Wordless Wed ~ Palin Power

I am attending a Sarah Palin rally tonight. I'm so excited!

Meet Franklin.

Meet Franklin. He is a new addition to the family.He is 9 weeks old today. My kids love him. But he does not live at our house. He is my mom's dog. But the kids and I have already claimed him as ours! Even my grandfather loves the puppy.

Isn't he just adorable?

My New Project....

I am so excited about my new project; I am a Chez Ami Representative for the children’s apparel created by Patsy Aiken Designs. If you have yet to view her adorable children’s line, you must hop on over to view the website now! Simply click on the image above and you will be connected with the site.

Chez Ami is a classic children's clothing line featuring boys from infant to size 7 and girls from infant to size 16.

Chez Ami’s Fall 2008 Collection includes monogrammed sweaters, velour dot fabric options including styles for moms, a boy’s line that is jamming, and finally a newly expanded line for babies and toddlers that will mix and match. Over 250 styles are included from tops to tunics, capes to Capri’s and swings to sweaters! Your Fall/Winter will be filled with sweet Sugarplums, Gingerbread and Marmalade styles! If you are interested in placing an order for Fall or Spring merchandise, please let me know and I will be happy to assist you in your selections! You may also place a Chez Ami order online; I would be thrilled if you would include me as your rep. My Consultant ID# is 537817.

Hope you are having a fabulous week. Can't wait to read everyone's blogs and see what I have been missing!

Just What America Needs.....

I am thrilled with McCain's VP choice, Governor Palin is prefect for the position. I am so ready for November!

Disney World, 2007

I was going through my CD’s of old photos tonight and came across my Disney pictures from last years vacation. It amazes me when I look back at how much children change over a year.

My Monkey has grown incredibly. He is no longer a baby. It saddens me but also relives me at the same time. My Princess and Superhero have changed so much as well.

Anyway, I decided to post pictures from last years Disney vacation. It was a great vacation but it was so exhausting!

The first stop was finding characters to meet. For some reason the Princess freaked out right before it was our turn for photos with Tigger. She loves him on TV but was very disturbed with him in person. The only way we could get a picture of her with Tigger was if my Mother held her. Now, Pluto was a different story. She was so excited to meet him. That was all she talked about weeks leading up to the vacation. As you can tell by both of these photos the Superhero loved meeting both of them. Minnie’s house was adorable and so fun. The Princess fell in love with it.Matt’s cousin Blair lives in Orlando and her husband works at Disney. How wonderful is that? Anyway, that is Blair on Dumbo with the Princess and me. Dumbo has always been my #1 favorite ride at Disney World. Not sure why though, I just really like it. One of the Superhero’s favorite stops was the Buzz Lightyear ride. I must admit it was really fun. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, even the Monkey and my parents. I love this next photo. I can only imagine the conversation these two were having. She was probably mothering him and he was probably thinking “back off of my Mickey Mouse little girl!”Matt, Blair and Nolan after riding Splash Mountain.Blair’s husband, Adam, goofing off with the kids. They loved him! I have no clue why the Monkey is so upset in this photo. I do remember him being a huge handful that day though. (That really hasn’t changed over the past year.) The kids had so much fun that they all passed out before we left the park. Luckily though they all fell asleep at different times. The kids had such a great time in Disney. We all did. I have so many wonderful memories from that trip. It was great being able to spend the time with Blair and Adam. They are such wonderful people. It really is a magical place, isn’t it? I can’t wait to go again.

Happy Birthday Mom!

June 28th was mother’s birthday. I won’t say how old she turned or what year she was born in. Instead I will show a photo or two that she will probably want to have my head for posting on here! :)

But before I do that, let me tell you a little bit about my mother.

She is the first born child.
She has two younger brothers.
She was born in New York and raised there until she was 13.
At the age of 13 she moved from New York to the Midwest with her parents and brothers. (I don’t think she has ever gotten used to that move ~ but who can blame her?)

She grew up to become a nurse ~ she is one heck of a nurse and she loves what she does.
I am her only child, but she does have two step daughters that she loves dearly.

But once upon time, a loooong time ago, she won the title of Miss Indiana in a roller skating competition.

Wasn't she hawt stuff?! She was/is a really good roller skater, obviously she won, right? I can remember going to the roller skating rink as a kid and watching her do her thing. I don’t think I was ever as good as she was. Well, I know I wasn’t. It’s just one of her many talents.

I have so many wonderful memories of her while I was growing up. She has the best heart and will do anything for anyone. My Mom is one of my best friends. She has picked me up each time I have fallen, dusted me off and encouraged me to back on my feet. She is an amazing lady and such an inspiration to me. My hope is that I am just half the person that she has been to me.

Me and my mom being silly a couple years ago.

But you know the best part is knowing that my children have her as their grandmother. And they simply adore her. The Superhero with his "Grandma" ~ "MaMaw" in May of 2008. The Princess and her "MaMaw" ~ "Nanny" in May of 2004. And the Monkey with his "Grandmum"~ "MaMaw" in February of 2008.

I’m blessed to be her daughter. She's the greatest and I love her dearly. So happy belated birthday Momma! And it doesn't matter that I'm posting this almost 2months after the fact. (That's typical of me!) :)

2weeks**4days

That is how long it has been since my last post. I'm gonna blog about some the craziness life has thrown my way during that time.

~~~

On Friday August 1st my little guy, the Monkey, had surgery. He had his old tubes removed and new ones put in along with his adnoids taken out. It was the day I had been dreading.

We arrived at the hospital almost 2 hours before the surgery time. He was happy. He was playing great with his toys watching TV. Everything was going good until it was time to change his clothes. They made him change out of his clothes into a hospital gown. He hated it. Then to make matters worse the nurse came to take him away. My heart broke as she carried my little boy down the hall screaming and crying for me. The only comforting thing was to know that he was in such good hands.

After surgery they carried him back to me, he was crying and very disoriented. The anesthesiologist told me he was pretty sure everyone in the OR was able to hear my little boy. It took awhile for him to come out of the drowsiness but once he did he was in great spirits.

This photo was taken almost an hour after his surgery. I just love that smile on his face. Here he is at home trying to rest while watching something on the disney channel.

I can tell a huge in improvement in him since the surgery. I know he is feeling much better.

~~~

My SUV and my husband’s truck were both broken into the night before the Monkey’s surgery. We always lock the car doors, especially at night time. But it appears this one night we both failed to do so. Luckily they only stole items that were left in the middle consol of the vehicles. They stole CD’s from both cars. My husband only had a few CD’s in his truck so they didn’t get a whole lot from him. My car was another story though. I had all of my CD’s in there, including CD’s I’ve had since high school. The most devastating loss was the Superhero’s Nintendo DS. Those punks stole his DS along with the brand new game he got as a birthday present less than a month ago. My heart sunk. How was I going to explain this to my 8 year old child? I was heart broken. It is one thing to steal from me, but a completely different thing to steal from a child, my child. He took the news well and almost a week later his grandmother, my mother, bought him a new DS. All I know is what goes around comes around and I sure hope it comes around to whoever stole that DS.

~~~

With the expectation of just a few things left to do, the Princessess room is almost complete. And I am head over heelz in love with it.

This is her new bed. I am undecided on what I want to do with the bedding at this time. My mother purchased some adorable ballerina sheets from Target for her to use in the meantime. Her quilt from Pottery Barn that fit on her toddler bed goes great with her room. So for now, that is staying. This piece of furniture was purchased when I was pregnant with the Superhero more than 8 years ago. We decided to keep it and re-do it to match the bed. A work in progress.I love the end result. It turned out great.

I love the whole room. My husband did an awesome job on her room.

~~~

We had back to school night last week. So hard to believe summer is over and another school year is beginning. This will be a fun year. The Superhero is entering 2nd grade, the Princess is heading into her third and last year of preschool and the Monkey is embracing his first year of preschool. That means I will have 2 1/2 hours of alone time twice a week. No kids. No fighting. Just me time. I am thrilled. I have no clue what I will do to fill the time. But I doubt it will be hard to come up with ideas!

Back to school = No T.V. at bedtime.

No T.V. at bedtime = Sad, sad kiddos.

At this very moment they are praying for the weekend to arrive.

~~~

I was able to squeeze in a girls night. I love the time I get to share with these girls. I have been friends with the two gals to the right of me since third grade.

~~~

The weather was great this weekend. Sunny. High 80's. Light breeze.

I took several bike rides with the Superhero. I haven't been on a bike since I was 16 or 17. (That's over 10 years ago) I had a lot of fun with him. It is something we will have to do more often.

I was able to play a little baseball with my boys too. I suck. I'm horrible. But they still let me play. Isn't that nice? I can hit okay, I can throw pretty hard but I can't catch the ball. Oh well. It's the time spent that counts. Not my skillz, right?

~~~

I was given two fabulous blog awards by two very special blog friends.

First, Laura gave me this smile award. I love it. She is such a funny gal that always makes me smile when I read her blog. Then, Lisa gave me the Sharing the Love award. I love it too. And I love reading her blog as well. Thanks for sharing the love Lisa!

And very soon I will be giving both of these awards out to those who make me smile and share the love.

Mwah! Thanks again girls. I love these awards.

~~~

Have a good week everyone. Can't wait to read your blogs and see what has been going on in your lives for the past two weeks and four days.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Picture Perfect

Photo taken June 25, 2008 by my sister-in-law. We were out at her families property in the country. Between her and her amazing Aunt Tanya many great photos of my beautiful kids were captured. I'll be sure to share more very soon.

***Click here and here, for more Wordless Wednesday***

Happy Wednesday.

Lazer Tag * Pink Walls * And Other Stuff

Saturday night was the Superhero’s birthday party with his friends. The party was Lazer Tag. And it was a huge success. I didn’t really capture many good photos, there was just way too much going on.

But I did get a photo of the cake. He loved the cake as did his friends.

~~~

We are currently in the process of re-doing the Princess' bedroom.I should state that when I say "we" I mean my husband. Anyway, we wanted to paint pink and white stripes under the chair rail.

I headed out Sunday morning with the older two children to pick out the perfect shade of pink. This was much more difficult than I had imagined. The Princess and I picked out what we thought would be just the right color.

When we got home Matt was almost done putting the tape up on the walls.

Now we were ready to see what the color would like....Oh.My.Gosh. It looks like bubble gum splattered all over the walls! This is not what I had imagined.Each time we enter the room we feel like we are entering a candy store on crack.

Would you like a lollipop?

The most important thing, though, is that my little girl absolutely adores it. She is in love with it. As soon as someone new enters the house she directs them to her room to show off what her daddy did for her. She is so proud of it. I suppose it does fit her personality. It is bold, loud and sassy.

It's starting to grow on me.

For now I just need to finish decorating the room. Fingers are crossed that it will look mush less dramatic once I am done.

~~~

The monkey is having some serious ear issues. He had tubes put in his ears over a year ago and it seems as if we are going to have to go down that road again. He keeps his little finger in his ear and will tell me “it hurs momma, it hurs.” H breaks my heart. He has done really good considering but I know he is in pain.

Fingers crossed and prayers said hopefully he will be feeling much better soon.

~~~

Now about the new shoes.

After all of the above I was left with no time for shoe shopping.

But I decided post a photo of my classy shoe.

Honestly I didn’t pay attention to how ugly they were before this little incident. So how doo you like my thrifty-ness?

As soon as I do purchase a new pair, and it will be soon, I will post the photo of the fab new pair.

Today I wear classy shoes

Today I have found myself asking “when did I turn into the type of girl that purchases.cheap.shoes?”

Shortly after arriving at work this morning my right high heeled shoe fall apart on me. Leaving me with, not just a minor broken shoe, but a shoe that will no longer get me through the rest of the day. The shoes have a strap that goes across my foot near my toes, that is what broke in half.

Oh it’s classy ladies. Let me tell ya.

I live on the other side of town. So running home to change shoes, change clothes to match new shoes is not an option. There are no stores near me to run into to see if they would have shoes that would compliment my outfit. So that too, is not an option.

**Sigh**

What’s a girl to do?

I tried to be thrifty, but lets get real, I am no thrifty girl.

I tried tape. I tried staples. I tried more tape. Not scotch tape. I’m talking about surgical tape or packing tape. Then I tried a safety pen. And yes that worked.

Yea for the safety pen, right? I just keep telling myself “It’s better than barefoot” but I’m not convinced yet!

Well at least I provided humor for those around me today. Today I’m the girl with sad and pitiful shoes. Oh the humiliation.

But the bright side to all this humiliation is that I am going shoe shopping this weekend for a pair of fabulously expensive new heels!

Happy Birthday Superhero

Today is my Superhero's 8th birthday.
Wow, it is amazing how fast those years have gone by. Before I know it he will be driving and dating.
I think I want the next 8 years to go by in s-l-o-w mode please.

He is my Superhero

After rummaging through tons of photos I have come to the conclusion that over 70% of photos ever taken of my Superhero are photos of him dressed up as some sort of superhero. This child has been in “character” since he was able to walk. I suppose that is why his blog name “Superhero” fits him so well.

So without further ado, here are some of my favorite Superhero moments.

Here he is at 3 years of age. Just being silly.

A spiderman that can fix things....what could be better?

Something he just put together using tools and weapons.

All I know is that the Hulk hands must be a guy thing ~ my two boys and my husband love them. However, the Princess and I just don't get it.

Here is at 4 years old with one of his best friends, E.

I just adore that sweet lil' face.

Oh this one just makes me laugh.

What could possibly be better than Batman & Spiderman combined?

Check out the seriousness of that photo. The bad guys just don't stand a chance.

In both of the above photos he is playing around with E again. Me and my Superhero when I was pregnant with the Princess.Clowning around with his lil' brother. At least once a day I can be guaranteed that I will catch this little guy dressed up as something, or someone. He instantly becomes the character with a quick change of clothes. He has so much imagination and personality. What a fun little guy he is. I have had so much fun watching him play and grow up. He is my Superhero.