:14:00.002-06:00

I was reading a few of my favorite blogs last night when I saw that Meg from Whatever mentioned again that she had listened to Rachel's story. I don't always run off to see what these links are about, but last night I did. I am so very glad that I did. Rachel, a mother of two, lost her battle with cancer last year. Her story was recorded just a few months before that. It is about 55 minutes long and it is so worth watching. I thought that I would be able to surf my facebook or other blogs while I was listening but I could not. Her words kept drawing me right back to the video.

p.s. You may want that box of tissues handy while you watch!

The Day it Almost Snowed...

2010-01-07T16:29:00.003-06:00

Once upon a time, in the land of Middle Tennessee, snow was in the forecast. Lots of snow. The weather folks said that we could expect 2 to 6 inches of the fluffly white stuff. In a mad rush the people of the land went to the grocery store and bought all of the milk, bread, and eggs they could find. School systems closed in preparation for the massive storm. Snow Bird was busier than ever with almost every county in the land closing school. The children went to bed with their pjs on inside out and backwards. Many icecubes were flushed down many potties all across the land. As daylight approached and folks rose from bed, they noticed that not even a single flake had fallen. What had happened? Where was the snow storm? As the day went on and folks went about their day a little snow seemed to swirl around the land. It was no where near the storm the people had expected, but in one part of the land it was just enough for some of the children to make their first snow angels of the season! As it happened it was also enough for those same childrens to have a second snow day tomorrow! The End! ;)

Today was the Day!

2010-01-05T20:12:00.003-06:00

Today was a big day in our family.....no...HUGE! Today the court made it official. Summer will remain with us for ever! There will be no more days of talking about things she might be able to do if she is here when the time comes. We can make plans now, because she will be here. Summer will cheer this year. Summer will most likely go to camp this year. Most importantly, she can make herself at home now. I am sure it has been hard for her to get comfortable in our house not knowing if she would be staying. I can't wait to see what God has in store for her and for us this year! Our journey that brought her to live with us will not be completely over for sometime, but we can't ask for much more than we were given today! Thank you for everyone that has prayed and continue to pray for us!

Too Much Tv?

2010-01-03T21:43:00.002-06:00

Yeah, so I am guessing that the boy has probably watched too much tv over the holidays. What would lead me to think that you ask? Oh how about the other day when I was putting a new trash bag into the trash can and the boy comes up to me and says "Dont be mad. Be glad. I saw dat on tb." Or maybe when he saw the Emery Cat on the cover of Harriet Carter catalog and told me that we really ought to get one of those for our cat, Tuna so she can sharpen her claws. For those who dont know what an Emery Cat is click here. He saw it on tv also. Yes, it is definately time to get back into our routine.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T15:44:00.003-06:00

Ah here we are with all four of the kids on Christmas morning. Let me remind you that we had been awake a mere five minutes. Meme and Papa were waiting for the kids to wake up so they could see their faces. The kids slept til after seven!

This one is from Christmas eve. We had to send the boy to get the present in the back!

Christmas Eve again- My sister, Cindy and her boyfriend Paul. They are so funny!

This is my Papa adn the boy. We have two Papas.

The whole Christmas Eve crowd! I cooked for them all...even though the wind knocked the power out for 3 hours that afternoon. I managed to get everything cooked in record time!

Well thats it for Christmas photos! For the family that reads my blog, yes I have more. I will get them printed.......eventually! ;)

Can We Keep Her?

2009-12-31T15:43:00.002-06:00

My 10 year old sister has been living with us since October 31st. Her placement with us was not planned nor was it because something good happened. It was because something bad happened. When we went to see her that day we had no idea that we would be taking her home that night to live with us. We never even considered not saying yes when we were asked to take care of her. She is my sister after all.
Monday I got a phone call out of the blue. Our caseworker called to let me know that on Tuesday January 5th, 2010 we would not just be going to court for a hearing. We would be going to court to sign papers giving us permanent custody of my sister.
It is hard to plan for the future of a child when you dont know how long they will live with you. We know now. We know that she will be with us forever. This is really a bittersweet time for us and for her. Our family has come through for us and accepted her like she was one of our children.
There are still hurdles to get through but at least we know that she is here for good and we can keep her!

Opryland Hotel

2009-12-22T22:18:00.000-06:00

Sunday morning we took the kiddos out to Opryland Hotel to check out the decorations. I hate to admit that our boy had never been. He absolutely thought it was the coolest place evah! Of course I am still not sure why his nose is so red in this photo, but I will take what I can get when it comes to getting all 3 of them to look at me and smile!

Gingerbread Cookies= Yummy!

2009-12-21T22:12:00.000-06:00

While the Daddy and I were at the grocery store we ran across some tubes of gingerbread cookie dough and decided what a fun time the kids would have decorating cookie so we got some. You see we would never be brave enough to make our own cookies from scratch! These were super easy and the kids had a great time decorating them...except for the boy who squirted some icing on his and quickly devoured it!...As you can see from the picture! The other picture is my plate of cookies. I think they turned out quite nice if I do say so myself!

Love these shots from the Christmas play!

2009-12-20T22:08:00.002-06:00

These shots crack me up and if you look at them closely you can see why! My baby boy is front center with the plaid shirt and red vest doing exactly what he is supposed to but if you look around him at the other children there are so many fun things to see! Take for instance the little boy running around in the corner adn the little girl getting her Satna hat pulled over her eyes...oh and lets not forget the little guy about to cry!

Photoshop fun.....

2009-12-16T22:01:00.003-06:00

Finally...

2009-11-29T16:41:00.002-06:00

I love that our girls cheer..I really do, but it has been a long season. Even though competition and games ended a few weeks ago, we were not officially finished until today. The Burns Cowboys were in the Christmas parade again this year. Last year it was bitterly cold. This year it wasnt quite too cold but it was wet! I didn't even take my camera..aka Betty..with me for fear that she might get wet also. So sorry folks..no fun pictures from the parade but I am sure that I posted last years and ..well....it wasn't much different so you are mor ethan welcome to go back and see those. It seems I am feeling a little too lazy tonight to go and link them for ya'll!

With that, Happy Sunday to all! Let the Christmas season begin!

Thankful

2009-11-27T13:07:00.001-06:00

I am thankful that this little girl is safe with us!

Not exactly the fall day I planned....

2009-11-14T18:20:00.002-06:00

I had planned to take pictures of all of the kids today. It has been a beautiful day here in Tennessee.....however....S has come down with a nasty stomach bug. So no group pictures of the kids.....I did get a few shots of the boy while he was playing in the leaves...so enjoy!

And Then There Were Four....

2009-11-08T21:27:00.002-06:00

What a week! Halloween opened up what could be a new chapter for our family. For privacy sake, I can't go into detail, but we had 3 kids when we woke up on Halloween morning and we had four when we went to bed Halloween night. It proved to be a day filled with emotions like none we have experienced. Who is our fourth child? She is my baby sister. She is just 3 months older than Hannah and for now at least she needs us. The circumstances that brought her to our home are not for the faint of heart but we are here for her as long as we need to be...even if that means forever! We love you sweet girl!

Cheer Competition 2009!

2009-10-24T19:44:00.002-05:00

Here is Kristen. Her and Hannah were goofing off for the camera after we got home from competition this afternoon....Her squad won 2nd place! Here is Hannah. She cheers in a younger age group than Kristen. Her squad won 1st place!

I love these girls! We are so proud of them and the rest of our Cowboy cheerleaders!

Oh and I think they really do love each other too!

One last note....in our league there are 3 age groups. The youngest Cowboy cheerleaders also brought home 1st place! Way to go girls!

Morning Glory!

2009-10-11T14:12:00.003-05:00

I do love these sweet flowers! I was thrilled to see them popping up on the old chain link fence between our yard and the ball field. I was even more thrilled when I went outside around noon to see that they were still open and waiting on me to take their pictue!

A Fall Art Project and a Surgery Update

2009-10-04T21:41:00.002-05:00

So before we dive into this fun art project I wanted to update ya'll on the boy's eye surgery. After being pushed back twice to later in the day last wednesday, we finally got the show on the road around 3 pm. Talk about a long day for a four year old who hasn't eaten anything! Anyhoodle, everything went great. He seems to be a bit shy about folks looking at his eyes right now so I am not going to post any photos post op. We go first thing tomorrow for his post op appointment!
Now onto our fall project! The kids and I were walking around outside yesterday checking out all of the leaves when we decided it would be fun to do a canvas of leaf stamping! We gathered our leaves and our paints (we used acrylic paints...because thats what we had). First we painted our canvas a warm caramel color. After it dried the kids painted the under sides of the leaves with paint in a few fall colors and then stamped them onto the canvas and VOILA! After it dried I sprayed it with a couple coats of sealer and now it is ready to hang!

A New Do?!?

2009-09-21T22:03:00.000-05:00

I don't have too much to say right now so I am going to leave ya'll with a few photos of our boy and his spikey hair....that he LOVES! Of course it usually doesn't stay spikey for too long before he starts messing with it, but nonetheless I have pictures! Enjoy!

Oh and how stinkin cute are his crazy faces!?

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

2009-09-20T21:58:00.002-05:00

Our sweet Hannah is turning 10! We celebrated Hannah's birthday by having lunch at Meme and Papa's house after church. I can't believe how fast these last ten years have gone! Hannah, you probably challenge us the most, but behind all of that you are so smart and so sweet. We love you baby girl and hope your special day is blessed!

Totally NOT What I Expected!

2009-09-01T05:47:00.003-05:00

I took little Brian to see his eye doctor yesterday. He was...ahem...a little overdue. Actually had eye surgery in July 07 to correct a misalignment in both of his eyes. When the daddy lost his job last year we lost our insurance. The last time Dr M had seen Brian was at his 6 month post op appointment I think. When I called a few months ago to get an appointment, now that he has insurance, Dr M was booked up a few months out! He is worth the wait though. So at our six month post op appointment a little over a year ago I had concerns that the alignment was not always "perfect". You can find out more about what Brian has here if you want. Dr M told us that as long as his eyes were working together we were good. They were. Well guess what....they are not now. Dr M told us that meant one of two things. The first was that he may need glasses or the second scenario was the need for additional surgery. So DrM dilated his eyes and they did another exam and ruled out a need for glasses. So with that little Brian is scheduled to have his second ....and hopefully final.....eye surgery on September 30th. Totally NOT what I expected!

Three

2009-08-17T21:30:00.004-05:00

Thats the number of Rainbow cakes I have made since saturday! All of them have had different frosting on them! The one in the picture was the first and is almost gone. I made another yesterday for my friend, Peggy's birthday, and I made another one tonight to take with me to the orthodontist tomorrow. His birthday is wednesday and he is only the best orthodontist evah! You can check him out here. So maybe tomorrow I can get off the rainbow train for a bit and get back to some normal posting.....if there is such a thing!

It Was a Scorcher!

2009-08-16T12:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first football jamboree of the season for our local league. Both of the girls cheer. The games were held at one of the county high schools and all proceeds went to benefit a great cause. You can click here to find out more about that cause. Needless to say it was HOT! If you look closely at the picture of the boy you will notice he is sitting on a freezer pack! Yep, you do whatever it takes to keep cool. It was a fun day. We did have to leave a little early. K was cheering and got over heated. She said she all of a sudden couldn't see anything and was dizzy! Just a little scary to say the least....but she is doing great now.

Rainbow Cake

2009-08-15T20:12:00.002-05:00

I was surfing through blogs last night and came across a post about rainbow cake and had to give it a whirl! You can find that post here. I ventured out to Walmart this morning to get the icing coloring that was needed to acheive these delightful colors and then off to Kroger to get the cake mixes and icings and such. To achieve the colors needed to make a rainbow cake regular food coloring will not work. It will leave you with pastel colored layers. I used icing color that I found in the cake decorating section of Walmart. They were around $1.50 each, but they will last a long time. I bought two white cake mixes and prepared the batter like normal. I then divided it among six small bowls. I think I ended up with about 1 1/2 cups of batter per bowl. I added my colors and mixed them well. Don't they look delightful already? Then I baked my layers two at a time in 9 inch round pans. I baked them for around 12 minutes each. You could use almost any kind of frosting you want on these, but I used cream cheese in between the layers and chocolate on the outside. Make sure each layer is trimmed so the top is flat. It makes for a less wobbly cake....although a wobbly cake would taste just as good! This is definately a blog worthy cake and it was pretty easy to make! Ya'll enjoy!

A Red Frog Named Sherman.....

2009-08-14T10:20:00.002-05:00

We are back from the doctor's office. All is well. The boy has some sort of viral funk, but that was not the highlight of this trip. At four years of age, my son has figured out how much fun it is to be the center of attention even when he is sick. He lays it on especially thick for folks he has never met before. That brings us back to today's doctors visit. We went during walk in hours early this morning. It was especially busy in there so we didnt get to see Dr H today. We saw Dr S. The boy has never met Dr S nor has he had a female doctor that he can remember. When she walked in the room his face lit up and he turned to me with a grin a mile wide. Dr S preceded to ask what seemed to be bothering him when he piped up and informed her that he knew what what wrong. He told her that he had a frog in his mouth.........ahem.....a red frog. She told him that she might need to do a test to see if that frog's name was Strep. He quickly stopped her and told her that the frog's name was not Strep. He was a red frog named Sherman. After the "test" was completed Dr S confirmed that indeed this frog's name is NOT Strep. My boy knew this all along. Before we left he entertained her further with a few knock knock jokes. She even said she may have to use that "whats this frogs name game" for future strep tests as he willingly let her swab his throat with the 367ft long q-tip with no problems....to prove his point of course!

Hmmph..The Boy is Sick!

2009-08-14T06:36:00.002-05:00

I am really convinced that my son is a magnet for the sickie germs. No joke! He just can't even look at someone who is sick on television without getting sick also. Wednesday night he was a little feverish and a little froggy. Yesterday he was the same with fever and a little more froggy. I knew then that if this didn't get better we would be seeing Dr H this morning. Well this morning he can't talk and he is very feverish....:(...Yep we are off to see Dr. H this morning! We <3 Dr H! I am convinced he is the best pediatrician in Tennessee! I will update later!

My Favorite Artwork

2009-08-11T20:44:00.003-05:00

Some of my favorite artwork has been created by my own children. I especially love this painting Hannah did a couple of years ago. You see this is a self portrait. If you look closely at the sweet face in this painting you will notice that she has two different colored eyes. My sweet Hannah has two different colored eyes. No, really! I absolutely adore this sweet painting that Hannah created!

Favorite Foto Friday!

2009-08-07T05:06:00.000-05:00

I dont know exactly what happened when my phone snapped this picture but it just looks like its not completely real. It is though. That is my boy's skinny little body and big ol head! Dont you just want to eat him up?!

A Little Bit of Past....

2009-08-06T09:46:00.000-05:00

So its not the best picture in the world but this was our first house...all 800 square feet of her! She was small to start out with since we had two kids when we bought her...but she was even smaller when we moved because we had three kids and she only had two bedrooms! I am not sure how we managed but we did and we had some great years in that little house.

Brian is Officially 4!

2009-08-05T11:26:00.002-05:00

Remember this sweet little baby? Oh how I loved him in his little frog hat, but alas he outgrew it a long time ago!

Look at him and his four year old self now! It has definately been a crazy four years! Happy birthday big boy!

Ouch!

2009-06-21T22:18:00.006-05:00

My poor boy can't seem to catch a break! Check out that whopper on his lip! He had a tumble down the stairs saturday and landed flat on his face. Luckily it seems like it looks worse than it was! Maybe we should cover him in bubble wrap......

Father's Day

2009-06-21T20:13:00.002-05:00

We went to church this morning and listened as my dear friend, David, gave the message. Let me tell ya'll that David tore it up! I love David. He is kind of like an earthly father to me. I have never really known my own father and even though I have a step father, I have always lacked that relationship in my life until I met David. I can talk to David about anything. He never hangs up the phone without telling me that he loves me. He never sees me without giving me a hug. It was no accident that our paths crossed. I believe completely that my Heavenly Father had a hand in that. So with that I want to wish David a happy Father's Day!

Its About Time,lol....

2009-06-18T08:35:00.002-05:00

I am sure ya'll remember this post from over a year ago! Actually it is the post that is most visited on my blog through google I guess. Well over a year later and we have completed this project! Yep, those steps were without stain for over a year! I had to take these pictures with my phone which would explain their small size but ya'll get the idea. Oh and we also finished painting that knotty pine that was in the foyer!

Hannah is back from camp!

2009-06-14T07:16:00.002-05:00

Hannah just got back from her second year at Deer Run. Deer Run is a non- denominational Christian camp here in Middle Tennessee. She had a blast! I have been working on her camp laundry and if ya'll know anything about camp laundry it can be stinky! Not to mention, Hannah wore her brand new tennis shoes in the creek! I think I have managed to slavage them! However the biggest camp news is that Hannah accepted God into her life! I don't pressure my kids when it comes to these things. These are decisions they need to make. I am so proud of Hannah and all of her accomplishments this past week!

My first Face Book Party!

2009-06-06T08:09:00.002-05:00

I have a friend, Heather, who is the co- owner and lead designer of PeaPod Announcements. Yesterday was PeaPods fourth birthday so Heather decided to throw a party.....face book style! She had trivia, meet and greet, and a contest in which she allowed her fans to name two of her new designs. Pea Pod specializes in party invitations, birth announcement, and so on! There were lots of great prizes! I managed to win a set of party invites! Can I tell you how perfect that was! SO please go check out Pea Pod. I can't wait to see what Heather can do for our birthday parties!

Lots Going on!

2009-05-31T16:06:00.003-05:00

First and most important, my baby sister graduated from high school this weekend! I am SOOOOOO proud of her!
Second, school is out for summer! Both girls made honor roll! Kristen has held straight As for the last half of the year! She was devastated when her report card showed a 78 for her science grade. I called the school because I knew that wasn't right. They had put it in the system wrong. She had actually made a 98 in that class! They are mailing us a corrected copy of her report card.
Also, Hannah is leaving for camp a week from today. Kristen aged out and will go with the older kids in July.
Oh and last, the penny saga is over! We went in for a new xray and it was gone! Not sure how it slipped by but it did and its over now!

This Has Gone on Long Enough...

2009-05-27T05:48:00.002-05:00

Yes I know I havent posted about the laundry room makeover yet! I promise its coming. This penny situation is STILL ongoing! Can you believe it? Of all the kids in the world who swallow change and mine is in the 1% who can't pass it! I have been looking through poop for over three weeks! Now I do have to add that that part hasn't been too bad because he has not had as much since this started. That is part of the problem. Today is our deadline. I am calling Dr. H this morning..unless by some miracle it came out in the night, and we will make a plan. The penny has to come out. Not sure if that will happen today or later this week, but it does have to happen. I don't know yet how they get it out and honestly Im not too thrilled to find out. I guess there is always the chance that it will be gone when they take the new x ray.....probably not though. So with all of that said please keep us in your prayers. This is the part that isnt funny. Well at least not right now....maybe it will be later. Follow my twitter for updates!

Just Stuff...

2009-05-09T13:49:00.002-05:00

Okay this post is really gonna be about random stuff!

First, no penny yet. It has been a week and with my kids luck we will have to go to the doctor next week for xrays. So please pray that we see that penny soon.

Next, we have a washing machine! I think I told ya'll that mine gave out three weeks ago. We are trying to save money when we can and buying a new one just wasn't looking like a good move financially. I got on Craigslist yesterday and came across an ad for a washing machine and freezer. I talked to the guy who is about to move out of the country next week. We went last night and checked them out and ended up getting both! The Daddy and I have been thinking about getting a freezer to go in our laundry room for a while now, but again we didn't want to spend the money. We got both for $160! It was definately a great deal! Now I can start stocking up on some sales!

Speaking of good deals, bargains, ect... I have been checking out this site lately and have found a bunch of great links for coupons and samples. I love it when they come in the mail. Yesterday I had some samples and today I had a couple of free books!

Alright folks, I am off to do more laundry! I will do a real post later! I don't think I ever showed ya'll our laundry room makeover! Its pretty amazing!

The Penny....

2009-05-05T17:26:00.002-05:00

So some of you all know about the penny. Little Brian was playing in Kristens room sunday and alledgedly swallowed a penny. I did not see this happen, but by the look on his face I am fairly sure it did. So I run him down stairs after making sure he can breathe, get him some water, and call the pediatrician.....on sunday. When Dr. H called back I could hear his own kids screaming in the background. Good, at least he has those days too. So he says that unless he starts vomiting or having breathing problems we just have to wait it out for two weeks. TWO WEEKS! I had no clue it could take that long! Well Little Brian decided that if the penny went in through his mouth then it has to come out that way too...right? WRONG! Try explaining the digestion process to a three year old. I didn't do well. He was afraid to poop. So he didn't... for almost two days. That brings us to today. No penny yet! Stay tuned for updates. The Daddy is calling it Poop Watch 2009!

fourth grade science project?!?!?!

2009-04-29T21:23:00.003-05:00

Okay so I will admit that we tend to wait until the last minute when it comes to projects. Hannah had, however done all of the work on her project aside from putting it on her project board. That should be the easy part. I had the photos on my camera and had planned on taking my memory card to Wolf Camera yesterday and getting in on those 6 cent prints during my lunch break...................Nope that did not happen. We ran late leaving me with not enough time so I got home last night and thought I would load my camera software onto this relic of a computer.****Ya'll remember my laptop crashed a couple of weeks ago**** After about 1 1/2 hours I get these photos loaded and then uploaded onto Walmarts site so that I can go pick them up. Walmart is all night right? Hmmm, someone should tell the photo processing center! I was ready to process my order when it told me my prints would be ready after 10am today! TODAY! Her project is due TODAY! I cant wait that long! So it is after 8pm and I drove as fast as I could to Walgreens**we live in a small town, it closes at 10***. I was ready to beg! Luckily they were able to get the photos ready just in time. What was this project about you ask? Water density.... I am pretty sure the lady thought I was crazy scanning through photos of eggs in cups of water!

Wow, I dont even have words!

2009-04-26T15:15:00.002-05:00

Yeah I know! Me not having words is hard to believe! So I was looking at my myspace account yesterday. I have been trying to delete the thing for a while, but since I no longer have the email that I had when I signed up it has been next to impossible. Or maybe there was a reason that I havent been able to delete it. Maybe.... You see I got a friend request yesterday and when I opened it I was taken back a little. It was from my sister.....my half sister....we have the same father. I have always known she was out there and I have always known she was a little bit older than me, but other than that i only knew her first name. She even wrote a little note on her request. She wasn't 100% sure that I was who she was looking for. She was looking for me! Wow, I dont even know what to say! So naturally I decided to check out her photos on her profile. I had to get a glimpse of her. I was curiouse if we looked alike. I wanted to see if she had kids and if they had any of the same features that my kids have. The funny thing is that I didn't accept her friend request right away. I needed time to process this. I did accept it just a moment ago, but I still need time to process this. I have chosen not to have a relationship with the man that is our biological father. He made a decision before I was born to not be in my life and I am fine with that. I have wondered about my siblings that are out there and I have met a few of them, but there were some that I never would have dreamed I would have contact with and she was one of them. Wow!

Oh and the post I was promising....I am still working on it.

Alot On My Mind....

2009-04-20T21:31:00.003-05:00

I am not quite ready to get into details, but I have had a lot on my mind lately. I am still working on putting it into blog form so please stay tuned cause I am pretty sure you dont want to miss this. I do have to ask for permission to post some things first. I don't like to post about people without asking usually. Not that I am worried. I think that this person wont mind one bit! Now I am not saying anything else.. you will have to wait and see!

6,422

2009-04-15T11:41:00.002-05:00

I will be the first to admit that I DO NOT like to punish my kids. Did you three hear that? Even though you all might think that I do, well your wrong. When our cell phone bill came the other day I had to lay down the law. It was time. Now I want you all to know that Kristen has been very good about not abusing her phone, however I think she took "unlimited text messages" too far.
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.....6,422!
That is the number of texts that were used by her line in one month!
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....6,422 just in case you did not get it the first time!

Let me also add that she is a straight A student and one of the sweetest kids you will ever meet. She just likes to text. So we had to sit down and discuss how texting should not take over your life.....and the little girl on Inside Edition who sent out over 15,000 in a month did NOT need competition. Honestly I don't think a child can truly discover who they are if they are bound by their cell phone. Needless to say, the phone will not be by her side 24 hours a day from now on. Too harsh?.... I think not!

Flying Kites

2009-04-10T13:22:00.002-05:00

I was at Walmart the other day getting a birthday present when I came across these kites that were only $1!!!! Now they were not huge or fancy but being a person who has not had any luck with kites I thought the kids would enjoy them. They did. Actually they have taken them out a few times so I think it is safe to say they were worth the three dollars it cost to buy one for each of them!

A Fighting Chance

2009-04-08T19:48:00.003-05:00

UPDATE**** Both of these little guys failed to survive through the night :( I guess we will test our tank before putting new ones in. If any of you know a thing or two about gold fish let me know cause I dont know as much as I thought!

Meet these two little guys. They really dont have names, but they are our two goldfish. We had three. One had passed when we came home today. I cleaned the tank and these guys are back in. I noticed a couple of days ago that all three of our fish were a little on the lethargic side and I not being expert really didnt know what to do. So now that I have cleaned their tank these two are fighting to remain alive. I can tell that they are struggling, but we are hoping that if they can make it through the night they might make it longer. We had fish when the girls were small and never had much trouble with them Actually we had one that lived for quite some time. So say a little prayer tonight that our two little fish will make it.