August 9, 2009
I'm stopping in to let readers know that I am taking the rest of the summer off from my blog. I hope to be back to posting at the beginning of September. These weeks of summer have been so busy. I'm trying to do something with Elliot & Emily every single day, wanting to give them lots of wonderful summer memories. We're also gearing up to begin another year of homeschool in a few weeks. I've taken down all the school decorations from last year, & putting up all new this week. It's simple to refresh it, & the kids are looking forward to beginning. I have the curriculum now, so I've also been going over that & planning ahead. Been doing some 'home' things too, so it's been busy all around (what happened to those 'lazy days of summer'?). Seeing as we're starting homeschool soon, I'm doing an early Fall cleaning. I love it as much as a Spring clean. I hope all of you have a wonderful rest of the summer! See you all in September."Then followed that beautiful season... Summer.... Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood." ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~
July 21, 2009
Mike took the day off, so that meant we all slept in (till 9AM), which was a wonderful way to start our Tuesday. For some reason, it felt like Monday all day.Elliot lost his first tooth! He was so scared when he felt it loose a few weeks ago. He thought it would hurt, & he also said he didn't want new teeth or bigger teeth. He walked around the house, wiggling it non-stop, so I am glad it's out. Luckily, he didn't have any problems (or pain) with it...he asked me to feel it, & it came out when I touched it. He was so proud...he wanted to show everyone. He says "Look at my new tooth hole." He'll soon lose another one, because he just discovered that the one next to his "new tooth hole" is loose too.
We took the kids to the Nature Museum again over the weekend. It has an entire room devoted to dinosaurs, so Elliot never tires of going. Emily named one. I can't remember the proper name for this one, but she said "Oh look - that's a Flopasaurus." I asked her why she called it that, & she said "Look at it's tail. It's floppy, & it probably flops it around." Uh...okay.
I also have to share this picture. She chose to pose like this, & asked me to take it because she said she would "look so pretty with the flower." She thinks this is beautiful. I guess she doesn't notice that you can't see her face -
There was an area that they got to put up film & look at xrays to see if they could guess what they were looking at. They had fun with this activity.
They each chose a souvenir to bring home with them. Elliot chose a dinosaur of course, & this is how we found it after Avery had played with it -
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." ~Ambrose Redmoon~
July 20, 2009 Sorry for being absent for the past few days or so. I have had so many issues with my computer. I was up till 3AM last Thursday, trying to get it all sorted out. Saturday morning, Mike said "Let's go. You're getting a new computer." He got me an HP Pavilion Elite PC, & I 'love' it! I spent all day Saturday, & late Sunday evening getting all my stuff off of my other computer. Such a job, but it went fairly quick. I had heard so many bad things about Vista, but this computer came with it, & I am loving that too. I'm not sure why no one wouldn't like it. I am sure having fun with all the 'gadgets' you can put on the desktop. So anyway, I am back in business!I had wanted a new monitor too. Mine was nice, but I love the new wide screen ones. We had decided to wait on it, but Mike came home early today with a surprise for me. I was upstairs, & when I came down, he was hooking up my new monitor. He got me an even nicer one than I had looked at. So now I am enjoying the web experience with an HP 21.5 inch widescreen LCD flat panel. It is 'so' nice!
Has anyone tried the browser 'Safari'? Mike downloaded that for me to try, & I love the way it showcases your top favorites. It's a free download, so check it out.
Emily was helping me pick things up, & she took this to Elliot & said "Elliot, here's your yucky eagle."
Since I'm posting this so late (played too long with my computer), I'll catch you all up on our weekend in my post tomorrow. I do want to put up the sigtag for the week though. If wanted, please tag or email. Unless it doesn't matter to you, please specify hair color, eye color, & choose between pink, green, blue, purple, or red clothing.
"As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round." ~Ben Hogan~
July 15, 2009 Today was a laid back day in our household. Mike didn't have to go into work till 3PM, so that enabled us to sleep in till 9AM. After breakfast, he & Elliot played video games, & Emily & I had our 'girl time'. I also got to create some graphics with my tubes.
We ran to Marie Callenders to pick up a pie. Elliot & Emily wanted a cookie too, so we told them to choose one. As they peered through the glass display case, the cashier came over, & I asked Emily "What do you want sweetie?" She replied "I'd like to have that sea shell, please." They had one in there for decoration, & I told her that it wasn't for sale. She said "Oh, I wanted that sea shell so bad. I wanted to listen to the ocean in it, & it's so beautiful." I explained to her that only the cookies were for sale, so she chose her cookie & was fine about not getting the shell. We got home & took our pie out of the bag, & found this in there too - 
She was one happy little girl! I thought it was so sweet of the guy to put it in the bag for her.
So we get home with the pie, & UPS shows up with a gourmet cheesecake. My sister had sent it for us to enjoy for Mike's birthday. Luckily, my 2 sons were here to help eat this tonight. There is 'no' food item that lasts long when they are around!
Since I had the opportunity to play with my tubes today, I have another summer sigtag below. If wanted, please tag or email.
"Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart." ~Erma Bombeck~
July 14, 2009 I'm sorry I missed posting yesterday. My computer was down 'again'. I don't know what's going on with it, but when I scanned it, it showed that I had yet another virus. I wasn't able to even log on the entire weekend. Anyway, it's taken care of again, but we may go ahead & reformat the hard drive. Seems like these issues began when I downloaded the new IE8. Oh the joys of life with a computer!
Today was Mike's birthday. Well, actually it's tomorrow, but because of his work schedule tomorrow, we celebrated it today. He took the day off from work, & we all took him out to eat at one of his favorite restaurants (Famous Daves). Seeing as it is blazing hot here in Vegas right now, he wanted an ice cream cake, so that's what he got. Actually, he didn't really want a cake, but Emily told him "It's not a party without a cake." It's so sweet - she was trying to convince him to get a Princess cake, & Elliot tried to talk him into a Spiderman cake. Emily also wanted to wear a pair of my heels for his 'party'. She had them on, & I told her that they didn't 'quite' fit. She said "That's okay if they slip & slide off. I just want to look beautiful for Daddy's birthday party." I convinced her that she would be more comfortable in her sandals.Speaking of Emily. We were looking over pictures of her from last summer, & it was amazing how much more 'baby-like' she looked. She is always telling me that she doesn't want to grow up (more on this another day, but I've had to console her more than a few times because she thought she was growing), so she looked at these pictures & told me that she wanted to get her hair cut. Her thought was, if she got it cut, she would look like a "baby" again. I took her to get it cut, & she likes it so much, that she doesn't care if she looks like a baby or not. It's really not that much of a difference, but it's cute. Here she is getting ready to get it done -
It's not really that different - only about 2 inches shorter. I may take her back & have another inch taken off.
I have to share this one - the joys of being male (& patient) in a beauty salon. He is 'so' sweet!
Elliot has become a backseat driver. One that has scared me too death a few times. By backseat driver, I mean that I will be driving merrily along & all at once he 'screams' "Watch out!" What is is he telling me to "watch out" for? A car that is on the other side of the road, going the opposite direction, & one not even near us. I've explained to him that he is not to 'ever' do that, because it has made my heart jump out of my chest. He said "I'm sorry, but I thought that car might come over & hit us." I pray that he outgrows this, or he is going to have a horrible time when he can drive. Thankfully, that is a loooong way off!
Below are 2 sigtags. If you want either one (or both), please tag or email. You may request hair color change on both. For the Raggedy, you may also request dress color - purple, blue, light pink, yellow, green, tan, or teal. If you would prefer the Raggedy without the words & just your name, please let me know that also.
"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him." ~David Brinkley ~
Sigtag created by tubes from: PM, The Limited, RPP, & THC
July 10, 2009 I invited Lisa & Avery to go out with the kids & I this morning. We went out to shop for awhile & run some errands. We topped off our morning with a stop at Starbucks - always a favorite stop. Emily has now got Avery loving the strawberries & cream drink. In fact, even at 18 months, Avery finishes off an entire one all by herself. And I wonder why she is so huge???When we got home it was lunch & naptime, so the day seemed to fly by. I kept Avery while Lisa ran to pick up her check & wanted to share this picture. She 'loves' helping with laundry. She does such a great job of loading it -
Lisa called on her way home from picking up her check. She was in tears. When she went in to pick it up, her boss told her that he was going to have to let her go. He said he had no choice with the economy. He gave her a two week's notice. I felt horrible for her. I wanted to boost her spirits a bit, so told her to plan on going out to Mimi's for dinner tonight. She, Shad, & Avery met us there. We had such a great time, & I know it helped to take her mind off of her job.
Elliot loves going there, & one of the highlights is his desert that comes with the kids meal - his 'dirt cup', complete with a juicy worm (YUCK!) -
When we finished eating, I asked them to join us at Home Goods, & then at Kohls. We had fun shopping. I know things have been such a struggle for them lately, so I told them that they had a certain amount of money & that orders were to have fun spending it on some things needed or wanted. They protested a bit, but were so thankful. It was such a blessing to see them enjoying it. Emily found her a treasure - she oohed & aahed when she saw this - 
I hope she's old enough to enjoy it. I told her that she should wait until in the morning to open it, & that it would feel a little bit like Christmas morning. She loved that idea, & said that it would be "Christmas in her heart" tomorrow.
Now for Elliot's toy - night & day from Emily's toy. From Cinderella to this -
He was 'so' excited over this toy - a pirate in jail. Notice the magnetic spider on the wall - he loved that too. And he 'squealed' when he looked by the pirate's foot - he said "Look! A RAT! I love it!" Only a boy! He has great plans for this toy - he says his dinosaurs are going to get the pirate out of the "cage". I didn't ask what he had planned for him after that. Don't want to know.
Emily said something that I thought was so funny. We were watching the news as she ate her ice cream cone, & they were showing a clip of Michael Jackson's Thriller video. They showed him as him, then bending down & coming up changing into the werewolf. They showed the whiskers growing in, & the ears growing pointy & hair sprouting on them. She's chomping away & looked over at me, & said "Wow, 'Jackson Michael' can turn into a cat!", & she goes right on eating her cone. She's too funny!
"Wise people learn when they can; fools learn when they must." ~Arthur Wellesley~
July 9, 2009 Today was a day that I put everything aside & focused completely on Elliot & Emily. We had to start their day with one of their favorites. They swear that the pancakes taste better when they have a special shape - 
I always risk Elliot getting hyper because of the syrup, but I knew that he'd run that off at the park -
Home for naps, out to eat when they got up, then home for game time (bean bag toss) -
Baths, snacks, story time, & two completely tuckered out little ones, are fast asleep.
"There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million." ~Walt Streightiff ~
July 8, 2009 This Mickey Mouse is upstairs in our hall. I placed him there for a touch of whimsy. We love seeing him look as though he's running down the hall. This is the view as we look up at him from downstairs -
He's the first thing we see as we come out of our room, as he runs down the hall. Well...Avery decapitated him today. I wish I had thought to take a picture of our headless Mickey, but I super glued his head on before I thought of that, & so far it's holding. Of course at first I was heartsick - we've had him for 12 years, but then I remembered that things are just that. Things. No big deal. We will laugh in future years, when we see the imperfect neck where he is glued. Poor Avery - it scared her too death. She got a horrible look on her face, & burst into tears. She recovered very quickly though. She went right back into being into everything. And I do mean everything She's going to be such a big girl. She turned 1 on January 5th, & she's almost as big as Emily. To give you an idea of her size, here she is with Emily -
She's a cutie, but definitely a hand full!
"Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds." ~George Elliot~
July 7, 2009 I spent the first part of the day in front of the tv, watching the Michael Jackson Memorial coverage. I thought it was a touching memorial, & sat there in tears a lot of the time. My heart broke for his daughter Paris. My heart goes out to his children, for the media attention they will have to deal with for their entire lives. As I watched today, I wondered if his children ever truly realized 'who' their Daddy was. If not, I'm sure they are getting a picture of how the world felt about him & his talent.Mike came home early, & brought take-out home. Very welcomed, as I didn't feel like cooking tonight.
I wanted to share this picture of LillyTrixieLilly. Each time Emily gets her teeth brushed, she has to have Lilly watch...she sits her right beside the bathroom door. It's so sweet, so I captured it in order to always remember this - 
Below is another summer sigtag. You may request your haircolor. If wanted, please tag or email.
"The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post." ~L. Thomas Holdcroft~
July 6, 2009 We had a great 4th of July weekend. We were going to go out of town (California), but decided to stay put & relax. I'm glad we did. We were able to watch fireworks from our balcony again. We could actually see all of them going off on the strip. From a long distance of course, but we could see them. There was another fantasitc display in our neighborhood too.
I bought a Cuisinart Pure Indulgence Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, & Ice Cream maker last week. I couldn't wait to try it, so the kids & I went off to the store to pick up the ingredients. We put all of it together & eagerly awaited our first bowl. I went to check it after 15 minutes (it only takes 25-30 minutes to make ice cream), & thought it strange that it was still liquid. Totally liquid. I got out the book & went through it & saw in bold letters "FREEZE FREEZER BOWL FOR 6-22 HOURS BEFORE USE". Duh. I felt soooo stupid! In my excitement, it didn't even dawn on me that I would need to freeze the freezer bowl! So - a total flop. Well, I guess not a total flop. We put the finished Emily helped me to make the ice cream & decided that she wanted to see what cream tasted like. Got cream?
Mike's been off work since last Thursday, & it's been so nice to have him home. Elliot has been in heaven! He goes back tomorrow, so we decided to do a cookout tonight & then kick back & enjoy our evening. I know this, he will be missed tomorrow!Below is a summer sigtag. If wanted, please tag or email.
"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken." ~James Dent~
July 3, 2009 I had a real exciting day in front of this computer. I spent all day trying to get rid of a computer virus. I had thought I took care of this last night, but it was still here today. After reading up on it, I saw that it was a type that even after removing it & rebooting, it would show back up. I thought we were going to have to reformat the hard drive, & I wanted to avoid that. I clicked on 'restore', hoping it would work. I think it's taken care of now, because I haven't had the crazy pop ups that I had last night & earlier today, & a further scan shows my computer is clean. So that was my exciting day. That, & watching the ongoing Michael Jackson coverage as I took care of this.
This is a picture that I wanted to share. I took it when we were staying with my sister during our stay back there after my brother's death. I had put Emily in the bathtub, ran to the next room to grab her pj's, & when I came back she had forced this around her knee - stretched it out to the max - 
It was my sister's loofah scrub. As soon as I walked into the bathroom & saw it, Emily was so excited. She said "Look! A kneepad!" I said "Honey, that's not a kneepad. Why would Jenny have a kneepad in her bath?" Her reply - "In case you would fall down in the bathtub." I 'love' the way a child's innocent mind works!
Here's one of the pictures I took from our balcony last night -
It's not the greatest shot, but it's the best I could do. I don't get it - if I set my camera on 'fireworks' the pictures are horrible (looks like a bunch of strings). This is set on 'night', & it's much better than the fireworks setting.
I hope you all have a happy & safe 4th. I will see you all on Monday!
"It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you." ~Dick Cheney~
July 2, 2009 Today was a day that I had determinded to get caught up with my blogging friend's lives. My computer had other plans for me. I made 4 visits, my computer begin acting 'weird', it then froze up. When I could get it to turn off & come back on, I then spent the rest of the day backing up my data & scanning for viruses. The scan ('scans' - I have scanned it 6 or 7 times) found a virus, but after removal, it shows up again. I am in the process of scanning again, so I am hoping that it's taken care of now.
We started our day by going out to a breakfast buffet. Anytime the kids hear "buffet", they are ready to go. Especially Emily. She loves hush puppies, & when she found out that we were going to her favorite (Aliante Station), she said "Oh! I can have my puppy rolls!" She forgot what to call them, & I gusss "puppy rolls" was the best she could do. She & Elliot really, 'really', enjoyed themselves.
Tonight was our neighborhood parks 4th of July celebration & fireworks display. As always, they put on such a great show. You would have thought it was Christmas, with the way Emily asked me every 30 minutes if it's "time yet". We love our view of the show - we sit out on our balcony off of our master bedroom. I'm so thankful we have it, seeing as they announced that over 30,000 people were crammed into the park! We did have one eventful happening with one of our Pugs. They were outside, during the fireworks, & when we went to let them in afterwards, Lilly was no where to be found. We looked for about 30 minutes, & no Lilly in site. By this time, Elliot was in tears. He thought for sure, that we would never see her again. I have to admit, so did I. Mike went back outside for one last thorough look, & he came back, carrying her in his arms. Elliot was jumping up & down, cheering his heart out. I don't think this did Lilly much good, seeing as she was trembling - obviously, still shaken by her fireworks experience. She was found, cowering in a dark corner of the yard. What's strange, is that we had been outside for awhile, calling her name over & over. She didn't come to us, & I think if Mike hadn't found her, she would have stayed put all night. She was taking no chances on another firework being fired off. I tried to tell Mike that they needed to be brought in, as they would be scared. Well, they didn't want to come in, but that was 'before' the fireworks began.
Below is another sigtag. Tag or email if wanted, & specify haircolor.
"The really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour." ~Unknown~
Siggies created by tubes from: LPH & CB
July 1, 2009 It's been so long since my last post, that I feel like a stranger here. I'm sorry that I've been absent from blogging & visiting. I've been going through a difficult time, & it's been awhile since I've really felt like being on the computer. One of my brothers died, & I cannot tell you how hard that hit me. He was not only my brother, but my friend. He & I were so close - he was only 5 years older than me, but he was my hero as we grew up. We all thought it must have been a heart attack, but after getting the autopsy results back a couple of weeks ago, we found that he died from respiratory failure, caused by a prescription drug interaction. He had been prescribed 3 different meds, & recently the dr. gave him a 4th. This 4th one had to be taken apart from the other 3. This report made losing him even more difficult. We will never know if he wasn't told that the meds couldn't be combined or if he was just very tired that night (which he was, after an all day family barbecue), & wasn't thinking. The cause of death made it even more difficult to accept. Cause of death (respiratory failure) was ironic too, because he was a respiratory therapist. I miss him terribly. I will always miss him. He was a wonderful man, with a heart of gold - so giving, & his service paid tribute to that fact. He was so funny, & never stopped laughing or making people laugh. The tears wouldn't stop for weeks, but I am doing well now. I needed to take time, & I did. Time with family was comforting. I think losing him was actually more difficult than losing my Mom. I think this is because we knew we were going to lose her - we had time to say our good-byes to her & all the things that we wanted to to say. We had time to prepare, but we didn't get that with my brother. It helps, & is a comfort to know that I will see him again one day.
Elliot & Emily are doing wonderfully. I am so glad that they got to know my brother. He & Elliot has such a special bond. He loved them so much, & of course was thrilled that Emily was red haired, as he was too. The kids had a blast with their cousins while we were back there (Indiana). Emily kept them all laughing & amused. It was so funny as we were driving into a woody section of Indiana. Emily is not used to this, being from Las Vegas. She was sitting up so straight in her car seat, just taking it all in. She finally looked at me, snarled up her nose, & said "Where are we? In a jungle?" It was good to laugh.
It's probably a bit late to post some sigtags for the 4th, but there are a few below. If wanted, please let me know which ones (you can request all if wanted). There is a choice of hair color with the girl. I don't want to have a long post on my first time back here, so I will to end with a picture of my brother Charles, in memory of him. He loved Las Vegas, & this was taken one of the last times he came out to visit.
"Life is a promise; fulfill it." ~Mother Theresa ~
Siggies created by tubes from: LPH, RPP, PM & APG
May 20, 2009
Between last night's DWTS results show & tonight's American Idol results show, to say I am surprised is an understatement. I was stunned that Adam didn't win. I sat there in disbelief. Emily always has an answer for everything, so she had her theory for this outcome too. I let her & Elliot stay up to watch because they have watched each week - they get to watch some before bed, & then watch the rest the next day since I record it. Anyway, she said she didn't "like those scary men with masks on that Adam sang with (KISS)", so in her opinion "Maybe Adam didn't win because he painted his eyes scary, & people were afraid of him." It's so funny that how a child's mind works. I think Adam should have no worries though, because he has a great future ahead of him. I don't remember Idol ever having someone as good as him compete. I couldn't wait from week to week to see what he had in store for us. As far as Shawn winning, I thought that Gilles truly deserved the win. It's not that I disliked Shawn, I just thought Gilles was far better. - We were having a calm, relaxing day. And then...I gave Elliot a popcicle for doing extra good on his schoolwork. Remember, this is the little boy that cannot have 'any' sugar, unless he pings off the walls. Can't you just see the 'pingy - ness' in his eyes here, even after having eaten only half of it -
Luckily, I gave it to him close to his naptime. Even after naptime though, it affected him for awhile.
Below is this weeks sigtag. If wanted, please tag or email. Please let me know hair color, eye color, & color of clothing desired (blue, pink, lavender, or green).
"The difference between try and triumph is a little umph." Unknown ~
Sigtag created by tubes from: LPH & RPP
May 18, 2009 Our weekend wasn't anything big to report about. It was 'so' hot, that I didn't want to venture outside our home, & we didn't. I know that I can't hybernate inside our home under the air conditioner all summer, but it's tempting to try it! It's sad when it's so hot that Elliot didn't even want to go outside & play. You know it's bad then, because he 'loves' to play.Emily wanted to dress up for DWTS tonight. She gets so into this! You can tell this if you notice the flying hair & dress in the first picture I'm posting. Here's a couple of pictures of her doing the Paso Doble with LillyTrixieLilly -
After she ended her dance by sliding across the floor, she was pleased with her performance -
So we find out tomorrow who takes home the mirrored ball. I would think it would be Melissa or Gilles, but I do think that Gilles is favored to win it. I hope he didn't hurt his chances tonight with his freestyle. Although, I think his fans will love anything he does.
I'll post a new sigtag offering tomorrow.
"If you're yearning for the good old days, just turn off the air conditioning." Griff Niblack ~
May 15, 2009 We had such a lazy day. Mike took the day off from work, & he got up early with Elliot. They are both early risers. It was so nice for me to be able to sleep in. Emily got up & crawled into bed with me, & we slept till 10AM! I couldn't believe it when I looked at the clock. Anyway, that set the tone for the entire day. We didn't do anything major. We just enjoyed a day of relaxation. We were going to go out for breakfast at Mimi's, but it was so hot, I didn't want to go out. We decided that we'd wait & go out for dinner. That didn't happen either - too hot. We both decided that it would be much nicer to do take-out.I babysat for Avery for awhile today. I dressed her up in one of Emily's Princess costumes, & she, Emily, & I played Princess for awhile. I took pictures, but none turned out very well. Avery was too busy darting out of the shot, to get into everything she could find. I did get a picture of Princess Emily sharing a Princess story with Princess LillyTrixieLilly -
Elliot worked on his new dinosaur puzzle. Here he is, after his accomplishment -
He loves puzzles, & is getting quite good at it.
Today Emily asked me "Can I please have a cracker that looks like a rug?" I said "A rug?" She said "Yes, it looks just like a little rug." I went to the pantry, & then laughed - it's a Triscuit.
I watched the documentary on Farrah Fawcet & her battle with cancer tonight. It made me so sad. I hadn't realized that she had gotten so bad. Such a horrid disease! I lost my Mom & my Dad to cancer.
"While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about." ~Angela Schwindt ~
May 14, 2009 The kids & I had just gotten home from the grocery store today, when Mike walked into the house, surprising us by being home about 5 hours early. I was putting groceries away, & at first I didn't realize what was going on, as I heard squeals & shouts of joy from Elliot & Emily. Each time he comes home, you'd think a celebrity had been spotted. Along with the squeals, they tackle him. They 'really' squealed when he asked them if they'd like to go out to a lunch buffet. If you've been to Vegas, you know how incredible the buffets are. We don't do them often, but the kids love them. It's too easy to over eat, & I hate that feeling.The rest of the day was pretty laid back. I put the kids down for naps, & I cleaned house. Once they got up, we had fun with them. Emily wanted to play games, so that's what we did. I piddled with graphics after that, so it was a lazy day.
If you've not watched Grey's Anatomy yet, don't read further - spolier ahead. I enjoyed the seaon finale. When they brought in the guy hit by the bus, I guessed it was George immediately. I am going to miss my regular shows so much during the summer.
Just to let you know, I normally do Friday & Saturday as my blog free days. I am changing that to Saturday & Sunday, so I'll see you all tomorrow!
"A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood." ~Rachel Carson~
May 13, 2009 Today was busy, busy, busy, & I am tired, tired, tired, so this will basically be just a comment about American Idol. From the beginning, I had felt that the finale would have Adam & Danny facing off. Last night I began to think that it might be Kris & Adam, & I was right. Even though that thought crossed my mind, I was still on the edge of my seat, & surprised when he was the first to find out that he was coming back next week. He impresses me as such a sweet, laid back, humble guy. He & Adam are completely different in their styles. It's going to be a very interesting, & good finale! This has been such a great season.I went to Vimeo & uploaded the movie of Emily (& Lilly) getting to be a part of the Disney dance party parade. I wouldn't really label this 'dancing' though...I would call it "hopping". She loves to dance, & I'm not sure why she hopped her way through this song. It's short, but if you want to see a bit of the "Emily Hop" watch below. Scroll down first & hit the 'turn music off' button for my blog.
"Friends are family you choose for yourself." ~Unknown ~
Highlight of Emily's Trip from Judy Evans on Vimeo.
May 12, 2009 I was met with another phone call this morning by Jen's Mom, but I have learned. I didn't answer it. She left a voice mail, but I have also left that to be listened to on another day. There will most likely be more tomorrow or an email, but I'm set on not letting her get to me this time. This start to our day, was offset by a 'sweet' surprise. Our doorbell rang, & at first I thought it was Joy (yes, she's done that - if an email or call goes unanswered, she has shown up at our door & rang & knocked till we answered). This time though, the person rang & then left. I went to peek out, & this is what was left at our door - 
'Three' dozen donuts, courtesy of Lisa's (my DIL) Dad. He knew there were 2 here that 'loves' donuts. I thought it was so sweet & kind of him to do this. Emily was thrilled because she got her pink one -
And Elliot? He was thrilled because - well, because he got a donut. It didn't matter what kind, just as long as it was a donut -
The above picture of him, was the cleanest one of him. I've mentioned before, that he cannot have 'any' sugar without pinging off the walls. Or as Emily says "Elliot is pinging the walls!" About an hour after he ate this donut, I was tempted to deliver him sitting in the Dunkin' bag, to the door of Lisa's Dad. Just kidding, but it did put him in hyper-mode. I had to put him in a lavender bath, & that helped. As I typed that, it struck me as so funny. Taking a lavender bath to calm yourself after a donut.
My son came by today, & when he came in he said "Why is CSI 6 doors down?" I said "WHAT!?" He told me that they were there, along with some police cars, & they were all in the garage. I still don't know what it was about, but not the best news to hear. Local news didn't have anything about it, so I wondered if it was a robbery investigation. You know the jokes about police & donuts? Well, I wish I could have had my son to take the 3 dozen donuts to them, but not too sure that would have went over too well.
I got this link from Susan, & wanted to share it. I sent one to myself & we all got such a laugh out of it. Click here.
Below is another siggie. If wanted, please tag or email.
"A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body - the wishbone." ~Robert Frost~
Siggie created by tubes from: PD & THC
May 11, 2009
It was great being treated like a queen yesterday, but today it was back to my regular 'deep clean' Monday. Elliot, Emily, & I got everything done early, & then had playtime. The special treatment from yesterday, spilled over into today, as Mike called & told me to be ready for a nice dinner out. That call was welcomed after our busy day. We went to Famous Daves. We hadn't been there in awhile, & the kids love it. No matter how many times we go, Emily has to have her picture taken with the bear - 
Notice her top? When I put it on her today, she was admiring the straps & said "Oh! I just love my bendovers!" I had no idea what she meant & said "Bendovers? What's that honey?" She replied "These", as she pointed to her straps, & then she said "they bend over my shoulders." How I love how a child's mind works! She serenaded us when our meal was finished, & our waitress came by to listen, & loved it. She loves to sing, & will sing anywhere & everywhere.
A new Toys R US just opened 3 minutes from our house (we're in trouble!). We took the kids there, & browsed around for over an hour. They 'loved' it. Emily said she wanted to spend her "$200,000" (her $1). 'She' bought a piggy bank & a Princess lapdesk. She was so thrilled with her finds, that I didn't have the heart to tell her that her $1 wouldn't cover it. Elliot chose a couple of dinosaurs. Little boys are so funny - only a boy could love 'this' enough to sleep with it -
It's a peterodactyl, & he thinks it's the greatest. It's a good addition to his dinosaur room.
I received this sweet award from Melanie, Brenny, & Kathy.
Thank you for thinking of me & honoring me with this award. I know many of my blog friends have already received this, & I am late in getting mine up, so I will try not to repeat here. I am passing this award along to a few bloggers that are more than an unseen face - they are friends. Thank you for making me laugh, inspiring me, & encouraging me through your blog -
Sue
Dru
Danna
Denise
Pam
Cindy
The rules for this award are:
Put the logo on your blog or post.
Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!
Be sure to link your nominees within your post.
Let them know that they have received this award.
Remember to link the person from whom you received the award.
Below is another siggie. If you would like this one, please tag or email.
"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be." ~Thomas ŕ Kempis~
Siggie created by tubes from: KFU,THC, & RPP
May 10, 2009 I want to start this post off by apologizing for not stopping in here to let you all know that I was going to take some time off from the computer. I didn't intend to take time away, it just happened that way. The past few weeks have been difficult & stressful at times, as we've been dealing with nasty phone calls & emails from Jen's Mom. Because of this, I haven't been online - just had no desire to be. It would make me feel sick to even think of turning on my computer, for fear of what might be waiting on me in my inbox. I'm tired of allowing her to have this power over me, & I'm determined to not allow it again. We want this entire thing to be over with, so that we can be done with having to deal with her.I hope you all had a happy Mother's Day. I was 'completely' surprised by Mike. He got me a Dell cherry red laptop. It's going to be nice to have the laptop for those times that I don't feel like being 'tied' to my desktop. If you remember, Emily has had her eye on a red laptop for ages now. Yes, 3 years old, & she wants one. I've wanted a red one too, so we would go look at them each time we stopped into Best Buy. Mike had her to take it to me this morning, & as she walked into our bedroom, she was all smiles. She said "You're not going to believe it! 'We' got our red computer!" I had to smile. She told me that she had wanted to get me a sheep, because she said "I know you love sheep." It was a great day, aside from Mike being hit with a horrible headache, & having to go to bed until 4PM. He said it was the worst headache he's ever had.
We watched the Extreme Home Makeover show tonight. It was the one that we got to watch in person as they built the home here in Vegas. Emily (me too), was hoping to see us in the crowd, but no such luck. I thought for sure we'd be seen, because we were right against the fence, in front.
I want to share a couple of pictures of Avery. Elliot got a new dinosaur to add to his collection, & when she first met him, she wasn't too sure about him -
After she checked him out, she picked him up & kissed him -
Below is the siggie for the week. My goal is to add a new one each day this week. If you would like this one, please tag or email.
"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." ~Tenneva Jordan~
Siggie created by tubes from: APG,TL,RPP
April 20, 2009 I'm sorry I didn't get here yesterday as planned. Seems like I fall more & more behind in posting. I'm thinking that I need to post late afternoon or early evening. I post right before bed, & by then that's where I want to be. Bed. By the time I tuck Elliot & Emily in, I am normally ready to tuck myself in. I think I'll give earlier posting a try this week.I want to post a few pics from our surprise getaway. It 'was' Disneyland, just as Elliot & Emily guessed. We had a wonderful time, but poor planning on our part. We had never seen it so full, & then we realized it was Spring break. Large crowds or not, it didn't take away the fun from the kids. We stayed at a Disney hotel (Paradise Pier). We had a room with a view, overlooking California Adventure. The kids 'loved' that! Lines were insane - 1 hour & 45 minutes to see the Princesses, but worth the wait -
We also had breakfast with some of the characters at our hotel.
Stitch was trying to get Elliot to eat his breakfast with his fingers. Thankfully, Lilo had better manners - although she did try to take LillyTrixie Lilly.
Elliot's prize buy - an Indiana Jones hat. He is 'so' proud of this hat! I have a hard time getting him to take it off.
Emily's reaction after being measured & being told she was 1/2 in. too short to ride Big Thunder. I think that was a good thing.
Elliot's reaction at being told we were getting ready to leave - we all wanted to stay longer.
I had a short video to post, but for some reason, it is showing very grainy. It was of Emily dancing. She got picked from the crowd to dance in the Disney Block Party Parade. It was the highlight of her time there. I'll try to figure out why it's not showing right & post it if I can figure it out.
You'll find a few siggies below. If wanted, please tag or email. You may request all 3.
"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it." ~John Ruskin~
Siggie created by tubes from: APG,AA,RPP & LPH
April 16, 2009 I'm sorry that I went quiet again. Since Sunday afternoon, I've been dividing up my time between my bed & my couch. I have felt 'really' lousy! So lousy, that the last day that I wore anything other than pajamas, was Saturday. Today's the first day that I've felt like venturing in here to my computer. Not sure what bug I got, but it got me good! It was like a cold, but more - can't really explain it. It wasn't flu. I've missed 'life', & that's what I feel like - like I have missed out on days of life. I'm so blessed with sweet Elliot & Emily. I felt bad, because I told them that we were going to have to spend a few days doing nothing - just lying around. They were 'so' good - Emily never left my side. She would lay right beside me. I think Elliot was thrilled that he has gotten out of doing school this week. We'll have to make that up. Anyway, I am still not feeling 100%, so I'm going to close at that. I'll go ahead & stick with my normal blog schedule, & see you all on Sunday. Hoping to feel like myself by then. I'll visit you all over the weekend too.
"The greatest wealth is health." ~Virgil~
April 12, 2009 Time to announce the giveaway winner! As always, I will let the pictures tell the story. 
Congratulations Kathy! I'll get your giveaway gifts out to you as soon as you contact me with your address!
Hope you all had a lovely Easter. I wanted to share a few pictures of the kids. I've mentioned before that Emily has wanted to learn how to hopscotch for awhile now, & has been practicing on the bathroom tile. I found her a Princess hopscotch yesterday - last one too. This was her reaction when she saw it with her Easter basket this morning -
She's so funny. She jumped on it, hugging it, & squealing "Oh a hopscotch! A hopscotch! I've always wanted a hopscotch! Thank you! Thank you!" Here she is with her "always wanted hopscotch" -
Elliot can never have enough dinosaurs, so he got a new one to add to his collection -
We didn't get them a lot of candy - Emily isn't big on candy at all anyway. Elliot pings off the walls if he has even a bit, so we keep it to a minimum. We got the 'puckets' (buckets), as Emily called them -
She's so thrilled with her "pucket". She says she's going to use it to help clean the yard.
I'll post about our getaway tomorrow since I've went a bit long on this one. You'll find this weeks siggie below. If wanted, please tag or email.
"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." ~John 11:25-26 NIV~
Siggie created by tubes from: APG & THC
April 4, 2009 Our house was a whirlwind of excitement & activity tonight. Mike announced "Pack some bags. We're leaving in the morning for a few days, & NO QUESTIONS!" Elliot & Emily erupted in squeals of "Disneyland!" I have a feeling they are right, but Mike is keeping his secret. I didn't want to leave without letting you all know where I went to. We'll be back Wednesday, so see you all then. Don't forget the giveaway! If you've not entered yet, please see the April 1st post.
" A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks." ~Charles Gordy~
April 3, 2009 I normally don't post on Fridays/Saturdays, but since I haven't posted in such a long time, I decided to stop in here this weekend for a short post. Last night I mentioned the winds that never came. Well, they came today & made up for it! Wow - talk about winds! They are still howling out there. I also got my desired lower temps. Mike took today off from work, so while he & Elliot ran 'guy errands', Emily & I had a girl's day out. We shopped, & I realize more & more that she is a 'true' girl. She 'loves' shopping! I bought me a few outfits & a red purse. I have been wanting a red one for a long while now, so with such great sales, today was the day. Emily also decided that she wanted a new purse - a 'big girl' purse. Here she is with her finds - a purse (her choice on this one - the dangly hearts is what drew her to it), new sun glasses, & her first ever lip stick. It's not really lip stick - it's lip balm, but she thinks it's lip stick.
She's soooo sweet to shop with. She was walking along with me to the check out, & she had the purse on her arm, 'lipstick' in hand, & she said "Wow Mommy. I look like a woman, don't I?" She does make me smile. I put a dollar in her purse, & she was so happy. She kept saying "Wow, I got $100!" I asked her what she was going to do with her money, & her reply? "I'm going to give it to someone." This is so like her.
We all went out to eat tonight & then came home for a relaxing evening. She & I admired our finds & filled our purses, while Mike & Elliot played games. Speaking of games - the Alex Toys games that I mentioned in my last post - click here for the link. I'm getting ready to add one more game from their site - hopscotch. Emily wants to learn that so badly. She practices everyday on the tile in our bathroom.
If you want to enter my giveaway - please see the April 1st post. I can't wait to have Emily draw the winning name on Easter!
Below is another Easter siggie. If you want this one, please let me know hair color. You can also chose pink, blue, green, purple, or yellow dress.
"All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why." ~James Thurber~
Siggie created by tubes from: LPH, THC & CB
April 2, 2009 The promised high winds that we were supposed to get today, didn't show. It was supposed to cool things down for a few days, so I was really hoping for them. I am not ready for temps in the 80's yet, seeing as we have sweltering summers here, but we've had that for awhile now. I will take as many cooler days as I can get before summer hits.We had a laid back day. Seems like the days fly by. It may have something to do with Elliot's homeschooling. Before I know it, we're finished, & time for lunch & naps. He's doing so well. He's beginning to read some words & spell. He loves sounding words out now, & it's so sweet to hear him put all the letters together & get it. We do this little 'A to Z' phonics song each day, & I am going to try to film Emily singing it one day for you all. She 'really' gets into this song!
We have family game night twice a week, & I wanted to share this picture of Elliot. I have purchased a few bean bag games from Alex Toys, & first try on this particular game, Elliot hit the bullseye. I have him to stand about 8 ft. away, so it's amazing that he hit it. He's the only one that has managed to do it so far. He was so proud -
These games are so much fun - we all enjoy them. Here's the other side of this game - feed the fish -
If you want some neat games for your kids or grandkids, I highly recommend these games by Alex Toys. We enjoy them as much as the kids. They really enjoy the golfing, but it's more difficult. This is a favorite of everyones - 'Jungle Toss' -
Sorry for the bad picture quality. This is such a fun simple game, & not as easy as it may look. In that picture, Elliot is playing 'Monkeying Around'. It's a ring toss game. Again, I highly recommend these. We set them all up (6 or 7 games), & it really makes for a fun evening for them (& us). I didn't start this post to turn it into a game post, but it seems to have turned out that way.
If you want to enter my give away, please check yesterdays post. I'm excited about this, & Emily is already wanting to draw the name. She loves this!
Below is another little siggie. If you want one, please tag or email.
"Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts." ~Charles Dickens~
Siggie created by tubes from: PM & CB
April 1, 2009 After getting to sleep in till 9:30AM, Elliot, Emily, & I decided to deep clean the house. Emily loves this, but Elliot kinda has to be 'dragged' into it. He loves to clean his room, but it stops there. We had a very fruitful day, & a fun day. Ending with Mike brining take out home, American Idol & this -
Emily 'loves' strawberry ice cream in a 'baby cone'. Elliot wants a bowl. A big bowl. Emily told us that she thought something was wrong with her mouth, & thought strawberry ice cream might make it better. She's so funny. A few weeks ago, she told me that her arm was going to sleep, & that she couldn't write very well. She then said "I think a snack might help it."
I think it's over-due for another give-away! In case you have forgotten, or are a new reader, here are the 'rules' -
1. If you want to be entered, please tag & state that you would like to be part of my giveaway. This is your 'entry'. Each time you visit & tag, gives you another entry.
2. I want you to give too. This isn't a requirement but it will give you another entry - just say "I gave" in one of your tags. I won't go into the detail that I did on my September 18, 2008 post (read if you want), but by giving I mean in any means you choose to do so - big or simple. Giving materially, time-wise, or of yourself - your choice.
3. If you are the winner of my giveaway, I want you to choose something from the giveaway, & in turn give it away to someone else. A 'pay it forward', so to speak.
Okay - ready to see what you are entering for!
A Longaberger Medium Spoon Basket with Fruit Medley liner. I also have a custom lid for it, so that you can use this as a bank -
I am also including a $50 gift certificate to Walmart. I want to give you all more than a week to get entries in, so Emily will be drawing the winning name on Sunday, April 12th (Easter).
I do want to mention the give away that I mentioned awhile back - the one that I said would be a bit different because you wouldn't be entering. That's all I told you. I haven't forgotten it. I'm still planning on how best to do that one.
In closing, I am offering a siggie below. If wanted, please tag or email.
"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present." ~Unknown~
Siggie created by tubes from: PM
March 31, 2009 We started today as we start everyday, sandwiched between Elliot & Emily. Emily normally joins us in our bed at about 6AM, & she falls right back to sleep. Elliot crawls into bed with us about 6:30AM, & he normally doesn't go back to sleep. He goes over to Mike's side, & cuddles up with him, & Emily gets on my side, & snuggles up to me. Even though I wish it would be a wee bit later when they come in, I have to admit, it's a sweet way to begin each day. I have to work on getting Elliot to fall back to sleep. He does some mornings, but most mornings he is ready to start his day. Emily, on the other hand, will sleep till 8AM or later. I know all too soon, this beginning to our day will be just a memory, so I try to enjoy it.I have discovered a new hobby that I so enjoy. It's making blog themes using digital scrapbooking kits. I am still learning, but so far, it's turning out to be something that I love spending time doing. Just like a scrapbook page, it's something that is really fun to put together & see it all take form before your eyes.
I haven't shared one of Emily's art pieces in awhile, so here is one that she has titled "Emily being a flower"
I have to share this picture of Avery. Lisa brought her to see me the other day, & this is how she walked in - with her skirt hiked up. Gotta love those legs!
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." ~e.e. cummings~
March 30, 2009 If I had a tail, it would be between my legs right now. I have pulled away from blogging so much lately, & then I get a chance to go read my favorite blogs, & it always makes me feel so sad that I've missed so much in my blogging friend's lives. It also makes me realize every single time, how very much I care about each & every one of the 'unseen' faces behind those blogs, & how much I miss being here & posting. It becomes too comfortable to not show up when you let long periods pass between posts. I really, really felt bad when I looked at the date of my last post, & cannot believe it's actually been 'that' long! Once again, I want to commit to being a better blogger, & hope I can do that.A couple of weeks ago, the Extreme Home Makeover team was here in Vegas. We went on a few days to watch firsthand the process of the building. It was incredible! Emily was 'thrilled' that she got to see her favorites - Ty & Paul. We stood behind the fence they put up, & she was calling out "Pauly! Oh Pauly!" when she saw him. Didi came over & wanted to carry her over to see him. When she realized that it was going to become a reality to see him up close & personal, she backed out. I must say, to witness the show in person, was amazing, & to see the family brought home was awesome! It's so touching. The house doesn't 'fit' with the other homes in the neighborhood, but it is supposed to be awesome inside. It airs May 10th. Here's a few photos from that week -
I won't share any photos of the house, in order not to spoil it for you if you watch it. I'm thankful we had the experience of this, & that Elliot & Emily got to have this experience.
"Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf." ~Jonatan Mĺrtensson~
March 1, 2009 This is basically going to be a picture post, & a graphic intense one at that. I wanted to share Elliot's dinosaur room with you all. This little boy is so in love with his room! From the time I can remember, he has loved dinosaurs, so his room is perfect for him. The last few remaining items arrived Friday, so it's finished. Of course, I am now thinking of a couple of small things I would like to do in there. Here's a picture of him when we first let him see the additions - 
The rest of the pictures speak for themselves. They show his room, but honestly, the pictures don't do it justice. It's 'unreal' to walk in there! I will also say this - the T-Rex is 80 in. high & 80 in. long. The Bronchiosaurus is 80 in. high. The pterodactyl has a 50 in. wing span, & we got 3 for his room, so some of them are quite large. I'm sorry about the glare on a few of them. Here's a glimpse into his dino world -
His robotic dino that he got for Christmas. It plays tug with him, can understand commands, walks & 'sniffs' to find things...awesome toy! It appears small here, but is actually almost 3 ft. long. It was his idea to place it in front of the rock & plant decal. Good call -
His rug - he makes his dinosaurs have 'so' many adventures on this!
Last, but not least - a very happy little boy sleeping with the dinosaurs tonight -
I'm sorry that this was so graphic intense. I should have probably broken the pictures up over 2 days. Seeing as I shared so many pictures, I will not ramble on. I will leave you with the siggie for this week. If wanted, please tag or email. Have a wonderful week!
"Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons." ~Unknown~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP
February 26, 2009 Elliot woke me up bright & early. He is such an early riser, & will rarely sleep in. By 'sleep in', I mean till 7 or 7:30. I thought for sure he would sleep later since he got to stay up later because of my birthday.It was a pretty slow day here (which was welcomed). Besides the normal day to day stuff that needed to be done, all we did was our grocery shopping. That's a chore that I do not enjoy at all anymore. I used to actually love doing it. No more! The only thing that makes it enjoyable is taking Elliot & Emily. Emily entertained us the entire time we were there. She sang her way through the store. She was making it up as she went, & it was so cute. A bit of it - "Oh I love to go to the store. Look at all the food! I love food! I love eating yogurt! I love drinking juice!". This went on throughout the time there. Her verses changed with each new aisle of food.
I did Emily's hair in 'piggy tails' today. I know that's not a big deal to most, but to me it is, seeing as she was the first little girl in this family. She was so cute! Of course, I took pictures to share -
I took a picture of the back of it, because she told me that she couldn't make her eyes see the back & she wanted to see what it looked like.
I thought the young 16 year old girl on American Idol was incredible. I am glad she made it through, & can't wait to see her as the weeks go on. I knew Adam Lambert would make it through too. I also love Danny Gokey (I believe that's how you spell the last name). I think it's going to be a good season.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'll see you on Sunday!
"Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak. Sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go." ~Unknown ~
February 25, 2009
I want to thank everyone for the sweet birthday wishes! I was spoiled by the tags & ecards, & loved it! So here I am - let me see - I think it was about 29 years ago - 
You will notice Emily is extremely happy. One of the reasons is because she was getting her picture taken with me. 99% of the time, I am the one behind the camera, so she was quite tickled when she realized we were getting a picture taken together. I really must do this more with her & Elliot.
Another reason she was so happy, is that she had just found out that we were going to the Olive Garden for my birthday meal. We met our sons there, & had a wonderful time together. Avery lets out these shrill screams now (I think she just likes to hear herself), so she entertained us (& everyone else) with that about every 6 minutes. It was as if we had brought some sort of jungle bird with us. It was so funny. Elliot told her that she was giving him a headache, but being just 1 year old, she ignored that info. After dinner, we ran to Marie Callenders to pick up 2 pies (coconut cream & blueberry sour cream). I wanted pies instead of a cake. We then all met back at our home & watched American Idol. It was a fun evening. All in all, a great day.
The few remaining items for Elliot's dinosaur room should be here this week or next. I will share pictures once I add them. He is going to be 'thrilled' with the new additions to it! It's sure not a Princess room!
"Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened." ~Jennifer Yane ~
February 24, 2009 This post is all about the Princess. My Princess. We went shopping, & as soon as she spotted this, she fell in love with it - 
I fell in love with it too. It's larger than it appears - 3 feet by 2 feet. In case you can't see the words clearly, it says "Once Upon A Time There Was A Princess - The Fairest Of Them All". It's perfect for her Princess room, so of course I granted her her wish. The sales lady got tickled at her, because as she was scanning it, Emily said "Please don't scratch it." She was afraid her raised 'jewels' on it were going to get knocked off. A lady in line asked her "Is this for you?" She smiled & replied "Yes, because I'm a Princess." She believes it too!
We hung it up as soon as we got home. For those of you that are new readers to my blog, & have never seen Emily's Disney Princess Pumpkin Coach bed - here it is (there's that Princess again!) -
We had a morning of tea at the castle, in her room. She then told me that she had to go downstairs, & I knew why - she had to lose her 'glass' slipper on the stairs -
She ended her Princess playtime by taking LillyTrixieLilly for a ride on her Skyking Princess tricycle. I treasure the memories we made this morning.
I always have to smile at the vast difference between her & Elliot. What did he do while we played Princess? He wanted to play in his room, & wrestle his big rubber alligator.
I have another siggie to offer this week. If you want this one, please let me know hair color.
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." ~Robert Brault~
Siggies created by tubes from: LPH & RPP
February 23, 2009 Watching the Oscars has been a tradition for me since I was a little girl. This years was one of the best! I thought Hugh Jackman did a fantastic job of hosting. I know they had said they wanted it to have a different feel this year, & I think they accomplished that. It seemed more 'glamourous'. I loved the way each actor & actress was given a tribute by a fellow actor/actress that had been a previous winner, before the winner in their catagory was announced. Really nice touch! I had so wanted Mikey Rourke to win. What a cap off to the Oscars that would have been! His, is a story that greatly touches my heart. I'm 'so' happy for him, that life is going to take off again.Emily was right by my side watching the Oscars. She chose her favorite gowns & favorite jewels. She is so funny. She was still into this when she woke up this morning & asked me if she could please play with her princess dress-up clothes. She wanted me to take some pictures, so here is my little 'Oscar' gowned girl -
She wanted me to showcase her "gold 'boo'tiful shoes" too -
The joys of a little girl & their make believe worlds! I love it!
I'm offering another St. Patrick's Day siggie below. If wanted, please tag or email.
"We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance." ~Harrison Ford~
Siggies created by tubes from: MLP & RPP
February 22, 2009 Please forgive me for being such an absent blogger! I have had the worst case of 'bloggers block'. As I've mentioned before, the longer you go without posting, the easier it seems to let the days slip by without bothering to update. It's then easier to become comfortable with being blog free. To be honest, I also often wonder if I really have anything 'blog worthy'. My life & days are so wrapped up in making Elliot & Emily's days the best & sweetest that they can possibly be, so that is what I tend to put my blogging focus on (them). Contrary to what my blogging record shows lately, I did miss it. Mainly though, I missed all of 'you'. I will mention this - I have been keeping up with "My Simple Woman's Daybook" & "Thru My Eyes" (my photo blog), so if ever I go a time without posting (going to try to do better here), you can check those blogs. The links are to the left, in my 'links' table.
This past month has been quite busy. Elliot is doing wonderfully with his homeschooling! He's beginning to read words, & I 'love' seeing him sound them out with such concentration on his face, & then the light coming on when he puts the sounds together & comes out with the word. He's still thinks school will be 'over' soon...by 'over', I mean over. In his eyes, he doesn't need to go further once he can read. The other day he told me that he didn't really need to learn to read. He said "Why can't you just always read to me?" We got his dino room finished, aside from waiting for a few more things for it. He LOVES it! I'll post pics when we receive the finishing touches to it.
Emily - she keeps us smiling. She blazes through her 'school' books. I had to order her another batch of workbooks this past week. She's actually finished a few with the age range of 4-6, & she's not far removed from turning 3. She is like a sponge, & I love it. She said the sweetest thing to me yesterday. She was skipping & she said "Do you know what I'm doing Mommy? I'm skipping on a path of gold, & it will lead me to you." I don't know where she comes up with the things she says.I have been learning to color lines & draw some, & have really had a lot of fun with it. Too much fun!
I won't make this long (even though I am tempted to). I'll close with the siggies for this week. If you want one, please let me know if you want with or without hat. Hope you all have a blessed week!
"Every one should keep a mental wastepaper basket and the older he grows the more things he will consign to it - torn up to irrecoverable tatters." ~Samuel Butler~
January 27, 2009 It may not seem cold to some of you, but we have went from having temperatures near 80F last week, to in the 50's for the past few days. I am 'freezing'! Elliot & Emily wanted to go to the park so badly today, but with the winds it felt even colder, so we had to do activities in the house. They were fine with that - they really never complain. Emily did tell me today though, that she didn't "like the cold". I don't either! Ask us how we feel this summer, when it's 117F!I wanted to share this picture that Emily drew tonight.
She said "See the big bad wolf? See him looking mean? He's going to eat the little pig." She makes me laugh. I didn't have the heart to point out to her, that the "little pig" could probably take on that big bad wolf, seeing as he is a gigantic "little pig". I think she was in a hurry, because I notice the wolf has 5 legs too. She would normally notice that, but seeing it was right before she had to go to bed, I think she rushed through it. No matter - I love it!
Elliot asked me today "When is school going to be over?" After talking to him, I found out by "over", he means for good - as in graduate. He says he's "so tired of learning the hard stuff". He too makes me laugh.
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." ~Carl Jung~
January 26, 2009 I got so involved with piddling with graphics tonight, that the hours got away from me. I'm here just to post another Valentine siggie. If you want her, please tag or email. You may have eye color & hair color choice. Sorry this is a hit & run post. I did post in my Simple Womans Daybook this morning, so if you want to read that, link is to the left. I also posted my new picture for today in my Thru My Eyes (see yesterday's post). See you all tomorrow!
"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." ~Joseph Addison~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP
January 25, 2009
Mike had to work all weekend, so we had a laid back few days. On Saturday, we had 'cupcake day', & Elliot & Emily had a blast helping me. It was a mess to let them do the icing, but so much fun. Emily had to have her sprinkles. I asked Lisa if Avery could come join the fun, & she did. She got diverted from icing her cake - she wanted to just eat it. And eat it she did! Here she is after she had eaten hers & got cleaned up - she cried when dessert ended (I know the feeling Avery) - you should have seen her crying for more when she was still covered in icing - 
We also played 'lots' of games. They are really enjoying the Candy Land game we got them for Christmas, & Emily seems to somehow win every game. I have promised them that we are going to go out this week & get them a few more games, so they're excited about that. I used to play Barrel of Monkeys as I grew up, so I explained it to them, & that will be one that we get. Elliot wants "the doctor game" (Operation). I used to play that too, & was on the edge of my seat, 'terrified' I was going to hit the sides as I 'operated' & be 'buzzed'. Now that I look back on it, that's funny.
We also had a 'band'. Emily chose her 'instrument' - her 'cymbals' -
I have joined in the fun of 'Thru My Eyes', & wanted to share the link. You take a picture each day & post it, so at the end of the year you will have a 'pictorial' of your year. I think it is great fun. There isn't a single day that I don't take a picture, so this will be easy. I don't think you have to blog about the picture, but of course, I do. I want to be able to look back at it & see the story behind the picture. If you want to take a peek, click here.
I bought a new cookbook that I am excited to try out. I want to get back to using my slow cooker more, & letting the kids help me put the meals together. Here's a pic of it - 
There are a couple of siggies for today. With the tiny one, you can have your choice of haircolor, but not with the bigger one. If you want one or both, please tag or email. Have a great week! -
"Some people weave burlap into the fabric of our lives, and some weave gold thread. Both contribute to make the whole picture beautiful and unique." ~Unknown~
Siggie created by tubes from: PM & K
January 22, 2009 This is going to be a 'graphic intense' post. As I mentioned, for my son's birthday, we bought 3 pies from Marie Callenders. One of these was coconut cream, which seemed to be the most popular. So popular, that when Emily wanted a piece, it was gone. Never one to complain, she softly said "I never had that before. I wanted to try it." Mike told her "We'll get another one Emily. How about this weekend?" She was thrilled. Well, he had to work late tonight, & at 10PM he walked in with a coconut cream pie. He wanted me to get her up, but she had been in bed for some time. I then thought "This will be a memory for her. And for us." I went upstairs, woke her (& as always, was greeted by a big smile). I told her that we had a surprise waiting. When she saw the box, she was a very happy little girl 
Taking a peek to see what kind it was, but still didn't know -
Her reaction when she saw that it was a coconut cream -
Pretty excited about the prospect of eating a slice of this -
Enjoying it -
It was so worth getting her up to enjoy this special time. We tried to awaken Elliot too, but he was out cold. I'm sure Emily will tell him all about it tomorrow, & he will get to enjoy his slice.
Sorry this was so graphic intense, but wanted to share the entire 'picture story' with you. Hope you all have a blessed weekend. I will see you all on Sunday!
"Life brings simple pleasures to us every day. It is up to us to make them wonderful memories." ~Cathy Allen~
Wednesday January 21, 2009
It was a pretty uneventful day today. Mike didn't have to go into work until 10AM, so we all slept in till 9AM. Not a bad way to start the day! We began our school as soon as he left, & it went very smoothly. We went outside & played for awhile when we finished up with that. We are having such beautiful weather! It seems unreal that 'real' winter is going on in other places, when I look at Elliot & Emily, & they are playing in short sleeves & shorts
I fixed a dinner of pasta, bread, & salad tonight, & Emily ate, & ate, & ate....I don't know where she puts it. She had talked of having a piece of pie all during the meal, but after seeing how much she ate, I said "Emily, do you still want pie later?" She said "No, I want pie now." No wonder she's growing like a weed! I have to share this picture with you. It's not the most appealing looking photo, but I think it's funny. She ate this huge amount of food, & then she wanted a small bowl of olives. A few minutes later, she came to me & asked if she could please have something to wrap this, because she wanted to "save it for tomorrow" -
"Life is a beautiful journey.We travel our own unique way with memories behind us and dreams up ahead and a brand new beginning each day." ~Unknown~
Tuesday January 20, 2009
We took the day off from homeschooling today. I wanted Elliot & Emily to sit with me & watch the inauguration. I talked to them a bit about our country, & this process. As little as they are, they were interested. It was so sweet to hear Emily say 'Pes'ident Obama. I told them that we need to pray for our country & for our president everyday. When I said that, Emily wanted to pray right then. The faith & sweetness of a child is so touching. They do everything from such a pure heart, & pure motives. I am glad that they got to see it, & I will be talking to them about it from time to time over the next week or so. I got a map of the USA, & I am going to begin to teach them a bit about our country. Emily is like a sponge in the way she soaks things up, so I don't think they are too young to begin this. On this map, it has a picture on the state if they are known for something. There is a picture of a cluster of grapes over Northern CA, & Emily points to it & says "I want to live there. I love grapes!" Elliot, being all boy, points to Arizona & says "I want to live there!" He says this because there is a snake there.
Today was my son's birthday, so we celebrated that tonight. He loves pie, so we bought 3 from Marie Callenders. I fixed a roast, & all of us were too full to want any pie for hours. Well - not all of us, as Elliot & Emily wanted a piece as soon as the meal ended. They would have made room for it, no matter what. We all watched American Idol, which I thought was boring tonight.
"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body." ~Elizabeth Stone~
Monday January 19, 2009
I'm sorry that I haven't posted in awhile. I have had computer problems (again), & was without it for a few days. We found the problem & it is fixed now. One of my hard drives was kaput. It was the one that I kept my graphics on, & I'm thankful that I had everything backed up. The 'busys' took over too. I've found that once you are away from blogging for a few days, it's easier to skip even more days. I'm afraid I'm off to a bad start this year in posting..
We have had such beautiful weather for the past week. It has been near 80. I've taken the kids to the park, & it's hard to imagine that parts of the country are freezing, & here everyone is in shorts. Sorry to all you that are having brrrrrr weather.
A tag made me cry (sorry Susan). She asked where did baby Emily go, & said that she's a little girl now. For the past few weeks, I have been thinking about how much more grown up she is looking & how big she's getting. When I read that tag, it was like being faced with the fact, that yes, that little baby is gone. It just hit me, & I began to cry. How I wish I could keep her & Elliot small. At least for just awhile longer. I cherish my days with them.
I babysat for Avery the other morning, & she had the time of her life keeping up with Elliot & Emily. I blew a balloon up for each of them, & she wore herself out completely with all her running. It was so sweet - she took her balloon & went & lay down. I picked her up & put her down for her nap. Here she is with her balloon pillow -
She is so adorable! Isn't she the cutest!?
I was going through my jewelry & Emily asked me if I had an extra box to put her "bootiful Princess ring" in. I gave her one, & when she brought it to show me, it touched my heart. She was so proud of her ring & her "treasure" (notice the 2 pennies behind the ring). There's something so sweet in the innocence of little girls & their 'jewels' as Emily calls them. She will get dressed & tell me that she needs to wear her 'bootiful' bracelet, necklace, & ring. Her bracelets & necklaces are pretty little beads stung on elastic, but to her they are her 'jewels'. I agree with her - there couldn't be more beautiful 'jewels' adorning her sweet arm & neck. I can't wait until I can give her a 'real' piece of jewelry.
Below is a Valentines siggie for this week. If you would like one, please tag or email. Have a wonderful week!
"Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith." ~Henry Ward Beecher~
Siggie created by tubes from: CB & GK
Monday January 12, 2009
What a busy, but productive day! We all slept in till 9AM, had our pancake breakfast, & then worked in the garage for hours. Shad & Lisa came to help us too, so it went fast & really well. It was the perfect weather to do it. We had our normal warm temps today, so that was wonderful. We ended up taking a dozen or so huge bags to Goodwill, not to mention setting out a small mountain of stuff for trash pickup today. Emily & Elliot had such fun helping. Elliot thought he had struck gold, because Shad went through the boxes we are storing for him & Lisa, & found so many toys (still boxed), that he got years ago. Emily was surprised & happy too, because I let her choose one of my dolls from years ago. The rest, I will give her when she is older. Here she is with her choice -
She's even happier when she introduced her to LillyTrixieLilly, & told me that Lilly like her too! -
I somehow think that both now believe the garage is a bit more special, seeing as there were 'toys' stored out there. I ran across a storage tote full of the MacDonalds beanie babies miniatures (remember those?). I gave them each a set of the ones that I had from those tonight. More smiles! I am taking the rest to Goodwill, after I give Avery a set.
Mike flew fighter jets when he was in the Air Force, & his call sign was "Rhino". Because of that, he collected rhinos & things to do with rhinos for years. I found a big stuffed rhino in a tote & gave that to Elliot. He was 'thrilled'. He is sleeping with it tonight, & when I went in there to check on him, he has the rhino right beside him under the blankets. He has it on it's back - all four legs sticking up, & it's so funny, because this isn't a tiny rhino - it's about 2 ft. tall. I took a picture to share, but it doesn't show up like it looks in person. Wonder why he & Emily want to know if we can clean the garage again?
After their hard work, we all went out to eat after they got up from naps. We went to Mimi's. I think Emily had a headache, because she told us "My brain hurts". The waiter came, & he said "Hello! How are you?" She said "Not good. My brain hurts." He laughed & said he knows the feeling. She felt fine after she ate (& when I say "ate", I mean "ATE"!). She can pack away the food! On the way home, we stopped off & bought a few more organizing totes. After that, as we were driving home, Emily spotted 'her' Starbucks & said "Please turn right here. I need my strawberry milkshake." That, after eating like a little piggie at Mimi's. We turned in & we all got something. After baths tonight, they were more than ready to go to bed.
As we drove tonight, the moon was incredible. Wow - what a moon! Elliot thought it was the sun rising. I don't think I've ever seen it look so beautiful.
"We never know the worth of water 'til the well is dry." ~English Proverb~
Sunday January 11, 2009
My busy week went through the weekend, & looks like it will continue for this week too. The new year set me off on another decluttering, organizing kick. I got Mike into it this weekend, & he is taking off tomorrow so that we can finish it all up. I love starting the year like this - makes you feel good. I told Elliot & Emily that we were going to have "family cleaning day" tomorrow - the garage, windows, & the last 2 closets to do. They are so excited. I think they think it's like a holiday. I told Elliot that we are going to take the day off from homeschooling, so I believe this has something to do with his excitement. Emily loves cleaning, so this is right up her alley. We're going to start off the morning with a pancake breakfast, then right into work. Tonight, Emily told us, "I don't want to go to a pancake store for pancakes. I want pancakes in my own house." She told Mike he needed to go out & get some strawberries to put on them.
I have decided to do meal planning for a few weeks & see how I like it. I normally have in my head what I'm going to fix, but this will be actually writing down breakfast, lunch, & dinner. It will make shopping easier. I know many do this, & I've only heard good reviews about it, so I'm looking forward to it. I joined a free site (Meals Matter). Click on it to take a look at the site. I haven't had a chance to really check it out yet, but I love what I see so far. If you are at all interested in healthy eating, it will be worth a visit to their site. This meal planning is another goal that I have for this year in my being more organized.
I wanted to share this picture of Emily that I took tonight. She 'loves' popcorn! She's set up, ready to watch Extreme Home Makeover & ready to embrace her popcorn tin -
Below is the siggie for this week. It's more on the whimsical side, so hope you like it! Please tag or email if you would like one. Have a blessed week!
"You make the world a better place by making yourself a better person.” ~Scott Sorrell~
Siggie created by tubes purchased from: RPP
Thursday January 8, 2009
I had such a busy full day, but yet I am sitting here drawing a complete blank on what to post. I've been staring at this screen, as if words are going to jump up here by themselves. I guess I could share this sweet picture - or at least it is sweet to me -
Emily & I had been upstairs cleaning her room, & she went downstairs a few minutes before I did, in her Princess shoes. On my way down, I found this shoe, picked it up & took it to her. I interupted her walking about, talking to herself, obviously involved in some make-believe. I said "Honey, here's your Princess shoe. I found it on the stairs." She had the other one on, & she put out both her hands & said "Mommy! I was playing Princess, & I had to run from the castle & I had to lose my slipper on the stairs. It's supposed to be there." Apparently, the clock had struck midnight. I got so tickled at her. She took the slipper back to the stairs, so I took the picture to always remember it. I called Mike & told him, & he laughed so hard. We talked about how wonderful it is to have a little girl in this home, after raising 3 sons. It's an entirely different world. She & Elliot are like night & day. It's quite fun living with a 'Princess'. My sweet Elliot - he is fun too. All boy, & full of endless energy, but he is so sweet. Ithink know he likes Emily's kitchen. He asked me today if they made a boy kitchen. "Like with Spiderman or something."
Emily went from being a Princess, to saddling up & riding Giddy Up. I had to grab the camera & get her standing with her arm around him as 'they' looked outside. I thought it looked so sweet.
I was thinking today about how blessed I am to have met so many wonderful friends via the internet. When I first began this blog, I never dreamed that would happen. It's amazing that you can have such a connection to someone that you've never seen face to face. I am grateful for each of you & what you bring to my life! I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll see you on Sunday!
"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.” ~John Burroughs~
Tuesday January 6, 2009
Sorry for no post last night, but Emily won out over posting in the blog. I was tucking her into bed, & she asked me if I would please go turn out all the lights downstairs & come back upstairs & lay with her. She knows that I get on the computer after I tuck her in & pray with her. I'm glad I did as she wished, because we had a such a sweet time. We talked for a bit, read stories, & laughed a lot at silly little things. I know I took away good memories, & I hope she will always remember too.
Avery turned 1 yesterday, so we also had a little thing for her last night. She's walking now, & such a sweet little girl. Shad & Lisa don't think her hair is ever going to grow. Every time they are out, people tell them what a pretty little boy they have. So much so, that they just smile & say "thank you" now, because they are tired of having to say "It's a girl." They think it's because of the lack of hair. I'll have to have Lisa send me some of the pictures that they took (my battery was dead), & I'll post some of those. I do know she had cake all 'over' her face, so I hope she includes some of those. They gave her a piece, & let her tear into it. She enjoyed it to the fullest!
I am reading the kids a Bible story book each day - we just started it. It starts from the beginning (Genesis), so we've just finished reading about all the days of creation. I love watching Emily - she is on the edge of her seat! lol She can't wait to see what comes next. She cracks me up with some of the things she says. There was a drawing of a bear with the story on the day animals were created. She couldn't get past the thought that the bear had sad eyes. I don't know how many times she asked me "Why is that bear sad? See his eyes? Why's he sad?" She said "Maybe he's sad that God made him." Later she had the thought that he was sad because God didn't make him fly like a bird. As we were reading about what was created each day, she said "Yeah, & then God built our house." I 'love' the way the mind of a little child works.
"Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.” ~George Elliot~
Sunday January 4, 2009
We've had a busy, but very productive weekend. We've been in the midst of our new year 'clean out'. It never ceases to amaze me, how even if you keep pretty well organized & go through the rooms often (which I do), how much 'stuff' still manages to accumulate. The older I get, the more I want to simplify. It certainly makes life easier, & I think better.
I have to share the picture below. As you all know by now, Emilylikes loves to draw. She was near tears over the picture below. It's her first attempt at trying to draw her beloved friend, LillyTrixieLilly. I think it's adorable! Then again, I think everything she does is adorable. I so love it!
She did go a bit large on Lilly's nose, but I love this sweet drawing. I have been taking digital pictures of her drawings, as well as saving them. Eventually, I am going to go to Snapfish & have a book made of her drawings.
I am planning another 'different' kind of giveaway, that I hope to announce in a week or two, so be on the lookout for that. I enjoyed doing the 'No Peeking' one, & wanted to do another one that is away from the 'norm' too. I will give you a clue - you won't enter the giveaway. I hope that has your curiosity up.
Below is the siggie for this week. It is a winter one. I felt I needed to clarify that, because my DIL saw it & asked me why I was doing a Christmas one since Christmas is over. I hope it doesn't look 'Christmasy'. If you want one, please tag or email.
"Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.” ~Unknown~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP, PD, & CB
Thursday January 1, 2009
This was a great start to a fresh new year. We slept in, got up & ate a leisurely breakfast, then basically did nothing all day. I caught up on some things that I wanted to get right before the new year took off, & felt good about that. I also took some time to write down some goals for this year. I don't like to say 'resolutions' - I feel that 'goals' is a much better term.
I know I'm backtracking here, but we had a great New Years Eve. We don't like to go out on this night, as we prefer the comfort & safety of our home. Especially so, since we live in Las Vegas. It seems the world comes here to see the New Year in. We watched it come in on tv via the comfort & warmth of our couch, & that was fine with me. We can see the fireworks from our bedroom balcony. Granted, it's not like we are right there on the strip, but we 'can' see them. Vegas does an awesome firework display on New Years, as well as the 4th of July.
I want to share this picture that our budding 'artist' (Emily) did for me tonight.
In case you can't tell what it is, it's a pig. The squiggly lines beside him? She said that is his mud that he likes to play in. See you all on Sunday!
"A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” ~Unknown~
Tuesday December 30, 2008
Today was such a busy day. We wanted to make sure that we got our decorations taken down & everything put back where it belongs, & we accomplished that. Mike came home at 1, so we worked all afternoon on things. Sweet Emily - she loves to work, so I gave her the boxes that the ornaments came in, & her job was to look at the picture on the box & find the ornament. She 'loved' it! I loved looking at her, box in hand, going around the tree, looking, & then squealing with joy when she found it. Elliot had no interest in taking down decorations. Instead, he wanted to clean his room, & organize his toys. He did a great job. Now if only his toys would stay organized!
Mike & I both got on an orgainizing kick today, & plan on continuing with this all week. We want to get the garage reorganized, & get a lot ready to take to Goodwill. The new year always put us in this mood.
As I packed the snowmen away, Emily asked me if she could hug them good-bye. I told her "Yes", & it was so sweet to watch her & hear her. She told them that she loved them, & that she hoped they would have a Merry Christmas next time. She then told them that she would see them next Christmas, as she gently lay them back into the storage tote. She is so precious.
Mike & Elliot put together a dinosaur model this evening that we got Elliot for Christmas. When I say, "Mike & Elliot", the emphasis is on Mike. Sorry about the quality of the picture - Elliot looks so washed out, but after 2 hours, this is what he ended up with -
I hope he understands that it's not to play with. It will sit on his dresser in his dinosaur room. He loves it!
The kids worked so hard with us today, so I told them that we were going to bake cookies tonight. I let them do the icing & add sprinkles (Emily thinks everything would be better with sprinkles). They were so proud of their work. Here's Elliot with his -
Here's what was left of Emily's work (the rest ended up in her very full tummy) -
Did I mention that shelikes loves sprinkles? Mike & I had a taste, & convinced them that they had made the best cookies we had ever tasted.
Pictures of Emily & Giddy Up & Go will come, I just haven't had a chance to go through them all. Hopefully tomorrow.
"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.” ~Bill Vaughn~
Monday December 29, 2008
I had intended on taking down the Christmas tree today, & getting all of our decorations put away. We used to always leave everything up until New Years Day or the day after New Years, but for the past few years I have been wanting to get back to 'normal' within a few days. I know it most likely sounds silly, but I want to start the New Year fresh, & with having all the Christmas decorations up, it somehow feels as though I am taking the 'old into the new'. Silly I know, but that's been my thought. I think the Christmas tree has lost it's appeal to Elliot & Emily too. They say "Christmas is over now." It didn't get done today, so that is on our agenda for tomorrow.
I won't share a lot of Christmas pictures. Mainly because with opening gifts, it seems that 90% of the pictures I got, the kids have their face buried in the wrapping paper or gift, or they are hidden behind the gift. With Elliot, every single thing he opened, he would jump up & run to Mike to show him (as if Mike didn't know what was in it)...it was so cute, but made it difficult to get some decent, memorable Christmas pictures. Emily kept us laughing. As she opened every single gift, she would gasp, scream, sometimes jump up & down, & she would say things like "Oh! Just what I wanted!", "I never had this before!", "Oh! It's wonderful!" - it was so sweet. When she opened her kitchen it brought tears to my eyes, just to see her reaction. She began trembling as she she realized what it was, & she said "I got a kitchen! I got a kitchen! It's a kitchen!" Giddy Up & Go brought the same reaction. In fact, almost every gift she opened brought that reaction from her. Here she is with her kitchen - she's showing Elliot how she can 'cook' -
She 'cooks' for me every single morning, & then she 'doctors' me with her doctor's kit (which she loves). Here's 2 of my favorite photos of her with it. She said LillyTrixieLilly wasn't feeling well, & she narrowed it down to her nose (notice the band-aid on the nose) - I 'love' these pictures!
In this picture of Elliot, you can't see his face, but notice how he's holding his gift out at arms length? It's because it is a remote control tarantula. He was squealing "Oh please! Take it! I can't hold it! Oh please! I can't look at it!" As you can see, he was making Avery laugh -
He does like it, but he still puts it out of his room when he goes to bed - lol. His most favorite gift is his Leapfrog handheld game system. I knew he would love it, & had to convince Mike that he would. He won't put it down. It's great, because he thinks he's only playing games, but he's learning, because they are educational games. He also loves his Batman 'laptop' -
Emily got a Princess laptop (even though she has had her eye on a 'real' laptop for months now) - a red Gateway, that she drools over. I need to remind her that she just turned 3, but she tells me that I can teach her.
I'll share pictures of Giddy Up & Go tomorrow. I'm afraid I have already posted too many for one post. Plus, I know this has been a long post. I did want to mention though, that I've joined in the fun of the Simple Woman's Daybook. Click here if you'd like to read my post in that. I will keep a link posted in the upper left hand table too.
"It Depends on Us... Another year lies before us like an unwritten page, an unspent coin, an unwalked road, the pages we'll read, what treasures will be gained in exchange for time, or what we find alone the way, will largely depend on us.” ~Esther Baldwin York~
Sunday December 28, 2008
This will be a quick post. I got involved on working on a new webpage tonight, & before I knew it, the hours sped away from me. If I don't go to bed, I'll for certain look like a raccoon tomorrow.
We did have a wonderful Christmas. I'll post some Christmas pictures tomorrow. I took away sweet memories of Elliot & Emily. Christmas is so special with children.
I want to post these two siggies below. If anyone wants one or both, please tag or email. Can you all believe we are just days away from entering 2009??? I can't. See you all tomorrow!
"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP & LPH
Thursday December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas to all of you! Hope you are all having a wonderful day with your family & loved ones. I'm sorry I didn't get here by noon PST as planned. I should have known that would be difficult. Anyway - I do want to say a special Merry Christmas to my 'No Peeking' giveaway winner - enjoy 'opening' your gifts! Again, I'll let the pictures tell the story -
Emily, eyes closed, drawing the winning name -
Showing me the winning name -
Merry Christmas!
Okay, ready to 'open' your gifts? Your first gift is a cross stitch, stitched by yours truly. It's a beautiful Paula Vaughn pattern. The picture doesn't do it justice -
A beautiful Longerberger basket (the Lavender basket with a Holly liner) -
A Royal Philharmonic Christmas cd, along with 2 Blossom Buckets snowman figurines -
Godiva chocolates (praline pecans), & 2 Yankee candles (Cinnamon & Sugar, & McIntosh) -
A cute hanging pillow -
A $20 Walmart gift certificate, & a $10 Starbucks gift certificate-
Lastly, a Willow Tree angel. It's called 'Angel of the Heart - for those who love and are loved. I took the picture in the store, so that I wouldn't have to take yours out of the box -
Merry Christmas Melanie! Are you tired after 'opening' all your gifts? I'll get your gifts out to you as soon as I hear from you with your address. If these gifts don't appeal to you, seeing as you had no idea what you were getting, you can 'pass' if you want.
I'll most likely blog about our Christmas tomorrow, but if I can, I will post again tonight. God bless you all!
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ." ~Luke 2:10-11~
Wednesday December 24, 2008
Just wanted to pop in here & wish everyone a happy Christmas Eve. We've just spent about 3 hours getting Emily's kitchen & her Giddy Up & Go Pony put together. That, combined with spending a few hours baking, & I am more than ready for bed. I will drop in here tomorrow to announce the 'No Peeking' giveaway winner. I can't wait! Have a blessed Christmas everyone!
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. " ~Luke 2:10-11~
Tuesday December 23, 2008
Can you believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve!? I can't. This entire year seemed to whiz right by me. We had a little girl & a little boy that were very excited when they went off to bed. They know that tomorrow evening, they get to open the small gifts in their Christmas stockings. Emily said "It's so hard to wait for Christmas." I can't wait to see them open up all their goodies. It makes me smile to imagine the joy they will have Christmas morning. I imagine Emily giddy-upping on her Giddy Up & Go pony. This toy is supposed to be great excercise, & I bet it would be.
We took them to see the Festival of Lights tonight. The city puts up all sorts of Christmas light displays in one of the large parks. You stay in your car & slowly drive through, so you are kept nice & warm. Christmas music is playing, they sell hot cider, hot chocolate, & give out peanuts as you start the drive, to take along with you. It took about 30 minutes from start to finish, so it was a quite large display. The kids really enjoyed it. I have loved making memories with them this Christmas month.
We went for dinner at Olive Garden, & it was so good! We had actually forgotten 'how' good. We used to go there often, until we began going to Macaroni Grill. Emily had the waitress in love with her, as she told her stories about LillyTrixieLilly (she had to have her own seat as usual). She told her that she didn't think Lilly wanted anything to eat, because she didn't have a real mouth. She also asked for a bowl of cheese. Everywhere she goes, she tells everyone that it is almost Christmas, & then she will say "It's Happy Birthday Jesus day!"
Elliot saw a small setting of a Japanese city, & immediately he said "Look! It's Godzilla-land!" I didn't see a thing to connect it to Godzilla stomping around, but it was amazing to me that he did. I wonder how the Japanese would feel about their country being called 'Godzilla-land'?
Shad & Lisa got Avery's Christmas photos back, & are 'so' proud of them. I couldn't decide which to share, so I am going to share them all -
Isn't she the cutest!! I can't believe she will be one in a few weeks. We had to go with them to the photo sitting, because I am the only one that can make her smile real big. She never took her eyes off of me during the shoot. She's a chubby little thing. Elliot saw her with her shirt off recently, & he said "Avery has Hulk arms." Too funny!
Don't forget the giveaway (see yesterday's post). I am so excited over this!
Below is the siggie. If you want it, you can have it with or without the penguins, so please let me know which you would prefer.
"One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly." ~Andy Rooney~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP & MLP
Monday December 22, 2008
Today was a whirlwind of a day. Elliot's Grandma picked him up for the day, so Emily & I did our Christmas cleaning. When I wrap the gifts, it's her 'job' (she loves it) to put the bows on them, so we finished that up too. Our hard work today paid off tonight, as we sat back to enjoy everything. Also - Mike came home & told us that he was taking us out to eat - something these 2 tired girls were thrilled to hear.
After we ate, we went to Walmart, to try to find those huge bags that you can put extra large gifts in (bikes, ect.), but there were none to be found. We want to put together Emily's kitchen (she got the Princess one that she wanted so badly), & her Giddyup & Go pony before Christmas so that Mike won't be tied up for who knows how long, having 'fun' putting toys together. I am going to try a couple of stores tomorrow, & if I have no luck, then we'll just use a 'lot' of wrapping paper to put around them.
We had planned on doing our Christmas meal shopping too, but Walmart was a madhouse, so we put that off. I'm sure it won't be any better tomorrow, but home sounded much better than standing in line for ages.
I am having another giveaway. This one is a bit different, because you don't know what you are getting. It's Christmas remember, & NO PEEKING is the rule! I know this is short notice on this one, but I think with it being Christmas, it will be fun. Emily will draw the winning name on Christmas, so it will be like the winner gets to 'open' something else on that day, because you will also find out what you won that day. I hope this is making sense - I feel as though I'm not. You may be thinking "Since I don't know what I am entering for, what if I don't like the winnings ?" If what I have chosen doesn't appeal to you, then you may pass on it & Emily will draw another name. My goal is to drop in here & do a short post announcing the winner by noon (PST) on Christmas Day. I'll break away after the kids have opened gifts, & while they are busy enjoying them all. For those that have never entered before, here are the rules:
1. If you want to be entered, please tag & state that you would like to be part of my giveaway. This is your 'entry'. Each time you visit & tag, gives you another entry.
2. I want you to give too. This isn't a requirement but it will give you another entry - just say "I gave" in one of your tags. I won't go into the detail that I did on my September 18th post (read if you want), but by giving I mean in any means you choose to do - big or simple. Giving materially, time-wise, or yourself - your choice.
3. If you are the winner of my giveaway, I want you to choose something from the giveaway, & in turn give it away to someone else. A 'pay it forward', so to speak.
I do hope that you all are as excited as I am about this. Since there is "No peeking", I think it will be exciting for the winner to 'open' another gift here at my blog!
I've done a few siggies for today. If you are intested in any of them (or all of them), please tag or email.
"Snowmen are the closest thing to a perfect man- they're cute, they're well-rounded, and they know what to do with a broom!." ~Unknown~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP, THC, ALPS, APG, & PD
Sunday December 21, 2008
I am officially finished with Christmas shopping. That doesn't mean that I won't buy something else. I always love running out on Christmas Eve day & finding the perfect last little stocking stuffer. Emily has found one of her unwrapped gifts. She has been wanting a doctor kit. She tells me that she can then "fix" me if I get sick or hurt. We bought her one at Costco on Saturday, & when we came home it was nap time, so I put it upstairs in our bedroom right out in the open. The plan was to wrap it as soon as she was asleep. I got busy, & forgot to wrap it. Awhile after she got up, she ran upstairs to get something from her room. Well, our bedroom door was wide open, so of course seeing a gift there was pretty tempting for a little girl. She had been up there longer that it would have taken her to get what she went for, so I called out "Emily, where are you?" From behind me, I hear her tiny voice say "Mommy, who is this for?", knowing full well who it was for. I turn around, & there she stands with this big doctor's kit. I said "Emily! You peeked into the bedroom?" She then burst into tears, telling me how much she loved me. I took it from her & put it up. I will still wrap it, but she has asked a few times "Who gets that doctor present?" She's so funny - I put it underneath our bed after she found it, & today she was in there with me, & she bent down to get something she had dropped. She jumped up so fast, hands held over eyes. I said "What are you doing Emily?" She said "Trying not to see that doctor present under the bed." I had to laugh.
Today was our Christmas cantata at church, & tonight we sang Christmas songs for about an hour. It was fun. After church, we went to our neighborhood Italian restaurant. Emily told us that she was "so hungry", & when the waitress came to our table, without waiting a moment, she said "I want a pizza with olives on top, a salad, & spaghetti to share with Mommy." Never a dull moment with Miss Emily. Elliot convinced us he was starving too, & had to have a larger meal. He ate maybe a forth of it. Emily ate all of hers, some of mine, & wanted more to eat when she got home.
Elliot said something that made me smile - he said that he wanted to take the car to the "car shower". I never thought about that, but in a the eyes of child, a car wash probably does seem like a "shower" for cars.
Below are 2 siggies. I will add siggies again this week everyday until Christmas. If you want one or both of these, please tag or email. Have a wonderful week!
"To celebrate the heart of Christmas is to forget ourselves in the service of others." ~Henry C. Link~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP & AA
Friday December 19, 2008
This little graphic depicts what I would have loved to do all day. It would have been so good to be able to put my feet up & just enjoy my Christmas surroundings. Instead, I was busy trying to finish up last minute things. I don't understand why every single year, I promise myself that it won't be like this, & every single year, it is. It's these last minute little things that seem to take the most time. I want to make things magical & special for Elliot & Emily, so it's worth every effort & moment. It appears that the entire world puts it all off till the very last minute. If you judge things by the mobs in the stores & malls, it is certain. This morning, I listened to a doctor on a news program say that Christmas Day is the number 1 day for heart attacks. That not only surprised me, it shocked me. He said that it was because of the stress & eating fatty foods. I found it sad that this day set apart for celebrating the birth of Christ, is supposedly the most stressful of the year. I don't feel stressed - I am probably one of the few that find it fun & a part of this season to be out with the crowds of shoppers.
I got a wonderful surprise delivered today. My sister sent us a gift of gourmet cookies & fudges. I am being good this Christmas, making sure I don't over-eat & I really haven't eaten hardly any sweets. I now have this huge box of temptation in my kitchen.
Below is the siggie for today. If you want it, please tag or email with the hair color you prefer. I will see you all on Sunday!
"One of the sweetest gifts of Christmas, is to be able to see it again through the eyes of a child." ~Me~
Siggie created by tubes from: Peximely & THC
Thursday December 18, 2008
The snow that was supposed to last throughout the night & into today, never happened. We awoke to sun. Chilly, but sunny. We had reminders of our white visitor. Here's a picture I took from our balcony -
Here's one from our bathroom window
Sorry this was so graphic intense, but wanted to share the entire 'picture story' with you. Hope you all have a blessed weekend. I will see you all on Sunday!
"Life brings simple pleasures to us every day. It is up to us to make them wonderful memories." ~Cathy Allen~
January 21, 2009 It was a pretty uneventful day today. Mike didn't have to go into work until 10AM, so we all slept in till 9AM. Not a bad way to start the day! We began our school as soon as he left, & it went very smoothly. We went outside & played for awhile when we finished up with that. We are having such beautiful weather! It seems unreal that 'real' winter is going on in other places, when I look at Elliot & Emily, & they are playing in short sleeves & shortsI fixed a dinner of pasta, bread, & salad tonight, & Emily ate, & ate, & ate....I don't know where she puts it. She had talked of having a piece of pie all during the meal, but after seeing how much she ate, I said "Emily, do you still want pie later?" She said "No, I want pie now." No wonder she's growing like a weed! I have to share this picture with you. It's not the most appealing looking photo, but I think it's funny. She ate this huge amount of food, & then she wanted a small bowl of olives. A few minutes later, she came to me & asked if she could please have something to wrap this, because she wanted to "save it for tomorrow" -
"Life is a beautiful journey.We travel our own unique way with memories behind us and dreams up ahead and a brand new beginning each day." ~Unknown~
January 20, 2009 We took the day off from homeschooling today. I wanted Elliot & Emily to sit with me & watch the inauguration. I talked to them a bit about our country, & this process. As little as they are, they were interested. It was so sweet to hear Emily say 'Pes'ident Obama. I told them that we need to pray for our country & for our president everyday. When I said that, Emily wanted to pray right then. The faith & sweetness of a child is so touching. They do everything from such a pure heart, & pure motives. I am glad that they got to see it, & I will be talking to them about it from time to time over the next week or so. I got a map of the USA, & I am going to begin to teach them a bit about our country. Emily is like a sponge in the way she soaks things up, so I don't think they are too young to begin this. On this map, it has a picture on the state if they are known for something. There is a picture of a cluster of grapes over Northern CA, & Emily points to it & says "I want to live there. I love grapes!" Elliot, being all boy, points to Arizona & says "I want to live there!" He says this because there is a snake there. Today was my son's birthday, so we celebrated that tonight. He loves pie, so we bought 3 from Marie Callenders. I fixed a roast, & all of us were too full to want any pie for hours. Well - not all of us, as Elliot & Emily wanted a piece as soon as the meal ended. They would have made room for it, no matter what. We all watched American Idol, which I thought was boring tonight.
"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body." ~Elizabeth Stone~
January 19, 2009 I'm sorry that I haven't posted in awhile. I have had computer problems (again), & was without it for a few days. We found the problem & it is fixed now. One of my hard drives was kaput. It was the one that I kept my graphics on, & I'm thankful that I had everything backed up. The 'busys' took over too. I've found that once you are away from blogging for a few days, it's easier to skip even more days. I'm afraid I'm off to a bad start this year in posting..We have had such beautiful weather for the past week. It has been near 80. I've taken the kids to the park, & it's hard to imagine that parts of the country are freezing, & here everyone is in shorts. Sorry to all you that are having brrrrrr weather.
A tag made me cry (sorry Susan). She asked where did baby Emily go, & said that she's a little girl now. For the past few weeks, I have been thinking about how much more grown up she is looking & how big she's getting. When I read that tag, it was like being faced with the fact, that yes, that little baby is gone. It just hit me, & I began to cry. How I wish I could keep her & Elliot small. At least for just awhile longer. I cherish my days with them.
I babysat for Avery the other morning, & she had the time of her life keeping up with Elliot & Emily. I blew a balloon up for each of them, & she wore herself out completely with all her running. It was so sweet - she took her balloon & went & lay down. I picked her up & put her down for her nap. Here she is with her balloon pillow -
She is so adorable! Isn't she the cutest!?
I was going through my jewelry & Emily asked me if I had an extra box to put her "bootiful Princess ring" in. I gave her one, & when she brought it to show me, it touched my heart. She was so proud of her ring & her "treasure" (notice the 2 pennies behind the ring). There's something so sweet in the innocence of little girls & their 'jewels' as Emily calls them. She will get dressed & tell me that she needs to wear her 'bootiful' bracelet, necklace, & ring. Her bracelets & necklaces are pretty little beads stung on elastic, but to her they are her 'jewels'. I agree with her - there couldn't be more beautiful 'jewels' adorning her sweet arm & neck. I can't wait until I can give her a 'real' piece of jewelry.
Below is a Valentines siggie for this week. If you would like one, please tag or email. Have a wonderful week!
"Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith." ~Henry Ward Beecher~
Siggie created by tubes from: CB & GK
January 12, 2009 What a busy, but productive day! We all slept in till 9AM, had our pancake breakfast, & then worked in the garage for hours. Shad & Lisa came to help us too, so it went fast & really well. It was the perfect weather to do it. We had our normal warm temps today, so that was wonderful. We ended up taking a dozen or so huge bags to Goodwill, not to mention setting out a small mountain of stuff for trash pickup today. Emily & Elliot had such fun helping. Elliot thought he had struck gold, because Shad went through the boxes we are storing for him & Lisa, & found so many toys (still boxed), that he got years ago. Emily was surprised & happy too, because I let her choose one of my dolls from years ago. The rest, I will give her when she is older. Here she is with her choice - She's even happier when she introduced her to LillyTrixieLilly, & told me that Lilly like her too! -
I somehow think that both now believe the garage is a bit more special, seeing as there were 'toys' stored out there. I ran across a storage tote full of the MacDonalds beanie babies miniatures (remember those?). I gave them each a set of the ones that I had from those tonight. More smiles! I am taking the rest to Goodwill, after I give Avery a set.
Mike flew fighter jets when he was in the Air Force, & his call sign was "Rhino". Because of that, he collected rhinos & things to do with rhinos for years. I found a big stuffed rhino in a tote & gave that to Elliot. He was 'thrilled'. He is sleeping with it tonight, & when I went in there to check on him, he has the rhino right beside him under the blankets. He has it on it's back - all four legs sticking up, & it's so funny, because this isn't a tiny rhino - it's about 2 ft. tall. I took a picture to share, but it doesn't show up like it looks in person. Wonder why he & Emily want to know if we can clean the garage again?
After their hard work, we all went out to eat after they got up from naps. We went to Mimi's. I think Emily had a headache, because she told us "My brain hurts". The waiter came, & he said "Hello! How are you?" She said "Not good. My brain hurts." He laughed & said he knows the feeling. She felt fine after she ate (& when I say "ate", I mean "ATE"!). She can pack away the food! On the way home, we stopped off & bought a few more organizing totes. After that, as we were driving home, Emily spotted 'her' Starbucks & said "Please turn right here. I need my strawberry milkshake." That, after eating like a little piggie at Mimi's. We turned in & we all got something. After baths tonight, they were more than ready to go to bed.
As we drove tonight, the moon was incredible. Wow - what a moon! Elliot thought it was the sun rising. I don't think I've ever seen it look so beautiful.
"We never know the worth of water 'til the well is dry." ~English Proverb~
January 11, 2009 My busy week went through the weekend, & looks like it will continue for this week too. The new year set me off on another decluttering, organizing kick. I got Mike into it this weekend, & he is taking off tomorrow so that we can finish it all up. I love starting the year like this - makes you feel good. I told Elliot & Emily that we were going to have "family cleaning day" tomorrow - the garage, windows, & the last 2 closets to do. They are so excited. I think they think it's like a holiday. I told Elliot that we are going to take the day off from homeschooling, so I believe this has something to do with his excitement. Emily loves cleaning, so this is right up her alley. We're going to start off the morning with a pancake breakfast, then right into work. Tonight, Emily told us, "I don't want to go to a pancake store for pancakes. I want pancakes in my own house." She told Mike he needed to go out & get some strawberries to put on them. I have decided to do meal planning for a few weeks & see how I like it. I normally have in my head what I'm going to fix, but this will be actually writing down breakfast, lunch, & dinner. It will make shopping easier. I know many do this, & I've only heard good reviews about it, so I'm looking forward to it. I joined a free site (Meals Matter). Click on it to take a look at the site. I haven't had a chance to really check it out yet, but I love what I see so far. If you are at all interested in healthy eating, it will be worth a visit to their site. This meal planning is another goal that I have for this year in my being more organized.I wanted to share this picture of Emily that I took tonight. She 'loves' popcorn! She's set up, ready to watch Extreme Home Makeover & ready to embrace her popcorn tin -
Below is the siggie for this week. It's more on the whimsical side, so hope you like it! Please tag or email if you would like one. Have a blessed week!
"You make the world a better place by making yourself a better person.” ~Scott Sorrell~
Siggie created by tubes purchased from: RPP
January 8, 2009 I had such a busy full day, but yet I am sitting here drawing a complete blank on what to post. I've been staring at this screen, as if words are going to jump up here by themselves. I guess I could share this sweet picture - or at least it is sweet to me -Emily & I had been upstairs cleaning her room, & she went downstairs a few minutes before I did, in her Princess shoes. On my way down, I found this shoe, picked it up & took it to her. I interupted her walking about, talking to herself, obviously involved in some make-believe. I said "Honey, here's your Princess shoe. I found it on the stairs." She had the other one on, & she put out both her hands & said "Mommy! I was playing Princess, & I had to run from the castle & I had to lose my slipper on the stairs. It's supposed to be there." Apparently, the clock had struck midnight. I got so tickled at her. She took the slipper back to the stairs, so I took the picture to always remember it. I called Mike & told him, & he laughed so hard. We talked about how wonderful it is to have a little girl in this home, after raising 3 sons. It's an entirely different world. She & Elliot are like night & day. It's quite fun living with a 'Princess'. My sweet Elliot - he is fun too. All boy, & full of endless energy, but he is so sweet. I
Emily went from being a Princess, to saddling up & riding Giddy Up. I had to grab the camera & get her standing with her arm around him as 'they' looked outside. I thought it looked so sweet.
I was thinking today about how blessed I am to have met so many wonderful friends via the internet. When I first began this blog, I never dreamed that would happen. It's amazing that you can have such a connection to someone that you've never seen face to face. I am grateful for each of you & what you bring to my life! I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll see you on Sunday!
"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.” ~John Burroughs~
January 6, 2009 Sorry for no post last night, but Emily won out over posting in the blog. I was tucking her into bed, & she asked me if I would please go turn out all the lights downstairs & come back upstairs & lay with her. She knows that I get on the computer after I tuck her in & pray with her. I'm glad I did as she wished, because we had a such a sweet time. We talked for a bit, read stories, & laughed a lot at silly little things. I know I took away good memories, & I hope she will always remember too.Avery turned 1 yesterday, so we also had a little thing for her last night. She's walking now, & such a sweet little girl. Shad & Lisa don't think her hair is ever going to grow. Every time they are out, people tell them what a pretty little boy they have. So much so, that they just smile & say "thank you" now, because they are tired of having to say "It's a girl." They think it's because of the lack of hair. I'll have to have Lisa send me some of the pictures that they took (my battery was dead), & I'll post some of those. I do know she had cake all 'over' her face, so I hope she includes some of those. They gave her a piece, & let her tear into it. She enjoyed it to the fullest!
I am reading the kids a Bible story book each day - we just started it. It starts from the beginning (Genesis), so we've just finished reading about all the days of creation. I love watching Emily - she is on the edge of her seat! lol She can't wait to see what comes next. She cracks me up with some of the things she says. There was a drawing of a bear with the story on the day animals were created. She couldn't get past the thought that the bear had sad eyes. I don't know how many times she asked me "Why is that bear sad? See his eyes? Why's he sad?" She said "Maybe he's sad that God made him." Later she had the thought that he was sad because God didn't make him fly like a bird. As we were reading about what was created each day, she said "Yeah, & then God built our house." I 'love' the way the mind of a little child works.
"Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.” ~George Elliot~
January 4, 2009 We've had a busy, but very productive weekend. We've been in the midst of our new year 'clean out'. It never ceases to amaze me, how even if you keep pretty well organized & go through the rooms often (which I do), how much 'stuff' still manages to accumulate. The older I get, the more I want to simplify. It certainly makes life easier, & I think better.I have to share the picture below. As you all know by now, Emily
She did go a bit large on Lilly's nose, but I love this sweet drawing. I have been taking digital pictures of her drawings, as well as saving them. Eventually, I am going to go to Snapfish & have a book made of her drawings.
I am planning another 'different' kind of giveaway, that I hope to announce in a week or two, so be on the lookout for that. I enjoyed doing the 'No Peeking' one, & wanted to do another one that is away from the 'norm' too. I will give you a clue - you won't enter the giveaway. I hope that has your curiosity up.
Below is the siggie for this week. It is a winter one. I felt I needed to clarify that, because my DIL saw it & asked me why I was doing a Christmas one since Christmas is over. I hope it doesn't look 'Christmasy'. If you want one, please tag or email.
"Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.” ~Unknown~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP, PD, & CB
January 1, 2009 This was a great start to a fresh new year. We slept in, got up & ate a leisurely breakfast, then basically did nothing all day. I caught up on some things that I wanted to get right before the new year took off, & felt good about that. I also took some time to write down some goals for this year. I don't like to say 'resolutions' - I feel that 'goals' is a much better term.I know I'm backtracking here, but we had a great New Years Eve. We don't like to go out on this night, as we prefer the comfort & safety of our home. Especially so, since we live in Las Vegas. It seems the world comes here to see the New Year in. We watched it come in on tv via the comfort & warmth of our couch, & that was fine with me. We can see the fireworks from our bedroom balcony. Granted, it's not like we are right there on the strip, but we 'can' see them. Vegas does an awesome firework display on New Years, as well as the 4th of July.
I want to share this picture that our budding 'artist' (Emily) did for me tonight.In case you can't tell what it is, it's a pig. The squiggly lines beside him? She said that is his mud that he likes to play in. See you all on Sunday!
"A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” ~Unknown~
December 30, 2008 Today was such a busy day. We wanted to make sure that we got our decorations taken down & everything put back where it belongs, & we accomplished that. Mike came home at 1, so we worked all afternoon on things. Sweet Emily - she loves to work, so I gave her the boxes that the ornaments came in, & her job was to look at the picture on the box & find the ornament. She 'loved' it! I loved looking at her, box in hand, going around the tree, looking, & then squealing with joy when she found it. Elliot had no interest in taking down decorations. Instead, he wanted to clean his room, & organize his toys. He did a great job. Now if only his toys would stay organized!Mike & I both got on an orgainizing kick today, & plan on continuing with this all week. We want to get the garage reorganized, & get a lot ready to take to Goodwill. The new year always put us in this mood.
As I packed the snowmen away, Emily asked me if she could hug them good-bye. I told her "Yes", & it was so sweet to watch her & hear her. She told them that she loved them, & that she hoped they would have a Merry Christmas next time. She then told them that she would see them next Christmas, as she gently lay them back into the storage tote. She is so precious.Mike & Elliot put together a dinosaur model this evening that we got Elliot for Christmas. When I say, "Mike & Elliot", the emphasis is on Mike. Sorry about the quality of the picture - Elliot looks so washed out, but after 2 hours, this is what he ended up with -
I hope he understands that it's not to play with. It will sit on his dresser in his dinosaur room. He loves it!
The kids worked so hard with us today, so I told them that we were going to bake cookies tonight. I let them do the icing & add sprinkles (Emily thinks everything would be better with sprinkles). They were so proud of their work. Here's Elliot with his - Here's what was left of Emily's work (the rest ended up in her very full tummy) -
Did I mention that she
Pictures of Emily & Giddy Up & Go will come, I just haven't had a chance to go through them all. Hopefully tomorrow.
"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.” ~Bill Vaughn~
December 29, 2008 I had intended on taking down the Christmas tree today, & getting all of our decorations put away. We used to always leave everything up until New Years Day or the day after New Years, but for the past few years I have been wanting to get back to 'normal' within a few days. I know it most likely sounds silly, but I want to start the New Year fresh, & with having all the Christmas decorations up, it somehow feels as though I am taking the 'old into the new'. Silly I know, but that's been my thought. I think the Christmas tree has lost it's appeal to Elliot & Emily too. They say "Christmas is over now." It didn't get done today, so that is on our agenda for tomorrow.I won't share a lot of Christmas pictures. Mainly because with opening gifts, it seems that 90% of the pictures I got, the kids have their face buried in the wrapping paper or gift, or they are hidden behind the gift. With Elliot, every single thing he opened, he would jump up & run to Mike to show him (as if Mike didn't know what was in it)...it was so cute, but made it difficult to get some decent, memorable Christmas pictures. Emily kept us laughing. As she opened every single gift, she would gasp, scream, sometimes jump up & down, & she would say things like "Oh! Just what I wanted!", "I never had this before!", "Oh! It's wonderful!" - it was so sweet. When she opened her kitchen it brought tears to my eyes, just to see her reaction. She began trembling as she she realized what it was, & she said "I got a kitchen! I got a kitchen! It's a kitchen!" Giddy Up & Go brought the same reaction. In fact, almost every gift she opened brought that reaction from her. Here she is with her kitchen - she's showing Elliot how she can 'cook' -
She 'cooks' for me every single morning, & then she 'doctors' me with her doctor's kit (which she loves). Here's 2 of my favorite photos of her with it. She said LillyTrixieLilly wasn't feeling well, & she narrowed it down to her nose (notice the band-aid on the nose) - I 'love' these pictures!
In this picture of Elliot, you can't see his face, but notice how he's holding his gift out at arms length? It's because it is a remote control tarantula. He was squealing "Oh please! Take it! I can't hold it! Oh please! I can't look at it!" As you can see, he was making Avery laugh -
He does like it, but he still puts it out of his room when he goes to bed - lol. His most favorite gift is his Leapfrog handheld game system. I knew he would love it, & had to convince Mike that he would. He won't put it down. It's great, because he thinks he's only playing games, but he's learning, because they are educational games. He also loves his Batman 'laptop' -
Emily got a Princess laptop (even though she has had her eye on a 'real' laptop for months now) - a red Gateway, that she drools over. I need to remind her that she just turned 3, but she tells me that I can teach her.
I'll share pictures of Giddy Up & Go tomorrow. I'm afraid I have already posted too many for one post. Plus, I know this has been a long post. I did want to mention though, that I've joined in the fun of the Simple Woman's Daybook. Click here if you'd like to read my post in that. I will keep a link posted in the upper left hand table too.
"It Depends on Us... Another year lies before us like an unwritten page, an unspent coin, an unwalked road, the pages we'll read, what treasures will be gained in exchange for time, or what we find alone the way, will largely depend on us.” ~Esther Baldwin York~
December 28, 2008 This will be a quick post. I got involved on working on a new webpage tonight, & before I knew it, the hours sped away from me. If I don't go to bed, I'll for certain look like a raccoon tomorrow.We did have a wonderful Christmas. I'll post some Christmas pictures tomorrow. I took away sweet memories of Elliot & Emily. Christmas is so special with children.
I want to post these two siggies below. If anyone wants one or both, please tag or email. Can you all believe we are just days away from entering 2009??? I can't. See you all tomorrow!
"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP & LPH
December 25, 2008 Merry Christmas to all of you! Hope you are all having a wonderful day with your family & loved ones. I'm sorry I didn't get here by noon PST as planned. I should have known that would be difficult. Anyway - I do want to say a special Merry Christmas to my 'No Peeking' giveaway winner - enjoy 'opening' your gifts! Again, I'll let the pictures tell the story -Okay, ready to 'open' your gifts? Your first gift is a cross stitch, stitched by yours truly. It's a beautiful Paula Vaughn pattern. The picture doesn't do it justice -
Lastly, a Willow Tree angel. It's called 'Angel of the Heart - for those who love and are loved. I took the picture in the store, so that I wouldn't have to take yours out of the box -
Merry Christmas Melanie! Are you tired after 'opening' all your gifts? I'll get your gifts out to you as soon as I hear from you with your address. If these gifts don't appeal to you, seeing as you had no idea what you were getting, you can 'pass' if you want.
I'll most likely blog about our Christmas tomorrow, but if I can, I will post again tonight. God bless you all!
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ." ~Luke 2:10-11~
December 24, 2008 Just wanted to pop in here & wish everyone a happy Christmas Eve. We've just spent about 3 hours getting Emily's kitchen & her Giddy Up & Go Pony put together. That, combined with spending a few hours baking, & I am more than ready for bed. I will drop in here tomorrow to announce the 'No Peeking' giveaway winner. I can't wait! Have a blessed Christmas everyone! "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. " ~Luke 2:10-11~
December 23, 2008 Can you believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve!? I can't. This entire year seemed to whiz right by me. We had a little girl & a little boy that were very excited when they went off to bed. They know that tomorrow evening, they get to open the small gifts in their Christmas stockings. Emily said "It's so hard to wait for Christmas." I can't wait to see them open up all their goodies. It makes me smile to imagine the joy they will have Christmas morning. I imagine Emily giddy-upping on her Giddy Up & Go pony. This toy is supposed to be great excercise, & I bet it would be. We took them to see the Festival of Lights tonight. The city puts up all sorts of Christmas light displays in one of the large parks. You stay in your car & slowly drive through, so you are kept nice & warm. Christmas music is playing, they sell hot cider, hot chocolate, & give out peanuts as you start the drive, to take along with you. It took about 30 minutes from start to finish, so it was a quite large display. The kids really enjoyed it. I have loved making memories with them this Christmas month.
We went for dinner at Olive Garden, & it was so good! We had actually forgotten 'how' good. We used to go there often, until we began going to Macaroni Grill. Emily had the waitress in love with her, as she told her stories about LillyTrixieLilly (she had to have her own seat as usual). She told her that she didn't think Lilly wanted anything to eat, because she didn't have a real mouth. She also asked for a bowl of cheese. Everywhere she goes, she tells everyone that it is almost Christmas, & then she will say "It's Happy Birthday Jesus day!"
Elliot saw a small setting of a Japanese city, & immediately he said "Look! It's Godzilla-land!" I didn't see a thing to connect it to Godzilla stomping around, but it was amazing to me that he did. I wonder how the Japanese would feel about their country being called 'Godzilla-land'?
Shad & Lisa got Avery's Christmas photos back, & are 'so' proud of them. I couldn't decide which to share, so I am going to share them all -
Isn't she the cutest!! I can't believe she will be one in a few weeks. We had to go with them to the photo sitting, because I am the only one that can make her smile real big. She never took her eyes off of me during the shoot. She's a chubby little thing. Elliot saw her with her shirt off recently, & he said "Avery has Hulk arms." Too funny!
Don't forget the giveaway (see yesterday's post). I am so excited over this!
Below is the siggie. If you want it, you can have it with or without the penguins, so please let me know which you would prefer.
"One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly." ~Andy Rooney~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP & MLP
December 22, 2008 Today was a whirlwind of a day. Elliot's Grandma picked him up for the day, so Emily & I did our Christmas cleaning. When I wrap the gifts, it's her 'job' (she loves it) to put the bows on them, so we finished that up too. Our hard work today paid off tonight, as we sat back to enjoy everything. Also - Mike came home & told us that he was taking us out to eat - something these 2 tired girls were thrilled to hear.After we ate, we went to Walmart, to try to find those huge bags that you can put extra large gifts in (bikes, ect.), but there were none to be found. We want to put together Emily's kitchen (she got the Princess one that she wanted so badly), & her Giddyup & Go pony before Christmas so that Mike won't be tied up for who knows how long, having 'fun' putting toys together. I am going to try a couple of stores tomorrow, & if I have no luck, then we'll just use a 'lot' of wrapping paper to put around them.
We had planned on doing our Christmas meal shopping too, but Walmart was a madhouse, so we put that off. I'm sure it won't be any better tomorrow, but home sounded much better than standing in line for ages.
I am having another giveaway. This one is a bit different, because you don't know what you are getting. It's Christmas remember, & NO PEEKING is the rule! I know this is short notice on this one, but I think with it being Christmas, it will be fun. Emily will draw the winning name on Christmas, so it will be like the winner gets to 'open' something else on that day, because you will also find out what you won that day. I hope this is making sense - I feel as though I'm not. You may be thinking "Since I don't know what I am entering for, what if I don't like the winnings ?" If what I have chosen doesn't appeal to you, then you may pass on it & Emily will draw another name. My goal is to drop in here & do a short post announcing the winner by noon (PST) on Christmas Day. I'll break away after the kids have opened gifts, & while they are busy enjoying them all. For those that have never entered before, here are the rules:
1. If you want to be entered, please tag & state that you would like to be part of my giveaway. This is your 'entry'. Each time you visit & tag, gives you another entry.
2. I want you to give too. This isn't a requirement but it will give you another entry - just say "I gave" in one of your tags. I won't go into the detail that I did on my September 18th post (read if you want), but by giving I mean in any means you choose to do - big or simple. Giving materially, time-wise, or yourself - your choice.
3. If you are the winner of my giveaway, I want you to choose something from the giveaway, & in turn give it away to someone else. A 'pay it forward', so to speak.
I do hope that you all are as excited as I am about this. Since there is "No peeking", I think it will be exciting for the winner to 'open' another gift here at my blog!
I've done a few siggies for today. If you are intested in any of them (or all of them), please tag or email.
"Snowmen are the closest thing to a perfect man- they're cute, they're well-rounded, and they know what to do with a broom!." ~Unknown~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP, THC, ALPS, APG, & PD
December 21, 2008 I am officially finished with Christmas shopping. That doesn't mean that I won't buy something else. I always love running out on Christmas Eve day & finding the perfect last little stocking stuffer. Emily has found one of her unwrapped gifts. She has been wanting a doctor kit. She tells me that she can then "fix" me if I get sick or hurt. We bought her one at Costco on Saturday, & when we came home it was nap time, so I put it upstairs in our bedroom right out in the open. The plan was to wrap it as soon as she was asleep. I got busy, & forgot to wrap it. Awhile after she got up, she ran upstairs to get something from her room. Well, our bedroom door was wide open, so of course seeing a gift there was pretty tempting for a little girl. She had been up there longer that it would have taken her to get what she went for, so I called out "Emily, where are you?" From behind me, I hear her tiny voice say "Mommy, who is this for?", knowing full well who it was for. I turn around, & there she stands with this big doctor's kit. I said "Emily! You peeked into the bedroom?" She then burst into tears, telling me how much she loved me. I took it from her & put it up. I will still wrap it, but she has asked a few times "Who gets that doctor present?" She's so funny - I put it underneath our bed after she found it, & today she was in there with me, & she bent down to get something she had dropped. She jumped up so fast, hands held over eyes. I said "What are you doing Emily?" She said "Trying not to see that doctor present under the bed." I had to laugh.Today was our Christmas cantata at church, & tonight we sang Christmas songs for about an hour. It was fun. After church, we went to our neighborhood Italian restaurant. Emily told us that she was "so hungry", & when the waitress came to our table, without waiting a moment, she said "I want a pizza with olives on top, a salad, & spaghetti to share with Mommy." Never a dull moment with Miss Emily. Elliot convinced us he was starving too, & had to have a larger meal. He ate maybe a forth of it. Emily ate all of hers, some of mine, & wanted more to eat when she got home.
Elliot said something that made me smile - he said that he wanted to take the car to the "car shower". I never thought about that, but in a the eyes of child, a car wash probably does seem like a "shower" for cars.
Below are 2 siggies. I will add siggies again this week everyday until Christmas. If you want one or both of these, please tag or email. Have a wonderful week!
"To celebrate the heart of Christmas is to forget ourselves in the service of others." ~Henry C. Link~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP & AA
December 19, 2008 This little graphic depicts what I would have loved to do all day. It would have been so good to be able to put my feet up & just enjoy my Christmas surroundings. Instead, I was busy trying to finish up last minute things. I don't understand why every single year, I promise myself that it won't be like this, & every single year, it is. It's these last minute little things that seem to take the most time. I want to make things magical & special for Elliot & Emily, so it's worth every effort & moment. It appears that the entire world puts it all off till the very last minute. If you judge things by the mobs in the stores & malls, it is certain. This morning, I listened to a doctor on a news program say that Christmas Day is the number 1 day for heart attacks. That not only surprised me, it shocked me. He said that it was because of the stress & eating fatty foods. I found it sad that this day set apart for celebrating the birth of Christ, is supposedly the most stressful of the year. I don't feel stressed - I am probably one of the few that find it fun & a part of this season to be out with the crowds of shoppers. I got a wonderful surprise delivered today. My sister sent us a gift of gourmet cookies & fudges. I am being good this Christmas, making sure I don't over-eat & I really haven't eaten hardly any sweets. I now have this huge box of temptation in my kitchen.
Below is the siggie for today. If you want it, please tag or email with the hair color you prefer. I will see you all on Sunday!
"One of the sweetest gifts of Christmas, is to be able to see it again through the eyes of a child." ~Me~
Siggie created by tubes from: Peximely & THC
December 18, 2008 The snow that was supposed to last throughout the night & into today, never happened. We awoke to sun. Chilly, but sunny. We had reminders of our white visitor. Here's a picture I took from our balcony -
It was funny, but as we watched the news of all the snow that Las Vegas received, we didn't know why it missed us. In our area of town, we truly did get what the weatherman called "snow mist". Nothing stuck. We were shocked when we saw what a lot of Vegas got. All flights were canceled out of our airport - that's how much snow they got in that area (only a 20 minute drive from us).
It was a full day. I took Elliot & Emily out shopping early in the day, so we got all the shopping for Mike finished. They were curious as to who those gifts belonged to, but I don't think they will tell. I told them that I was just buying some things. Elliot said "But for who?" I told him that it was for Christmas. Neither said another word about it.
After their naps, Mike & I took them to the mall. It is 'so' difficult to shop for kids when you have them along! I would walk by something, discretely point at it, & then he would get it after I took them out of the store. We only had a few more things to get for them, but ended up buying them a few things we hadn't planned on. We let them play in the mall's play area after shopping, & it was total madness! I think all the kids were there, playing off all the holidays sweets they obviously had eaten. Talk about hyper!
We left the mall & went to the Magical Forest. It was honestly so cold, that it wasn't enjoyable. It was 37 degrees tonight! I didn't dress warm enough, & was chilled to the bone. Elliot & Emily loved it. I didn't get a lot of pictures, since I wasn't sure they would turn out. Here's Emily on the carousel - we had to wait in line longer, because she only wanted to ride the zebra -
Elliot on his reindeer -
It was a full day. I took Elliot & Emily out shopping early in the day, so we got all the shopping for Mike finished. They were curious as to who those gifts belonged to, but I don't think they will tell. I told them that I was just buying some things. Elliot said "But for who?" I told him that it was for Christmas. Neither said another word about it.
After their naps, Mike & I took them to the mall. It is 'so' difficult to shop for kids when you have them along! I would walk by something, discretely point at it, & then he would get it after I took them out of the store. We only had a few more things to get for them, but ended up buying them a few things we hadn't planned on. We let them play in the mall's play area after shopping, & it was total madness! I think all the kids were there, playing off all the holidays sweets they obviously had eaten. Talk about hyper!
We left the mall & went to the Magical Forest. It was honestly so cold, that it wasn't enjoyable. It was 37 degrees tonight! I didn't dress warm enough, & was chilled to the bone. Elliot & Emily loved it. I didn't get a lot of pictures, since I wasn't sure they would turn out. Here's Emily on the carousel - we had to wait in line longer, because she only wanted to ride the zebra -
Elliot on his reindeer -
That's the best I could do with pictures, since the carousel was so full.
After we left there, we were so cold that all we could think about was a hot bowl of soup, so we went to Sweet Tomatoes to eat. It was 'so' good, & just what we needed.
Below is the siggie for today. If you want it, please tag or email, & let me know what wording you would like on yours. I normally don't post on Fridays, but I will drop in to post another siggie & maybe a small post.
"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." ~Burton Hillis~
Siggie created by tubes from: APG,THC, & LPH
Wednesday December 17, 2008
I thought I was freezing yesterday. Today, I am really freezing! It is 32 degrees right now, & we've had a 'snow mist' since about 3PM. That is what the weathermen are calling it - snow mist. I guess because it is falling along with a light rain. No matter what it is, it is cold & messy. We were going to go out tonight, but there are road advisories out in full force, saying not to leave your home unless absolutely necessary. Elliot's Awana Christmas party was tonight, & he had to miss that. He didn't act like he really minded though. We tried to give him a fun evening at home. Anyway - never dreamed we'd be confined to our home in Las Vegas, because of a weather advisory! Everyone is running about, acting like Chicken Little with the sky falling. Our driveway is nothing but ice, so I can only imagine what the roads are like. This is supposed to continue through tomorrow, & maybe into Friday. I sure hope I can get out to finish up shopping. Why couldn't this have waited till Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, to add to the feel of those days?
One bad thing that came with this weather, is that our dogs absolutely refuse to go out. We took them to the door, put them out, & they won't budge. They stand there, peering in, throwing a doggie hissy fit. So far, they have held it, but I wonder what we will wake up to? Not a good thought.
With the weather we have had, I guess I got in a 'snowman' mood, so below are 3 siggies. If you want one or all, please tag or email. Hope everyone is staying warm!
"May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace, The gladness of Christmas give you hope, The warmth of Christmas grant you love." ~Unknown~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP,CB, LPH & MLP
Tuesday December 16, 2008
I am sitting here freezing! I admit it, I am a weather wimp. Living in Las Vegas, I often dream of having the 4 seasons, but I am not certain I could deal with winter. I would like snow on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, but give me the sun back afterwards. I wonder if I will remember feeling this way when summer hits, & it's 117 here? Right now our temps are below the norm here. It is 35 here right now - BRRRRRR! Over the next 3 days, we have a forecast of possible snow. In Las Vegas - unreal! Weather seems to be crazy all over.
My plans for today were to go out & finish up shopping, but I didn't budge from this house. We were also going to go to Magical Forest tonight, but with the temps being so low, we didn't brave that either. I can just hear the minutes ticking down - Christmas will be here before I know it, so I must go out tomorrow no matter what the weather. Like I said - weather wimp.
I asked Emily what she hopes she gets for Christmas. She said "A yo-yo would be nice." She's so easy to please. She thinks that a yo-yo will bounce up to her all by itself. I guess they do make them to do that, because Lisa & Shad told me that they got her one. I tried like crazy to get her an Oswald & Weenie stuffed toy. I could have bought these not long ago for $10 each, but stupidly, I put it off. I never dreamed they would discontinue making them. The only place I have been able to find them are on Ebay, & some bids have been as high as over $200. $200 for a 10 in. stuffed toy! One bid was up to $145 with 30 bids on it. Insane.
Elliot is easy to buy for too. He wants your typical boy stuff - Spiderman, Hulk, Batman, ect. We have never gotten his room decorated for him yet, because he kept going back & forth between a pirate, dino, or superhero theme. He has finally decided he wants dinosaurs. He doesn't know it, but that should be done for Christmas too. I have ordered him wall decals (stickers) - they are incredible. One of them is 80 in. wide by 80 in. tall. These have been featured on Extreme Home Makeover - check them out - there is about everything you can imagine to order. They are waterproof, so you can use them inside or out. They supposedly look like they have been painted on. I can't wait to get them. He will be one happy little boy! Click here to browse a neat site.
Here's the siggie for today. If wanted, please tag or email.
"This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ." ~Frank McKibben~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP & LPH
Monday December 15, 2008
We awoke to drizzling rain this morning. It was so pretty, especially since we don't get to see awhole lot of rain here in Las Vegas. We were talking about how we wished so badly it would snow. Would you believe it - 10 minutes later, I looked out & it was snowing! Talk about excitement. Elliot & Emily were squealing with delight. If not for the drizzle, I think it would have stuck, but it melted as soon as it hit the ground. Elliot was squealing "It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" How I wish it could have stuck, & made it possible to build a tiny snowman for them. I'll be happy with the 30 minutes of falling snow we got though. Lisa sent me a few pictures that they took at their friend's house - looks like it stuck there -
When Mike got home, we decided to go out for a buffet. As always it was so good! We shopped for a bit afterwards, & then took off to a Vegas Christmas tradition, the Magical Forest. It's over 2 acres of decorated trees, village scenes, carolers, rides, gift shops, ect. It's decorated like a Christmas fantasy land - so beautiful. All proceeds go to the disabled. Of course, we didn't take into account the drizzle of rain (which lasted all day) as we were driving there, & sure enough, it was closed due to rain. We'll try to go again tomorrow night.
I am so sorry that I still haven't posted pictures. I went through all of them tonight, & most aren't worth keeping, let alone posting. Mike made a royal mess when he messed around with my camera. I am beginning to think that it's just kaput, & maybe a coincidence that it all happened after he messed with my settings. It's only a year old though, so that doesn't seem possible. I took a bunch yesterday, & not a single picture could be kept - I deleted them all. They turn out a total blur. It's strange though - I might take 10 pictures, & 7 will be a complete blur, & 3 will be clear as day. I must get this fixed before Christmas. I will share this picture of Emily's birthday cake. She chose it. I had her a Princess one picked out, but for once she didn't go that route. We took her to the bakery & she browsed all the cakes & fell in love with this one -
She came upon him, gasped, & said "Oh a bootiful snowman! I love him!" I told her that he wasn't a birthday cake, but she insisted he was the one. It will be a good memory.
Here's the siggie for today. If you want one & would rather have a different wording, please tag or email me with what you would like to have it say.
"Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'." ~Bing Crosby~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP,Teas Hope Chest, & LPH
Sunday December 14, 2008
By looking at my posting record for the last month, I should have just taken a blogging LOA. All my good intentions of getting everything done - shopping, ect. by December 1st, didn't happen. I have been busy beyond belief the past few weeks. I still have quite a bit I want/need to do. I will admit about the blogging though - I have began a post a few times, & ended up just shutting my computer down. For some reason, I have had an extreme case of 'bloggers block'. I feel so bad, but I haven't read my tags until tonight. Imagine my surprise at being nominated for a blogging award by a few of you! I feel undeserving, but thank you so much. I will get that put up tomorrow.
I'm still working on getting pictures to post. I'm sorry about that too. Hopefully, I can post a few tomorrow.
I can't believe that we are 10 days away from Christmas! 10 days away, & I still have shopping to do. Mike is 'so' difficult to buy for, & I always put his shopping off till last. I will get that done this week. Of course, it will be a mission, seeing as I will have 2 along with me that I am not sure will/can keep a secret. I tried it once for his birthday, & they blurted it out before he even got fully into the door.
There is one commercial that Emily sees, & it's really the only commercial in which she says "I want that!" It's 'Giddy Up & Go' by Little Tikes. It's the 'cutest' horse! We searched everywhere for one, & they were all sold out. I went online, & the few that did have him had hiked the price up about $100 over what he retails for. We finally found one. A local Target had found one in the back, tucked away. We 'grabbed' him. Emily is going to be one happy little girl when she is greeted by him on Christmas morning. It's for ages 3-8, so it will get lots of use. Elliot will be able to enjoy him too. As will Avery. If you haven't seen this horse, 'please' click here & check it out. I smile each time I see it, just imagining Emily galloping away. Do you all remember 'Butter' - the pony that she went on & on about how she was going to ride him - we listened to her chatter about him for hours. Then the time came, & below is the pic of her when she finally got on him -
The funny thing is, Emily told us that she wanted Giddy Up, so that she could 'practice' on him, then she was going to ride Butter.
Below is the siggie for today. Seeing as I have let so many days go without posting, I am going to offer a new siggie each day all week. If you want it, please email or tag. For those of you that tagged & wanted my last one (sorry!), I will get those out tomorrow. Have a wonderful week everyone!
"He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him." ~Dutch Proverb~
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Tuesday December 3, 2008
I know I said I would post pics today, but I didn't get them taken. I will try to do that tomorrow. I haven't had a chance to resize a few of Emily's birthday pictures either to place on my blog. I so wish there were more hours in a day!
This is backtracking, but we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Since we had worked so hard on the flooring, & wasn't 100% finished with putting everything back in it's place, we decided last minute (the day prior), to go out to the new Aliante casino for the Thanksgiving buffet. All the casino's really go all out for the holiday buffets, & they are jammed packed with people. We put off our meal until 4PM, thinking that by then there would be no lines. We got there & first thing Mike said was "Big mistake!" The line was incredible. We were told it was an hour & a half wait, but we ended up staying in line for a bit longer than that. Elliot & Emily were so well behaved, even with all the waiting. We tried to make it fun for them. Everyone around us wanted to know all about LillyTrixieLilly. Emily is always keen on introducing her. She & her little friend never fail to bring a smile to people's faces. Anyway, the meal was worth the wait. Everything was 'so' good! When Lisa & Shad showed up with Avery, we got so tickled at her. She was dressed up like a little lady. I will try to post a pic of her too. She was so cute. We all ate a bit too much, but luckily, we only had to drive for 5 minutes, & we were home.
Remember at the beginning of last year, when I blogged about how excited I was because we had gotten such an incredible deal on an artificial tree? And artificial tree that looks real, & it should, seeing as it was an $800 tree (yes $800 before an after Christmas huge markdown. Who in this world would pay that for an artificial Christmas tree???) We put it up, & all year long I have thought of that tree - how beautiful it was going to look. Mike & both had forgotten what it even looked like. I do know that when we went out that day to shop for a new one, we were looking for a 'pencil' tree or 'slim' tree, depending on where you get it. All year long, I 'thought' I had a pencil tree. Then we got it out last week. It is not a pencil tree. It is 9 feet tall, & FIVE foot wide! I was heartsick. We had to do some rearranging, just to get it to fit in our family room. The tips of the top are slightly bent, seeing as it is touching our ceiling. We couldn't even decorate the top foot & a half. Even with a ladder, we couldn't bend over to put ornaments on it, because of the 'fatness' of the bottom of the tree. We thought we were going to have to put it in our formal living room (the ceiling in there is 2 stories high), but we didn't want to miss having it where we spend most of our family time. Anyway, it's up, & it does look beautiful. Pictures? Yes, but not one of them turned out either. I took them before I realized that Mike had messed with my camera & messed up the settings on it.
"Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect." ~Unknown~
Monday December 1, 2008
I have said this many times, but once again, I cannot believe that I haven't been here in this long to update! I feel like a total blogger failure, but life does get busy at times. For a week, we were doing our family room flooring. We took the carpeting out & put in wood. I had wanted to do this from the beginning, especially since we have wood in so much of our home. Mike wanted carpeting in there, & regretted that decision from almost day one. I am so thrilled that it's all done. It was a job, but so well worth it! We also took out our 'huge' big screen tv from in there, & hung a plasma over our fireplace. I 'love' it! This is another thing that I have wanted to do from day one (this house was built 4 years ago). It's like having an entirely different room. I was going to post pics, but unfortunately, every picture I took turned out horrible. I will take some tomorrow. Mike was piddling around with my camera, & I don't know what he did, but the settings are so off.
Anyway, I just wanted to check in. It is late & I am tired, so I will be back tomorrow to post some pics & tell you about Emily's 3rd birthday. Below is the siggie for this week. If you would like one, please tag or email with hair color you prefer.
"Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money." ~Unknown~
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Sunday November 16, 2008
Emily got to draw the wining name today...as always I will let the pictures tell the story -
Eyes closed, drawing the name -
Showing me the winning name -
Close up of winning name -
Congratulations Judy! I'll get your package mailed out to you as soon as I receive your address. Thank you to all that played. I already have my goodies for the next giveaway, so look for that very soon.
Emily was wanting one of her strawberry milkshakes from Starbucks after church (even though she had just eaten a big meal). I convinced her to wait till after her nap, & told her that I was going to teach her to make her own milkshake. Probably a mistake, in that she will want one everyday. Here she is putting in the strawberries -
Blending it (she didn't like the noise)
Her first drink - she loved it -
Mike decided to surprise the kids with a picnic after church (I was surprised too). They enjoyed it so much. Emily ate soooo slow, because she said she was going to make the picnic last a long time. It amazes me that she thinks like that at her age. I wish I had pictures to share on that, but for once, I didn't have my camera with me. It was perfect picnic weather (78F).
Below is the siggie for this week. If wanted, please tag or email. I hope everyone has a great week!
"Make your life a mission - not an intermission." ~Arnold H. Glasgow ~
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Thursday November 13, 2008
Today was a day that didn't seem to want to get off the ground. We slept a bit later again, because Mike got to go into work later, & that always seems to throw the day off. I don't like it. We did Elliot's school time, & then basically relaxed the rest of the day.
I took this picture of Emily this morning. She takes Lilly for a ride on her tricycle every morning as she waits for her breakfast. It's so sweet. I'll hear her say "Lilly, do you want to go for a ride?" I guess Lilly must say 'yes', because she will normally laugh & say "Okay!", & then off they go through the house.
With all the Christmas commercials started, the kids have finally figured out that Christmas is coming. I hear from Elliot "Oh! I want that!" at least a dozen times a day. I haven't even began the shopping, & I need to begin. Emily wants the Disney Princess kitchen. She says she wants to help me cook, & she tells me that she can cook food for me then. Here's the picture from the website of the Princess kitchen -
It makes realistic cooking sounds, which Emily would really love. Below is the one that I would rather get her though -
I would like to show them both to her & see if she might go for the 'Lifestyle Kitchen' (as it is called). I think she would love it, but I don't want to give away one of her gifts.
Please don't forget about the giveway. If you haven't entered yet (see Sunday's post for details), please do. Emily will be drawing the name on Sunday. I'll see you all then! Have a great weekend!
"It's not what you leave to your children, it's what you leave in your children." ~Unknown~
Wednesday November 12, 2008
Kathy had asked if I could make a replacement for LillyTrixieLilly - Emily would spot it in a flash. She is made of fur, but it doesn't look it now. Emily has loved her till she looks 'matty'. I don't even know if she would accept a brand new one. She & Lilly have shared lots of adventures, & I don't think she would care to share her moments with another one. It's been so sweet to watch her share this time in her life with her. No matter where we go, or what we do, LillyTrixieLilly is there too - tucked underneath Emily's arm. No matter where we go, she gets lots of attention, & we have been asked more times than I can remember "Where can we get a 'LillyTrixieLilly'?" Emily fell in love with her right off the bat, as soon as she saw her nose sticking out from underneath a pile of stuffed animals at a store. That was 2 years ago, & they are never apart. The picture below isn't a great picture, & you may not see it as sweet as I do, but I 'love' it. It's so precious to see Emily standing at the door of this home, & to see Lilly's nose sticking out. Like I said, she is always tucked under Emily's arm -
Below is another one taken from that night - such a sweet picture of them together -
I must share this one - it is one of my favorites of them - Emily insisted that "LillyTrixieLilly has to be in the picture, because LillyTrixieLilly wants to be a princess too." Notice that Emily loaned her shoes to her to help her play the part -
I so love her bending over to gently kiss Lilly's head. I'm sorry - I didn't mean for this post to turn into a post about a much loved stuffed toy, but it has. Truthfully, I guess I have grown to love her too. One of my plans is to make a scrapbook dedicated to their days together (you would not believe some of the pictures I have - so sweet!).
We were going to go out to eat at the new Aliante Station casino, but decided against it since it just opened last night. I know it would have been a madhouse. We settled on our favorite Mexican food restaurant. Emily got her fill of 'Mocamole', as did Elliot. Shad, Lisa, & Avery joined us & then we went back to our house & had dessert a bit later.
Sweet Elliot made my day today - he hugged me & said "Nana, you are the best Nana in the whole world, & you are my favorite Nana!" I told him that he is the best Elliot in the world, & my most favorite Elliot...he loved that. He is so precious. I only hope I can live up to his praise of me.
I so hated to see that Nancze has closed her blog. I know she will be greatly missed in the blogging world. She is such a special lady.
"Be still sad heart, and cease repining, behind the clouds the sun is still shining." ~Unknown~
Tuesday November 11, 2008
Mike didn't have to go into work until noon, so we had a really laid back morning. In fact, we all slept in till 9AM. By him going in late, it seemed to throw the entire day off balance, & it felt like a weekend day all day. He & Elliot ran out to do some errands this morning, while Emily & I enjoyed a lazy morning of reading stories. No matter how many times she hears a story, she never tires of it. I pray that she will always keep her love for books, as I did.
We spent some time with sweet Avery. I have said it so often, but she is the 'best' baby! Always content, & always smiling. Here's a picture of her in Emily's princess tiara. Looks like we will have 2 princesses in the family -
She did have fun exploring the kitchen. She loves getting into the cabinets, & leaves a trail of plastic bowls & lids as she goes.
I don't think I have mentioned it, but LillyTrixieLilly has a baby now. Emily named her "Baby Lilly". I have hunted in vain for another Lilly. They have discontinued making her. I am so afraid Emily is going to love her 'bare'. She is never without her. I did find that they made a tiny one, but when I ordered her, I didn't realize she was going to be 'so' tiny. I thought maybe it might grab Emily's heart, but nothing will take the place of her LillyTrixieLilly. She will only pick her up every so often (rarely). Here is 'Baby Lilly' with her 'Mommy' -
A new casino opened up near our home tonight (Aliante Station). The neighborhood wasn't real thrilled about one opening, but it is far enough away as to not bother us. Seeing as it is 11/11, they opened tonight at 11:11PM, which was weird I think. They had a huge fireworks display (it lasted 11 minutes, since everything is tied to 11/11). It was beautiful. We didn't go to the opening of the casino (had no interest), but we could watch the fireworks from an upstairs bedroom window. They started at 10PM, so we let Elliot & Emily stay up to watch. Nothing would have made Emily miss the fireworks. She was so excited. It was way past their bedtime, but it was worth it to let them enjoy it.
I am going to drive you batty with siggies, but I piddled around & did another one tonight. I took a break from fall themed ones. I tried to animate the star, but not too sure it will show up well against this lighter background. If you want one, tag or email me. Don't forget the giveaway! If you want to enter (see Sunday's post), let me know.
"If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears." ~Glenn Clark~
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Monday November 10, 2008
What a start to my day this morning! Mike had just left for work, & I was in Emily's room. Elliot was playing with his toys, when all at once I heard a blood curdling scream. And I mean blood curdling! What a feeling to be in another room & hear a child scream out, "Please! Help me! Help me!", all the while screaming at the top of his lungs. I 'flew' to him, & his leg (all the way up to his calf) was wedged down into the back of the couch between the wood framing. He was in such a panic, screaming at the top of his lungs. No matter what I did, I couldn't budge his leg. I thought for sure, it was broken. I could push my hand down into the couch, & I could feel his foot, bent & trapped between the wood framing of the couch. I honestly thought I was going to have to run to the garage & get something to just try to tear the couch apart. I was so scared, but trying to calm him down. The screams were only getting louder & louder. What a nightmare it was. I finally reached down & tried to push with all my might to pry the wood frame apart enough for him to pull his foot loose. It was stuck tight, but when I felt him slightly move it, I pushed on his foot while trying to keep things separated for him to move it. What a relief when we got it out. He must have been stuck a good 5 minutes (a looooong 5 minutes!), but already his foot was swollen & looked bruised. He was scared out of his wits. I had to hold him for quite a long time, just to calm him. He was able to walk with a hobble, but everything seemed okay. It's is a miracle that he didn't hurt his foot seriously. I knew his foot didn't just slip down in there, so after talking with him awhile, he admitted that he had jumped up & down on the couch after I walked out of the room (a 'big' no-no, & he knows it), & somehow when he came down on one of the jumps, his foot slipped down between back of the couch & the wood framing. It's hard to explain. I know this much - it scared him so badly, that I don't think he will 'ever' jump on the couch again. He was teary all day because of it.
I did get a 'present' from him. He brought this to me after Mike had taken him to the park -
It's the sweetest thing when a little boy brings you a flower. He was so proud. He walked into the house, hands behind his back, & said "I have you a present!", then he pulls it out from behind him. He wanted to know what vase I was going to put it in. I told him that it was so special, I wanted to put it in a tiny crystal glass. Even in that tiny glass, it floats.
I want to share this picture of Emily too (& Lilly) - I love the sweet look she is giving me here -
It was Monday night football, so Mike told the kids that we were going to have a pizza party again. That brought cheers. Emily likes loves black olives (as do I), so she put her order in for a black olive one with sprinkles & a birthday candle on it. I told her that she couldn't get a pizza with the sprinkles or candle, & she said "But I love sprinkles so much." She settled for just the black olives.
I'm offering 2 more siggies below. If you want one, please tag or email. On the 'from our home to yours', if you want it to say something else, please let me know (i.e. From our home to yours, have a blessed Fall. or wording of your choosing). I can also change hair & eye color, so please let me know that. Oh...& please don't forget to enter the giveaway if you are interested (see yesterday's post).
"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action." ~W.J. Cameron~
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Sunday November 9, 2008
I honestly cannot believe that it's been so long since I've posted here. Life has been busy, & I've just been enjoying hobbies, family, & catching up with some things. I've been making some websets for some that have requested them, & I can get completely lost in the graphics - I love it so much! I would tell myself each day that I would stop in here & at least post a little bit, but would end up telling myself "tomorrow". The longer you go without showing up here, the easier it becomes to put it off for another day. As the days went on, I became too comfortable not posting. I guess I just needed a break from it. I still should have at least dropped in & told you all that I was okay, & I'm sorry. Thank you all for being so patient with me.
Seeing as it's been awhile since I posted, I thought it a good time to have another giveaway. Emily's been asking to "play the game", so I will grant her her wish. It's been awhile since I have posted the rules, so they are as follows if you want to participate -
1. If you want to be entered, please tag & state that you would like to be part of my giveaway. This is your 'entry'. Each time you visit & tag, gives you another entry.
2. I want you to give too. This isn't a requirement but it will give you another entry - just say "I gave" in one of your tags. I won't go into the detail that I did on my September 18th post (read if you want), but by giving I mean in any means you choose to do - big or simple. Giving materially, time-wise, or yourself - your choice.
3. If you are the winner of my giveaway, I want you to choose something from the giveaway, & in turn give it away to someone else. A 'pay it forward', so to speak.
Here's what's included in this week's giveaway:
A closer look -
The giveaway includes 2 Blossom Bucket pieces (the fall sheep & the cow, pig, & rooster), 3 cute pillows, a yummy scented candle, 2 small pumpkins (Bless Our Home & Give Thanks carved into them), & a cute pumpkin basket. It's not a Longaberger this time, but I thought it was so cute! I will announce the winner next Sunday, November 16th.
I have archived the previous posts (off to your right). I was afraid it was taking too long for everything to load for some (too many posted pictures I think). I just wanted you to know in case you wonder where they had went.
I want to share a few pictures of Elliot & Emily. For Halloween, Emily wanted to be an angel, & Elliot wanted to be Superman. Here's Emily admiring herself when she first looked in the mirror (she said "Oh! I'm bootiful!") -
At their first house (Emily uncertain she wanted to do this) -
Lest you think that LillyTrixieLilly didn't get to go -
They had such fun, but I think I had more. Especially listening to all that Emily would say. She didn't want to stay out long. After about 20 minutes, she said "I'm done. I want to go home & get this costume off, take a shower, & then go to Starbucks to get my strawberry milkshake." Again, 2 going on 22.
Here's the siggie for this week. I did two - one just a wee bit smaller. If you want her, please tag or email me, & let me know which you want. Have a great week everyone!
"None are so poor that they have nothing to give…and none are so rich that they have nothing to receive." ~John Paul II~
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and
Rutan's Delight (no longer online)
After we left there, we were so cold that all we could think about was a hot bowl of soup, so we went to Sweet Tomatoes to eat. It was 'so' good, & just what we needed.
Below is the siggie for today. If you want it, please tag or email, & let me know what wording you would like on yours. I normally don't post on Fridays, but I will drop in to post another siggie & maybe a small post.
"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." ~Burton Hillis~
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December 17, 2008 I thought I was freezing yesterday. Today, I am really freezing! It is 32 degrees right now, & we've had a 'snow mist' since about 3PM. That is what the weathermen are calling it - snow mist. I guess because it is falling along with a light rain. No matter what it is, it is cold & messy. We were going to go out tonight, but there are road advisories out in full force, saying not to leave your home unless absolutely necessary. Elliot's Awana Christmas party was tonight, & he had to miss that. He didn't act like he really minded though. We tried to give him a fun evening at home. Anyway - never dreamed we'd be confined to our home in Las Vegas, because of a weather advisory! Everyone is running about, acting like Chicken Little with the sky falling. Our driveway is nothing but ice, so I can only imagine what the roads are like. This is supposed to continue through tomorrow, & maybe into Friday. I sure hope I can get out to finish up shopping. Why couldn't this have waited till Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, to add to the feel of those days?One bad thing that came with this weather, is that our dogs absolutely refuse to go out. We took them to the door, put them out, & they won't budge. They stand there, peering in, throwing a doggie hissy fit. So far, they have held it, but I wonder what we will wake up to? Not a good thought.
With the weather we have had, I guess I got in a 'snowman' mood, so below are 3 siggies. If you want one or all, please tag or email. Hope everyone is staying warm!
"May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace, The gladness of Christmas give you hope, The warmth of Christmas grant you love." ~Unknown~
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December 16, 2008 I am sitting here freezing! I admit it, I am a weather wimp. Living in Las Vegas, I often dream of having the 4 seasons, but I am not certain I could deal with winter. I would like snow on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, but give me the sun back afterwards. I wonder if I will remember feeling this way when summer hits, & it's 117 here? Right now our temps are below the norm here. It is 35 here right now - BRRRRRR! Over the next 3 days, we have a forecast of possible snow. In Las Vegas - unreal! Weather seems to be crazy all over.My plans for today were to go out & finish up shopping, but I didn't budge from this house. We were also going to go to Magical Forest tonight, but with the temps being so low, we didn't brave that either. I can just hear the minutes ticking down - Christmas will be here before I know it, so I must go out tomorrow no matter what the weather. Like I said - weather wimp.
I asked Emily what she hopes she gets for Christmas. She said "A yo-yo would be nice." She's so easy to please. She thinks that a yo-yo will bounce up to her all by itself. I guess they do make them to do that, because Lisa & Shad told me that they got her one. I tried like crazy to get her an Oswald & Weenie stuffed toy. I could have bought these not long ago for $10 each, but stupidly, I put it off. I never dreamed they would discontinue making them. The only place I have been able to find them are on Ebay, & some bids have been as high as over $200. $200 for a 10 in. stuffed toy! One bid was up to $145 with 30 bids on it. Insane.
Elliot is easy to buy for too. He wants your typical boy stuff - Spiderman, Hulk, Batman, ect. We have never gotten his room decorated for him yet, because he kept going back & forth between a pirate, dino, or superhero theme. He has finally decided he wants dinosaurs. He doesn't know it, but that should be done for Christmas too. I have ordered him wall decals (stickers) - they are incredible. One of them is 80 in. wide by 80 in. tall. These have been featured on Extreme Home Makeover - check them out - there is about everything you can imagine to order. They are waterproof, so you can use them inside or out. They supposedly look like they have been painted on. I can't wait to get them. He will be one happy little boy! Click here to browse a neat site.
Here's the siggie for today. If wanted, please tag or email.
"This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ." ~Frank McKibben~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP & LPH
December 15, 2008 We awoke to drizzling rain this morning. It was so pretty, especially since we don't get to see awhole lot of rain here in Las Vegas. We were talking about how we wished so badly it would snow. Would you believe it - 10 minutes later, I looked out & it was snowing! Talk about excitement. Elliot & Emily were squealing with delight. If not for the drizzle, I think it would have stuck, but it melted as soon as it hit the ground. Elliot was squealing "It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" How I wish it could have stuck, & made it possible to build a tiny snowman for them. I'll be happy with the 30 minutes of falling snow we got though. Lisa sent me a few pictures that they took at their friend's house - looks like it stuck there -When Mike got home, we decided to go out for a buffet. As always it was so good! We shopped for a bit afterwards, & then took off to a Vegas Christmas tradition, the Magical Forest. It's over 2 acres of decorated trees, village scenes, carolers, rides, gift shops, ect. It's decorated like a Christmas fantasy land - so beautiful. All proceeds go to the disabled. Of course, we didn't take into account the drizzle of rain (which lasted all day) as we were driving there, & sure enough, it was closed due to rain. We'll try to go again tomorrow night.
I am so sorry that I still haven't posted pictures. I went through all of them tonight, & most aren't worth keeping, let alone posting. Mike made a royal mess when he messed around with my camera. I am beginning to think that it's just kaput, & maybe a coincidence that it all happened after he messed with my settings. It's only a year old though, so that doesn't seem possible. I took a bunch yesterday, & not a single picture could be kept - I deleted them all. They turn out a total blur. It's strange though - I might take 10 pictures, & 7 will be a complete blur, & 3 will be clear as day. I must get this fixed before Christmas. I will share this picture of Emily's birthday cake. She chose it. I had her a Princess one picked out, but for once she didn't go that route. We took her to the bakery & she browsed all the cakes & fell in love with this one -
She came upon him, gasped, & said "Oh a bootiful snowman! I love him!" I told her that he wasn't a birthday cake, but she insisted he was the one. It will be a good memory.
Here's the siggie for today. If you want one & would rather have a different wording, please tag or email me with what you would like to have it say.
"Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'." ~Bing Crosby~
Siggie created by tubes from: RPP,Teas Hope Chest, & LPH
December 14, 2008 By looking at my posting record for the last month, I should have just taken a blogging LOA. All my good intentions of getting everything done - shopping, ect. by December 1st, didn't happen. I have been busy beyond belief the past few weeks. I still have quite a bit I want/need to do. I will admit about the blogging though - I have began a post a few times, & ended up just shutting my computer down. For some reason, I have had an extreme case of 'bloggers block'. I feel so bad, but I haven't read my tags until tonight. Imagine my surprise at being nominated for a blogging award by a few of you! I feel undeserving, but thank you so much. I will get that put up tomorrow.I'm still working on getting pictures to post. I'm sorry about that too. Hopefully, I can post a few tomorrow.
I can't believe that we are 10 days away from Christmas! 10 days away, & I still have shopping to do. Mike is 'so' difficult to buy for, & I always put his shopping off till last. I will get that done this week. Of course, it will be a mission, seeing as I will have 2 along with me that I am not sure will/can keep a secret. I tried it once for his birthday, & they blurted it out before he even got fully into the door.
There is one commercial that Emily sees, & it's really the only commercial in which she says "I want that!" It's 'Giddy Up & Go' by Little Tikes. It's the 'cutest' horse! We searched everywhere for one, & they were all sold out. I went online, & the few that did have him had hiked the price up about $100 over what he retails for. We finally found one. A local Target had found one in the back, tucked away. We 'grabbed' him. Emily is going to be one happy little girl when she is greeted by him on Christmas morning. It's for ages 3-8, so it will get lots of use. Elliot will be able to enjoy him too. As will Avery. If you haven't seen this horse, 'please' click here & check it out. I smile each time I see it, just imagining Emily galloping away. Do you all remember 'Butter' - the pony that she went on & on about how she was going to ride him - we listened to her chatter about him for hours. Then the time came, & below is the pic of her when she finally got on him -
The funny thing is, Emily told us that she wanted Giddy Up, so that she could 'practice' on him, then she was going to ride Butter.
Below is the siggie for today. Seeing as I have let so many days go without posting, I am going to offer a new siggie each day all week. If you want it, please email or tag. For those of you that tagged & wanted my last one (sorry!), I will get those out tomorrow. Have a wonderful week everyone!
"He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him." ~Dutch Proverb~
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December 3, 2008 I know I said I would post pics today, but I didn't get them taken. I will try to do that tomorrow. I haven't had a chance to resize a few of Emily's birthday pictures either to place on my blog. I so wish there were more hours in a day!This is backtracking, but we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Since we had worked so hard on the flooring, & wasn't 100% finished with putting everything back in it's place, we decided last minute (the day prior), to go out to the new Aliante casino for the Thanksgiving buffet. All the casino's really go all out for the holiday buffets, & they are jammed packed with people. We put off our meal until 4PM, thinking that by then there would be no lines. We got there & first thing Mike said was "Big mistake!" The line was incredible. We were told it was an hour & a half wait, but we ended up staying in line for a bit longer than that. Elliot & Emily were so well behaved, even with all the waiting. We tried to make it fun for them. Everyone around us wanted to know all about LillyTrixieLilly. Emily is always keen on introducing her. She & her little friend never fail to bring a smile to people's faces. Anyway, the meal was worth the wait. Everything was 'so' good! When Lisa & Shad showed up with Avery, we got so tickled at her. She was dressed up like a little lady. I will try to post a pic of her too. She was so cute. We all ate a bit too much, but luckily, we only had to drive for 5 minutes, & we were home.
Remember at the beginning of last year, when I blogged about how excited I was because we had gotten such an incredible deal on an artificial tree? And artificial tree that looks real, & it should, seeing as it was an $800 tree (yes $800 before an after Christmas huge markdown. Who in this world would pay that for an artificial Christmas tree???) We put it up, & all year long I have thought of that tree - how beautiful it was going to look. Mike & both had forgotten what it even looked like. I do know that when we went out that day to shop for a new one, we were looking for a 'pencil' tree or 'slim' tree, depending on where you get it. All year long, I 'thought' I had a pencil tree. Then we got it out last week. It is not a pencil tree. It is 9 feet tall, & FIVE foot wide! I was heartsick. We had to do some rearranging, just to get it to fit in our family room. The tips of the top are slightly bent, seeing as it is touching our ceiling. We couldn't even decorate the top foot & a half. Even with a ladder, we couldn't bend over to put ornaments on it, because of the 'fatness' of the bottom of the tree. We thought we were going to have to put it in our formal living room (the ceiling in there is 2 stories high), but we didn't want to miss having it where we spend most of our family time. Anyway, it's up, & it does look beautiful. Pictures? Yes, but not one of them turned out either. I took them before I realized that Mike had messed with my camera & messed up the settings on it.
"Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect." ~Unknown~
December 1, 2008 I have said this many times, but once again, I cannot believe that I haven't been here in this long to update! I feel like a total blogger failure, but life does get busy at times. For a week, we were doing our family room flooring. We took the carpeting out & put in wood. I had wanted to do this from the beginning, especially since we have wood in so much of our home. Mike wanted carpeting in there, & regretted that decision from almost day one. I am so thrilled that it's all done. It was a job, but so well worth it! We also took out our 'huge' big screen tv from in there, & hung a plasma over our fireplace. I 'love' it! This is another thing that I have wanted to do from day one (this house was built 4 years ago). It's like having an entirely different room. I was going to post pics, but unfortunately, every picture I took turned out horrible. I will take some tomorrow. Mike was piddling around with my camera, & I don't know what he did, but the settings are so off.Anyway, I just wanted to check in. It is late & I am tired, so I will be back tomorrow to post some pics & tell you about Emily's 3rd birthday. Below is the siggie for this week. If you would like one, please tag or email with hair color you prefer.
"Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money." ~Unknown~
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November 16, 2008 Emily got to draw the wining name today...as always I will let the pictures tell the story - Congratulations Judy! I'll get your package mailed out to you as soon as I receive your address. Thank you to all that played. I already have my goodies for the next giveaway, so look for that very soon.
Emily was wanting one of her strawberry milkshakes from Starbucks after church (even though she had just eaten a big meal). I convinced her to wait till after her nap, & told her that I was going to teach her to make her own milkshake. Probably a mistake, in that she will want one everyday. Here she is putting in the strawberries -
Mike decided to surprise the kids with a picnic after church (I was surprised too). They enjoyed it so much. Emily ate soooo slow, because she said she was going to make the picnic last a long time. It amazes me that she thinks like that at her age. I wish I had pictures to share on that, but for once, I didn't have my camera with me. It was perfect picnic weather (78F).Below is the siggie for this week. If wanted, please tag or email. I hope everyone has a great week!
"Make your life a mission - not an intermission." ~Arnold H. Glasgow ~
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November 13, 2008 Today was a day that didn't seem to want to get off the ground. We slept a bit later again, because Mike got to go into work later, & that always seems to throw the day off. I don't like it. We did Elliot's school time, & then basically relaxed the rest of the day.I took this picture of Emily this morning. She takes Lilly for a ride on her tricycle every morning as she waits for her breakfast. It's so sweet. I'll hear her say "Lilly, do you want to go for a ride?" I guess Lilly must say 'yes', because she will normally laugh & say "Okay!", & then off they go through the house.
With all the Christmas commercials started, the kids have finally figured out that Christmas is coming. I hear from Elliot "Oh! I want that!" at least a dozen times a day. I haven't even began the shopping, & I need to begin. Emily wants the Disney Princess kitchen. She says she wants to help me cook, & she tells me that she can cook food for me then. Here's the picture from the website of the Princess kitchen -
It makes realistic cooking sounds, which Emily would really love. Below is the one that I would rather get her though -
I would like to show them both to her & see if she might go for the 'Lifestyle Kitchen' (as it is called). I think she would love it, but I don't want to give away one of her gifts.
Please don't forget about the giveway. If you haven't entered yet (see Sunday's post for details), please do. Emily will be drawing the name on Sunday. I'll see you all then! Have a great weekend!
"It's not what you leave to your children, it's what you leave in your children." ~Unknown~
November 12, 2008 Kathy had asked if I could make a replacement for LillyTrixieLilly - Emily would spot it in a flash. She is made of fur, but it doesn't look it now. Emily has loved her till she looks 'matty'. I don't even know if she would accept a brand new one. She & Lilly have shared lots of adventures, & I don't think she would care to share her moments with another one. It's been so sweet to watch her share this time in her life with her. No matter where we go, or what we do, LillyTrixieLilly is there too - tucked underneath Emily's arm. No matter where we go, she gets lots of attention, & we have been asked more times than I can remember "Where can we get a 'LillyTrixieLilly'?" Emily fell in love with her right off the bat, as soon as she saw her nose sticking out from underneath a pile of stuffed animals at a store. That was 2 years ago, & they are never apart. The picture below isn't a great picture, & you may not see it as sweet as I do, but I 'love' it. It's so precious to see Emily standing at the door of this home, & to see Lilly's nose sticking out. Like I said, she is always tucked under Emily's arm -Below is another one taken from that night - such a sweet picture of them together -
I must share this one - it is one of my favorites of them - Emily insisted that "LillyTrixieLilly has to be in the picture, because LillyTrixieLilly wants to be a princess too." Notice that Emily loaned her shoes to her to help her play the part -
I so love her bending over to gently kiss Lilly's head. I'm sorry - I didn't mean for this post to turn into a post about a much loved stuffed toy, but it has. Truthfully, I guess I have grown to love her too. One of my plans is to make a scrapbook dedicated to their days together (you would not believe some of the pictures I have - so sweet!).
We were going to go out to eat at the new Aliante Station casino, but decided against it since it just opened last night. I know it would have been a madhouse. We settled on our favorite Mexican food restaurant. Emily got her fill of 'Mocamole', as did Elliot. Shad, Lisa, & Avery joined us & then we went back to our house & had dessert a bit later.
Sweet Elliot made my day today - he hugged me & said "Nana, you are the best Nana in the whole world, & you are my favorite Nana!" I told him that he is the best Elliot in the world, & my most favorite Elliot...he loved that. He is so precious. I only hope I can live up to his praise of me.
I so hated to see that Nancze has closed her blog. I know she will be greatly missed in the blogging world. She is such a special lady.
"Be still sad heart, and cease repining, behind the clouds the sun is still shining." ~Unknown~
November 11, 2008 Mike didn't have to go into work until noon, so we had a really laid back morning. In fact, we all slept in till 9AM. By him going in late, it seemed to throw the entire day off balance, & it felt like a weekend day all day. He & Elliot ran out to do some errands this morning, while Emily & I enjoyed a lazy morning of reading stories. No matter how many times she hears a story, she never tires of it. I pray that she will always keep her love for books, as I did.We spent some time with sweet Avery. I have said it so often, but she is the 'best' baby! Always content, & always smiling. Here's a picture of her in Emily's princess tiara. Looks like we will have 2 princesses in the family -
She did have fun exploring the kitchen. She loves getting into the cabinets, & leaves a trail of plastic bowls & lids as she goes.
I don't think I have mentioned it, but LillyTrixieLilly has a baby now. Emily named her "Baby Lilly". I have hunted in vain for another Lilly. They have discontinued making her. I am so afraid Emily is going to love her 'bare'. She is never without her. I did find that they made a tiny one, but when I ordered her, I didn't realize she was going to be 'so' tiny. I thought maybe it might grab Emily's heart, but nothing will take the place of her LillyTrixieLilly. She will only pick her up every so often (rarely). Here is 'Baby Lilly' with her 'Mommy' -
A new casino opened up near our home tonight (Aliante Station). The neighborhood wasn't real thrilled about one opening, but it is far enough away as to not bother us. Seeing as it is 11/11, they opened tonight at 11:11PM, which was weird I think. They had a huge fireworks display (it lasted 11 minutes, since everything is tied to 11/11). It was beautiful. We didn't go to the opening of the casino (had no interest), but we could watch the fireworks from an upstairs bedroom window. They started at 10PM, so we let Elliot & Emily stay up to watch. Nothing would have made Emily miss the fireworks. She was so excited. It was way past their bedtime, but it was worth it to let them enjoy it.
I am going to drive you batty with siggies, but I piddled around & did another one tonight. I took a break from fall themed ones. I tried to animate the star, but not too sure it will show up well against this lighter background. If you want one, tag or email me. Don't forget the giveaway! If you want to enter (see Sunday's post), let me know.
"If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears." ~Glenn Clark~
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November 10, 2008 What a start to my day this morning! Mike had just left for work, & I was in Emily's room. Elliot was playing with his toys, when all at once I heard a blood curdling scream. And I mean blood curdling! What a feeling to be in another room & hear a child scream out, "Please! Help me! Help me!", all the while screaming at the top of his lungs. I 'flew' to him, & his leg (all the way up to his calf) was wedged down into the back of the couch between the wood framing. He was in such a panic, screaming at the top of his lungs. No matter what I did, I couldn't budge his leg. I thought for sure, it was broken. I could push my hand down into the couch, & I could feel his foot, bent & trapped between the wood framing of the couch. I honestly thought I was going to have to run to the garage & get something to just try to tear the couch apart. I was so scared, but trying to calm him down. The screams were only getting louder & louder. What a nightmare it was. I finally reached down & tried to push with all my might to pry the wood frame apart enough for him to pull his foot loose. It was stuck tight, but when I felt him slightly move it, I pushed on his foot while trying to keep things separated for him to move it. What a relief when we got it out. He must have been stuck a good 5 minutes (a looooong 5 minutes!), but already his foot was swollen & looked bruised. He was scared out of his wits. I had to hold him for quite a long time, just to calm him. He was able to walk with a hobble, but everything seemed okay. It's is a miracle that he didn't hurt his foot seriously. I knew his foot didn't just slip down in there, so after talking with him awhile, he admitted that he had jumped up & down on the couch after I walked out of the room (a 'big' no-no, & he knows it), & somehow when he came down on one of the jumps, his foot slipped down between back of the couch & the wood framing. It's hard to explain. I know this much - it scared him so badly, that I don't think he will 'ever' jump on the couch again. He was teary all day because of it. I did get a 'present' from him. He brought this to me after Mike had taken him to the park - It's the sweetest thing when a little boy brings you a flower. He was so proud. He walked into the house, hands behind his back, & said "I have you a present!", then he pulls it out from behind him. He wanted to know what vase I was going to put it in. I told him that it was so special, I wanted to put it in a tiny crystal glass. Even in that tiny glass, it floats.
I want to share this picture of Emily too (& Lilly) - I love the sweet look she is giving me here -
It was Monday night football, so Mike told the kids that we were going to have a pizza party again. That brought cheers. Emily I'm offering 2 more siggies below. If you want one, please tag or email. On the 'from our home to yours', if you want it to say something else, please let me know (i.e. From our home to yours, have a blessed Fall. or wording of your choosing). I can also change hair & eye color, so please let me know that. Oh...& please don't forget to enter the giveaway if you are interested (see yesterday's post).
"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action." ~W.J. Cameron~
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November 9, 2008 I honestly cannot believe that it's been so long since I've posted here. Life has been busy, & I've just been enjoying hobbies, family, & catching up with some things. I've been making some websets for some that have requested them, & I can get completely lost in the graphics - I love it so much! I would tell myself each day that I would stop in here & at least post a little bit, but would end up telling myself "tomorrow". The longer you go without showing up here, the easier it becomes to put it off for another day. As the days went on, I became too comfortable not posting. I guess I just needed a break from it. I still should have at least dropped in & told you all that I was okay, & I'm sorry. Thank you all for being so patient with me.Seeing as it's been awhile since I posted, I thought it a good time to have another giveaway. Emily's been asking to "play the game", so I will grant her her wish. It's been awhile since I have posted the rules, so they are as follows if you want to participate -
1. If you want to be entered, please tag & state that you would like to be part of my giveaway. This is your 'entry'. Each time you visit & tag, gives you another entry.
2. I want you to give too. This isn't a requirement but it will give you another entry - just say "I gave" in one of your tags. I won't go into the detail that I did on my September 18th post (read if you want), but by giving I mean in any means you choose to do - big or simple. Giving materially, time-wise, or yourself - your choice.
3. If you are the winner of my giveaway, I want you to choose something from the giveaway, & in turn give it away to someone else. A 'pay it forward', so to speak.
Here's what's included in this week's giveaway:
The giveaway includes 2 Blossom Bucket pieces (the fall sheep & the cow, pig, & rooster), 3 cute pillows, a yummy scented candle, 2 small pumpkins (Bless Our Home & Give Thanks carved into them), & a cute pumpkin basket. It's not a Longaberger this time, but I thought it was so cute! I will announce the winner next Sunday, November 16th.
I have archived the previous posts (off to your right). I was afraid it was taking too long for everything to load for some (too many posted pictures I think). I just wanted you to know in case you wonder where they had went.
I want to share a few pictures of Elliot & Emily. For Halloween, Emily wanted to be an angel, & Elliot wanted to be Superman. Here's Emily admiring herself when she first looked in the mirror (she said "Oh! I'm bootiful!") -
Lest you think that LillyTrixieLilly didn't get to go -
They had such fun, but I think I had more. Especially listening to all that Emily would say. She didn't want to stay out long. After about 20 minutes, she said "I'm done. I want to go home & get this costume off, take a shower, & then go to Starbucks to get my strawberry milkshake." Again, 2 going on 22.
Here's the siggie for this week. I did two - one just a wee bit smaller. If you want her, please tag or email me, & let me know which you want. Have a great week everyone!
"None are so poor that they have nothing to give…and none are so rich that they have nothing to receive." ~John Paul II~
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and
Rutan's Delight (no longer online)