TheBlogFrog!

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm trying something I've seen others do. I want to see who visits my blog. So in order for me to see you, I need you to join TheBlogFrog, it's an easy way for me to see who stopped by!
http://theblogfrog.com/Users/widgets.aspx

Thank you, and Happy Sunday!

Elizabeth Mitchell~You Are My Little Bird

Yesterday, Claire and I were driving in the car, listening to one of our favorite children's musical artists, and I wondered how many people really knew about her. I wanted to share it with all of you because I believe she is a wonderful artist! Elizabeth Mitchell is the talent behind this music. She and her husband both sing on her CD's. You can click the link below and listen to a sampling of her wonderful songs! We listen to it all the time. I love listening to children's music like this because it is so innocent and calming!

http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-My-Little-Bird/dp/B000GKZN9M

I hope you all enjoy it and no, I am not getting a cut from Ms. Mitchell, lol, hmm, but what a thought!

Happiness 101 Award....I feel the love and I"m happy!

I was busy finishing a project today when I thought, oooh a few minutes with my blogging friends might give me the energy I need to complete it! So wasn't I surprised when I opened my mail and "Katie from "Tote's Life" flagged me for the Happiness 101 Award! I was shocked to say the least!

Rules~
~The rules are simply list 10 things that make you happy
~Tag 10 other bloggers and link back to the person who tagged you

So in no particular order here are the things that make me Happy!

Books~

This is just one pile of books by my bedside table. I cannot get enough. I am a voracious reader and I read everyday. If I don't read I feel lost! Books put a smile on my face. My kids can never say they are bored because they have piles and piles of books too!

Chance by Chanel~

I adore this perfume! My hubby got it for me for Christmas, and when I wear it, it makes me smile!

My finished project~

Ok, so this is what I have been working on. I know this saying has been everywhere around blog land, but I truly love it. So Anna http://lonadeanna.blogspot.com don't curse me for doing it again, lol. I loved your other ideas for sayings and hey, you might see those on here too!
I am truly HAPPY that this is finished. Don't look too closely! I cut each letter out by hand and then had to free hand the crown, ugh! But oh so Happy!

Peanut M&M's~

I get almost giddy when I eat these, just like a little kid at Christmas, honest!

Best Friends~

This is my sister Amy on the left. You have all heard about her many times before. She is my best friend, a fabulous cook, a great mother and seriously one smart cookie! The other is of my good friend Debbie. She is a great listener and one who is always in your corner. Her daughter and my daughter are best buds as well, so that makes me happy!

Halloween~Warning this may scare some~

I love Halloween and I am known around here as the Queen of Halloween! This was me last year at Halloween. I was a crazy witch lady. I dress up every year and the neighborhood kids love it! I also start decorating in August, because I love it so much!

This year I was a Vampiress with fangs. Claire's kindergarten class thought my fangs were real, and wondered how long it took me to "Grow" them! Ha, boy did that make me laugh!

This Little Lady~


I love it when Claire plays dress-up, what a cutie! Star quality don't you think?

STARBUCKS COFFEE~

I hope I didn't offend anyone, but it is the truth, just ask anybody!

Love it!

This saying makes he laugh! Hmmm, sounds good to me!

Coffee makes me so happy, can you tell?

Exclamation Points~
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I probably over use them but they really make me happy! So I will continue to use them!

Decorating with words~
Can you have too many? No, I don't think so! Can you tell I love coffee?




Paris and Crowns~

My husband made this for me in the kitchen. He framed the letters and did the paint job. If you look to the right, its my collection of crowns! Well, I am the queen you know!

I'd like to say the last thing that makes me happy is all of you! I started this blog in November because I felt like I had lots to say and thought it was easier to tell people that I didn't know. I cannot believe the responses I have received and from all over the world. Seriously, did I ever in my wildest think I would be chatting with women in Australia and England? I have throughly enjoyed the friendships this has brought and have loved every minute of it.

Ok so I don't know if I made it to 10 but I'm exhausted, I hope you enjoyed all of them. I need to now give this award out to ten people but this is so hard because you are all so deserving. I will do my best!

Julie~http://juliejohnsonblog.blogspot.com/
Jeanne~http://collageoflife-henrqs.blogspot.com/
http://charishumin.blogspot.com/
A M~http://thehousethata-mbuilt.blogspot.com/
Anna~http://lonadeanna.blogspot.com/
Michelle~http://windhula.blogspot.com/
http://mycakies.blogspot.com/
Laura~http://mylifeisapieceofcake.blogspot.com/
Rachelle~http://lovinmylovebugs.blogspot.com/
Meredith~http://meredith-countitalljoy.blogspot.com/
Dusty~http://ideastalker.blogspot.com/

So maybe I did do 11 and not 10 but it was really hard. I hope you ladies have as much fun as I did, Thanks again Katie http://toteslife.blogspot.com/

I joined the bandwagon!

Lately I have been noticing some fantastic walls of family pictures, so I thought it was time to complete mine and show you all what I have done!



I decided I wanted to do all black and white photos. Since my mother passed away I received several great pictures of her that I wanted to showcase. I even got the original wedding pictures of my husbands grandparents and his parents.



This is a picture of my mom when she was a store model in Ohio! I took some black and white scrapbook paper to mat it, isn't it so great!



This is a collage of my mother. There is a picture of her with Santa, 1st communion, cowgirl, picture with the Easter bunny and the middle one is of her college graduation picture! On the bottom far left is a picture of my grandparents as they are leaving the church after their wedding. My grandmother has since past but my grandfather is 94. I swear he is going to live well past 100!



This is my husband's grandparents wedding picture.



My mother in-law finally gave me one of my favorite pictures of her when they got married, so glam!



These are James' little baby feet!



This is one of my favorite's of James, he would just die if he knew I put this on here!



And last but not least who can pass up a naked booty picture? This is Claire and I just love them!

Enjoy!

Can you handle a few more valentines?

Finally! My camera is working so I can show you what my 5 year old and I made for her class Valentines. We had so much fun making them and she was such a trooper. She has 22 kids in her class and she insisted that she write all her friends names herself. I think her hand hurt a little but she was so happy!





I bought packages of cards from Hobby Lobby at 40% off along with the stamp at 50% off and I already had the scrapbook paper and muffin cups on hand. I just used paper that looked like they had stems on them and cut around them, then we punched out hearts for the leaves. We put a heart sticker for the center and a lip sticker for her kiss and Voila'!



For her teacher gift I bought a bottle of lotion from Bath and Body Works. We cut out her hand prints using heart paper of course, and then stuck them around the bottle. I then wrote, "Thought I'd give you a hand or two for all you do!"



She was so proud of her little hands!



My little Valentine!



Claire also insisted on letting her teacher know how much she loves her!



My son had a valentine box contest for his class. They were being judged on who could bring in the most creative box. When my husband heard that, he was in! Well lets just say that this guy loves a challenge and for him the bigger the better. So, James thought doing a shark with an open mouth for the valentines to go in would be great, and my husband thought that sounded perfect!



This is what they came up with.....



James was pretty happy about his completed project, he couldn't wait to get to school!



James ended up winning 1st prize for the most creative Valentines' Box, he was very excited but I think my husband was a little giddy when he found out!

Hope you enjoyed it, we sure did!

Just around the corner for boys......

Yesterday my 10 year old son came flying through the door yelling, "mom, we watched THE movie!" I was still trying to come off my high of being alone for the past 7 hours, so switching gears and realizing that within minutes the neighborhood boys would come knocking at my door was a little hard to do. Hasn't anyone gotten the memo that I don't like kids?

THE movie, what was he talking about? I vaguely remember that letter he brought home talking about THE movie and when he would be watching it, but I'm sure something else like the dog throwing up needed immediate attention so to the....Forget It Til Later Pile the letter went in hopes it would become nighttime reading. I didn't realize yesterday would be the day!
Oh crap, do I have time to fix myself a drink? I don't think I'm ready for this. He said mom, "I'm gonna start to smell so I need to shower everyday and wear deodorant!" How do you keep a straight face when your kid seems so proud that he will stink? He also started talking about his testicles and how big they will get, oh god I can't wait to hear 5, 1o year olds sitting in the basement having that discussion!

James then said, "Mom, do you know what they have to do to the girls
privates?" Hold on to your seats hear gals, God knows I was sitting at this point! He said, "they have to take this thing and clean them out!" "What!" "What are they teaching you?" If I could have had a shot of something strong I sure would have. I said, "James wait, what exactly are you saying?" He said, "I don't know, they need to flush them out because they smell or something." "Ok, do you think you heard the word douche?" "Oh, yea thats what they said!" "Mom, do you do that?" Why me, really Lord why me? "No James, I don't, and in my opinion I don't think it is necessary or safe. I told James I didn't want him to think that girls smell or needed to be flushed out so please don't give it another thought. Its a good thing he is such a boy because he just jumped up and said, "I'm starving!" I said, "oh good, hope no one minds if I have a drink, its 5 o'clock somewhere!

So, just another day in the life of our family, so, how was your day?

I'm In!

I came upon a party that I couldn't pass up. If anyone who knows me, knows I like a good party! So when I read 2Cool4myMinivan was joining the party started by Mimi Bella Boo (He asked, I said yes) I knew I had to join in. Here goes my love story:

I remember the night I met Jim. It was December 30, 1989 and I was 18 years old. Yes practically still a baby. I had gone out with a couple of my girlfriends and we were headed to a pre New Years Eve party. We were actually going to this party to meet up with a couple of guys we had met over the summer, and I thought one was interested in me. (Ok, what the hell was I thinking, I sound like one of the girls on the Bachelor chasing the guy, ugggh! Well it turns out I was not the one he liked after all. (Always go with your gut girls!) "Dick" took one look at my friend Stacy or should I say her chest and thought she might suit his taste more. Oh, if "Dick" could see my chest now, LOL! To be honest, that was a hard blow for me because Stacy didn't even look back at me after she walked away with him. (Can you say the "B" word!) By the time the burn on my face died down I realized I was left standing alone. Yup! You heard me, standing alone just when that slow song starts playing, "I wanna know where love is, "ok, am I really hearing this song? They were playing goofy 80's music, just to get a laugh, this was no joke!" (Pause) Oh sorry I was totally remembering an 8th grade dance where all the girls planned on wearing Hawaiian shorts, and I was the only one that showed up wearing them because apparently, I didn't get the memo that they had changed their minds and yes that song was playing. Sorry I digress, and I do that a lot so bear with me!

Ok, so I look across the crowded room, I know sounds cheesy but I did and there was this guy smiling at me. I couldn't believe that I actually started to walk over to him. I mean really at that point I was already humiliated twice so what did I have to lose, ok, really, just my dignity, but hey there was something pulling me in his direction. I didn't even think twice and I kinda slid up and introduced myself and we started dancing and talking.

We talked for a while and went outside because it was hot and loud and I couldn't hear his name. After a while of introducing ourselves and chatting a little, he leaned over and kissed me. I was so caught off guard I laughed. I knew for sure that was it and I was right, my friends were getting ready to leave. The next night was New Years Eve and we went to another gathering where I honestly didn't expect to see him so I didn't hold my breath. What do you know, Jim walked out of the house just as we approached the door. I was shocked. We said hi, and really that was it.

I left this time wondering when would I see him again, because I really wanted to! But would he want to see me? Jim was a couple years older than I was and he was attending the private college in town but seriously how was I going to get him and I in the same place again? My friends were of no help so I kinda gave up. Well, to my surprise he called three weeks later, yea me! I was absolutely elated! We talked on the phone and he asked me if I remembered who he was and I said yes, kind of. I knew his name was Jim but I didn't remember his last name. I said to him, "your last name is some bird right?" He laughed and said, "good enough after 3 weeks, its Partridge." Whew no points taken off for that. He asked if I would like to go out on Saturday. He said he would like to cook me dinner. Of course I wanted to, I wanted to scream with excitement, I've been secretly hoping and praying he would find a way to call me, so I answered casually mind you, "sure sounds great!" He asked me if I would like to just drive over and meet him at his apartment. I had a secret I didn't want him to know so I said, "you know, if it would be ok with you, could you pick me up, because I won't have a car available." Little did he know there wasn't even a driver's license to go with that car. I know its crazy but I did not get my license until I was 19 years old. The reason being, there were 4 kids in the family and no one was that interested in teaching me how to drive or even loan me a car to take the dam test. As nerdy as it sounds, It all worked out in the end.

Jim came to pick me up at my house. It was a weekend, so no one was home, so I gave him a quick tour around the house and he surprised me with a kiss. I was shocked and so not expecting that again, but at least I didn't laugh. He said that he had been waiting three weeks to do that. Wow, I guess I had made some impression on this guy! He told me that the reason it took him so long to call was because he had gone on a snowmobile trip with a group of guys and then when he got back he really needed to hit the books and finally just figured out what my phone number was and called me. At the time I was a blondie so the whole time he was on his trip and afterwards he listed to Blondie and thought of me, wow! I was totally flattered, Debbie Harry is smoking!


So this is what we looked like when we met. My mother was in horror when she saw his crazy hair. Not only did he have this crazy hair but he had his ear pierced and wore a little silver dagger in his ear. Don't even try to understand why, I still am not sure, and I still have that dagger earring! I cannot even believe how young I looked in this picture. I swear I remember this day like it was yesterday. Jim was over for dinner so someone decided I needed my picture taken.



We started to date pretty much after our first dinner date. Jim actually proposed to me on the 4th of July 1992. We had gone to the lake with his family where they had a big fireworks show. He had been acting a little strange all day but I just figured it was because we were with his family. We were lying on a blanket and all of a sudden he leaned over and said, "so, what do you think of spending the rest of your life with me?" I had no idea what he was talking about so I said, "yah, uh huh". I guess I was really into the fireworks so I didn't really pay much attention to him. He then pulled my face towards him and said, "No, I mean you and me forever." I said, Jim, quit talking your parents." I think he was losing patience with me because I wasn't really listening and finally he said, "I'm asking you to marry me!" Wow, shocker! I said, "are you serious!" He then took the ring out and I knew he was serious. We didn't have a traditional engagement ring, we actually had an Irish Claddagh ring.



Thought you might like some history on this ring:

The meaning and significance of the Claddagh ring is not just in the crown, heart and clasping hands, it also extends to the hand on which the ring is worn and the direction in which the crown on the ring points. In case of a married or engaged person Claddagh rings are worn on the left hand with the crown pointing away from the (the person wearing the ring) heart. For a person willing to consider love the ring is traditionally worn on the right hand with the crown pointing away from the heart. For a person not interested in starting a relationship the Claddagh ring is worn on the right hand with the crown pointing towards the heart.

We dated three years before getting married on December 29, 1992. Our actual wedding ring looked like this:




For some reason I chopped my hair off and colored it back to my natural color. Can you say helmet hair? And oh so matronly!
Notice the little bit of lace hanging from the dress, I stepped on my dress while putting it on, and no time to fix it! Look how big Jim's glasses are, they didn't seem big back then!



I have to give a shout out to my sister Amy who so sweetly tried to calm me down before walking down the aisle!



Nice cheesy grin! We were doing the meet and greet!



I was gritting my teeth at Jim, he so wanted to stuff cake in my face!



We had a beautiful wedding. 17 years later we are still in wedded bliss, with 2 kids ages 10 and 5 and several small 4 legged creatures!

Hope you like my story!