[ our newest family member ]

I was waiting to introduce our new family member to make sure that she would be a permanent fixture in our household. She seemed to good to be true....fully housebroken, spayed, non-barking, loving, & kid friendly!!!Her probationary period is over so I guess she's staying. LOL!

Oh! and her name is D.O.G. pronounced "dee-oh-gee". Say it quickly & it sounds Chinese. A couple of funny things about her: she won't leave our living room b/c she slips on the hard wood floors, & she's not fond of the camera (notice that she looks sad) but I still took her picture. Grant loves her & I am trying to get him to take on some responsibility in caring for her. All in all, she's a good pup....we think we'll keep her!!!

~~Rained Out~~

I don't really know why but I adore this picture. We went camping over Labor day @ Cedars of Lebanon State Park. Grant was ecstatic to go camping even though he whined & complained the whole time we were there. Anyway, we had a reservation to go horseback riding on Sat. afternoon. Well, just as we got there, it started to puur rain. He took the cancellation pretty well. However, note to self, next time we go camping, we will 'drag' a friend along so he won't be so bored. TFR =D

*** bOOk rEvIEw***

So I FINALLY finished my summer book read. Gosh, that took fooorrreeevvveeerrr!!!! I think I started reading this book mid-July. The name of the book is BAREFOOT by Elin Hilderbrand. It was published in 2007 but she's a NYT bestseller so I figured it was probably going to be a good read. The story line is about three women who go to Nantucket Island for the summer. Two of the women are sisters & the other woman is one of the sister's best friends. Each of these women have their own issues but the main character Vicki is a young mother of two boys & was diagnosed with lung cancer. She escapes to the island to spend time away from her crazy life in New York & spend precious time with her kids, sister, and best friend. The only thing I didn't care for was some of the scattered curse words, it didn't add anything to the story. Anyway, I won't give away the ending in case someone out there wants to read it. The only thing I really got from this book was a deep desire to visit MA and the island of Nantucket. I think it would be so cool to rent a summer beach house in a quaint & historic town town & just chill out fro the summer. I give this book three out of five THUMBS UP!



P.S. I am working on getting pics of some recent things I am working on. Stay tumed!

***weekend re-cap***

So the weekend came & went just like that....Friday evening started out pretty normal, I had to work at the Y from 4-7pm. Gosh, I was so sleepy during those 3 hours, I thought I was being tortured. We were invited over to friends' house for a cookout & games, so after work I headed over there. Got lost, of course, even my GPS didn't know where I was supposed to go. Its very picky when it comes to the difference between a Court & a Lane. Anyway, I got there & finally got to eat & then we played two rounds of Taboo! GIRLS WON! Left there and was so relieved to go to bed, I was 'spent'. Saturday morning, I had to work AGAIN at the Y, this time 8-11am. BUT my bff called around 7-ish & told me it was time! she was going to the hospital to have her third kiddo. I came home after the Y and fed the boy lunch, then we headed over to Summit so I could get bff's consignment sale ticket & run to get her stuff. After that, the boy & I went to the church so I could TRY & get a few things done in my classroom. No such Luck! I was only there about 20 min. tops. So I came back home, thank goodness Bill was up & I told him I needed a "mommy moment". Oh & I forgot to mention, in between my taxi driving, I went to get the mail & guess what was waiting for me? My college diploma......BENT ALL to "bleep"!!! I was so ANGRY I started to cry. I called the USPS & made an official complaint. The post man/woman shoved the document in my mailbox with no regard to the fact that maybe it contained an important document. Its also partly TSU's fault b/c from what I understood, it was supposed to be sent certified mail & I was supposed to sign for it. I get that its just a piece of paper but I paid a lot of money & endured a lot of stress & worked really hard to earn that piece of paper & then I get it & its ruined!!! So we'll see what the USPS has to say about it, I hope they have enough sense to rectify the situation. N E way, I took a "mommy moment" & caught up on my show Army Wives. At this point, I was waiting to hear from HAM about her baby, she texted me while we were at Cracker Barrel eating dinner. So Xciting! We came home, and settled in for the night. Sunday's can go really, really well or really really bad at our house. Well, today it went really really bad mainly b/c of the boy's misbehavior & backtalking (disrespectfulness). So, I went to the extreme & took away television time for the rest of the week. I'm thinking this could be part of his problem. I am going to make it a point to monitor more closely his television time & I'm thinking about how I can cut his viewing time way down......later in the day, Bill & I went to see the new baby @ the hospital.....he's so tiny & cute!!! I'm so happy for her & her family.
Well, that it! thats the weekend....oh & I'm working on something else CRAFTY, I will post pics when I get it completed....I hope it turns out to be as cute as I imagined. TFR X-D

{ BoYs & baBieS }

I can never come up with the right words or describe the love I have for this kid. He's what I prayed for since I can remember, he is my present gift. I have to remind myself, especially lately, that God has given me the greatest blessing, & opportunity to make a difference in the world by allIowing me to be a mother. I am still grappling with the idea that he is in Kindergarten, and growing up way too quickly but then I think about the near future & all the fun stuff we have to look forward to. I want to be the Cub Scout mom, the home room mom, the "cool" mom whose house all his friends want to hang out at. I try to think of different ways we can make memories b/c I want him to remember his childhood as one that was healthy & happy. Parents always want their kids to have more or better than they did, right? Recently, the boy has been asking for a baby. Oh, if he only knew how much I wanted a baby!!! I tell him he can pray to Jesus for his baby & we'll see what happens. One of the sweetest things he has said is that when the baby goes to bed, he will tuck it in, tickle its arms, back, and legs & give it kiss goodnight. My heart just melted when he shared that with me. Oh, how I pray he will be a great big brother. Don't get too excited, I "ain't" pregnant, YET! I, or shall I say, We are doing our part, but the month to month waiting can be aggravating at times. When that day comes, LOOK OUT!, I think we will have one proud little boy walking around letting everyone know he's going to be the big brother. I look forward to multiplying our family....I'll keep ya posted!!!! TFR

~creativity~

So, here is the diaper cake that I made for my BF's baby shower. Whenever I think about making something, especially for the first time which is the case for this project, I have to visualize it in my head. I had a good concept of what I wanted, so I set out to gather all the "ingredients". First I had to find some diapers, I wanted to get the smallest possible diapers so the mom to be can use them a.s.a.p. Then, I went to Hobby Lobby to pick up ribbon & flowers. I picked a gender neutral ribbon & then I decided to compliment the cake with a variety of colored daisies. I found some super cute "bling bling" stems to add extra cute-ness to it. All in all, it turned out really adorable. I also tucked 3 sleepers & 3 gowns as an added gift inside the cake. I hope I get the chance to make another one someday, it was really fun to create!!! TFR =D