Sunday, November 30, 2008

We made it through another Hurricane season!

As of November 30th, hurricane season is over!! Whoohooo, we made it through another season without any major landfall in our area. This is a FANTASTIC thing - thank you Jesus!

Interesting Facts -
Predictions for 2008 season
15 named storms
8 hurricanes
4 major hurricanes

Actual Storm Totals
16 named storms
8 hurricanes
5 major hurricanes

Those storm forecasters were right on track this year with their predictions. I'm just glad we have the next 6 months where we don't have to worry about it now.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving -- Puppy Style

My stepson came over Thanksgiving morning for a couple of hours. He brought his dog, Scout over. Scout and our lab puppy, Raven are about the same age - 16 weeks. We watched these two dogs run and play for 2 hours around the house. They ran and tumbled and chased each other. It was hilarious watching them!
Raven tries to play with our "old man" lab but he gives up after about 15 mins. He just can't hang with Raven for very long so she loved having Scout around for awhile.
Now that Raven is over her illness she is full of energy! By the end of the day I am worn out and ready for Greg to take over "puppy" duty. :-)
Dakota and I were raking the leaves in our back yard Wednesday - that was a job with Raven around! She liked running through the piles and waiting for us to chase her out. She had dirt and leaves all over her.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Happy Birthday Tina and Felicia!!

Photobucket

My girls are 21 today!
I am so proud of both of you and I love and miss you both dearly! You are amazing mothers yourselves!
Hope you enjoy the pictures...

When the girls were first born, Tina had very little hair and Felicia had a head full of black hair. Family members were trying to get me to get their ears pierced but I didn't want to.
When they reached about 6 mos old they were both bald - and looked exactly alike! I couldn't tell them apart and I actually got them mixed up one day and fed one of them twice and didn't feed the other one at all. It was only after hours of her crying and me trying to figure out what was wrong with her that I realized my mistake. I went that weekend and got their ears pierced and one wore pearls and the other wore diamonds - so I could tell them apart!
The girls were attached to these HUGE pacifiers until they turned 3 yrs old. They wouldn't accept any other type of pacifier - these type were extremely hard to find too! When we could find them we would buy several to keep on hand. Look at how big those things are - nothing like the tiny little things babies use today. LOL
All dressed up and ready for church - Easter Sunday
Most of my pictures from this point on are in scrapbooks already so I had to take pictures of my scrapbook pages. The girls went to a Christian school until 3rd grade - they had to wear dresses every day - they had LOTS and lots of dresses!

They spent the night at grandparents house the night before their school pictures were taken. They wanted to get themselves ready that day for their school pictures and THIS is how they dressed - exactly alike!! At first I was so upset when I got their pictures back because they didn't fix their hair and all they wore was a tshirt but the more I looked at the pictures the more I enjoyed them because it was the girls quirky sense of humor coming out in those pictures - they share that sense of humor that's for sure!
Greg used to bleach his hair really blonde. Felicia decided she wanted to do her hair like that and she let Greg do it - ugh...it was horrible! She kept it blonde for awhile then I took her to a salon and spent a ton of money to "fix" it. The pictures below on the top are her before and after pictures from 7th grade. Tina is on the bottom.
When the girls turned 16 I took them out to get their nails done, to Glamor Shots and to a special surprise dinner at The Melting Pot. Everything we did was a surprise that day - I had told them to just keep the day open and I took them from one thing to the next. We had a great day!
Now Tina has her sweet 2-yr-old baby girl - Bailee and she lives in Albany, GA with her marine husband and she is finishing up her degree online where she has been on the President's list for her grades! Congratulations Honey!!
Felicia has her two precious boys - Allan who will be 5 on Dec. 18th and Nathan who is 3 and she lives in Hawaii with her Navy husband.
She just graduated from Massage Therapy school a few months ago - congratulations honey - I am so proud of you because I KNOW how hard this was to get through this with your two younguns and your hubs being gone all the time AND your added pregnancy on top of that!!
This is my darling Felicia as of yesterday...she has 4 weeks left in her 3rd pregnancy...bless her heart - she's ready to pop! You look beautiful darling!
Happy Birthday Tina and Felicia! I love you both so much! I wish I could be with you today but know that you are both in my heart and thoughts and prayers.

Monday, November 24, 2008

A Baby Changes Everything

I heard this recently through HearitFirst and I am loving this song!
Hope you enjoy it...

Friday, November 21, 2008

Highs and Lows

Dakota and I had a date night last night. We went shopping for a Christmas present for his daddy (no, we didn't find anything yet) and then we went to dinner. We had a very good time! He turned 12 in August. For the most part Dakota is an awesome kid but since he has turned 12 he has gotten a little mouthy at times and after spending all day with him every day I tend to get tired of being around him by evening time...because I am tired of the "arguing/debating" we do back and forth all day.
Dakota and Bailee at the zoo in Albany, GA in November
He's not arguing in a loud, yelling abrasive manner. He has the type of personality where he wants to debate and question every single thing and after 12 hours of this a day I am exhausted.
Let me give you an example - Yesterday was one of those days! His father and I are planning on painting the kitchen and doing some redecorating in there. I have been looking up ideas online for putting in a backsplash and wanted to run to Home Depot and Lowe's to pick up some samples of things. I asked Dakota to go along. BIG MISTAKE!

We've already decided we are going to paint the kitchen red so I was trying to match my samples to the red paint stick thing I had. Dakota picked up some paint color books and started saying things like "wow, this green is beautiful mom" or "look at this blue and orange together...isn't it pretty?" and "THESE colors would look great in the kitchen...dontcha think so mom?" and as I looked at the colors he was pointing to and saw that they were FAR AWAY FROM RED I said "yes, they would look nice if we had not already decided on red."

Then he says "Unh...you just need to consider other colors too! You might like other colors if you would look!"

I said "Umm, excuse me how do you know we haven't looked? You are assuming we jumped right in and said we are going with red without looking at anything else?"

Then he crosses his arms and says "Well, if you aren't even going to listen to my opinion I don't know why you brought me here. You don't need me here anyway. You and dad are going to be the final judge about it and you aren't listening to me anyway so I'm not saying another word!"

That was pretty much how THAT shopping experience went so I quickly found my samples while he moped along in silence and we got out of there. I tried to discuss it with him in the car on the drive home but he was being stubborn so I said "fine, lets' work on your times tables instead!" so we did math the whole way home. Once we got home I gave him writing work and Science to do on his own and I left for a couple hours to go right up the road to meet my friend CJ for tea/dessert.
CJ and Caleb at his 2nd birthday party in November
I love getting together with her and just sitting and talking! We talk and laugh and sometimes cry...it is so refreshing and I feel rejuvenated and ready to be a mom and wife again. Dakota called me right after I had left CJ to see if I was on the way home yet. He wanted me to know he had done all his work and he was going to get online to play one of his games. I told him I was 5 mins from the house. He told me he loved me. When I got home he came up to me and said "I need a hug" and we hugged and he kissed me - all was forgiven.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Allergy Free Hayride

We had an unusually cold weekend last weekend...rather freezing by our standards! We are not used to temps below 40 degrees in November!! Ugh - we don't get temps like THAT until January. For heaven's sake this is Florida!

Anyway I told you how we went to a birthday party this past Saturday at my best friend's house for her little 2-yr-old boy. He loves Barney and farmyard stuff so it was a "Barney at the Farm" party. They had a hayride for everyone...but without the hay! The thing about this was Saturday was one of those days that started out warmer at 8:00 am than it was at 2:00 pm...so by the time we all went on this hayride around 4:00 it was getting quite cold outside and most of us were not dressed adequately.
I am in this picture with my back to the camera wearing the white hoodie.
I didn't plan on going on this "hayride" because of the cold AND because all I had on was a tshirt and a hoodie BUT I think they wanted to get as many people on here as possible so we could all keep each other warm! We all piled in and Sammy (Caleb's father) drove around and around the neighborhood. The kids enjoyed it. The adults froze!
After the third pass-by, Sammy gunned it and started to go around the neighborhood again and we all yelled at once "NO!! STOP!! TURN AROUND!" He slowed down and laughingly asked us if we wanted to stop?! Ya think? (as he sits inside the warm truck...) In order to get us back to the house quickly he then drives through this field - "oh great, now we are on a mud-riding hayride! Everybody hold on!!"
All in all it was a lot of fun. Bailee had a great time as did all the other children. I only wish we had all been prepared for the cold weather a little better. Ya just never know about our weather here!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A job - you just never know?

Currently I work two part-time jobs from home. I have my elance job as a virtual assistant and I am a moderator for an online forum. In addition to these two steady monthly incomes I have sporadic income from things I do online (my blog through advertising or paid posts; surveys, ebay, Craigslist, etc)
Since we bought this house in September, I've been looking for a night-time job in my community. I don't like the idea of having a mortgage for the next 30 years so I wanted to find something at night that would bring in a decent 2nd income that could be used just to apply to our mortgage and truck payments. I've had a hard time finding anything. God is good though. All of our needs have been met, our bills have been paid each and every month and we are not going without. It's just the nagging thought of "debt for 30 years" that I don't like that's driving me to look for a job.
I recently shared with you about my friend who does Mystery Shopping. She sent me the information awhile back and I looked at it but really wasn't interested in doing that. I don't want a "job" where you have to put out your own money up front and get reimbursed.

Planting the Seed
However, I have been with my friend a couple of times when she has had boxes of stuff (products/displays) in her car and I asked her what that was for. She said she has picked up several Merchandising jobs from her Mystery Shopping website she uses. After talking to her more about it I thought it sounded interesting and like something I would enjoy doing. Now to figure out how to get my foot in the door...

The Perfect Job...or not?
When I was in Albany last week with Tina I checked the online job boards at one of our local hospitals in the town I live. I found an ER Registration position available for 3 nights a week 12 hour shifts. Oh wow! I was so excited! This is just what I was looking for - it would be perfect for me and the salary was a whole lot more than what I was anticipating. I applied online and I text messaged my good friend who is the head nurse over the whole hospital (the highest position you can have as a nurse) and told her I had applied and asked if she could do anything to help me out. She texted me back that she would see what she could do. I came on home early Monday...just in case she called to say they wanted to interview me. Was I being a little presumptious?? LOL Nah, I was just ready to get home!

Tuesday - knock, knock...opportunity here
So as I am sitting around Tuesday morning playing catch-up from being gone for a week, I receive an email from Shadow Shopper stating that "since I've signed up to receive their emails but I haven't yet taken advantage of their paid services, perhaps I would like to try them free for one week?" Hmmm, yep I sure would because I want to find out more about this merchandising! I signed up last Tuesday and instantly started receiving emails for jobs in my area ranging from Mystery Shopping, Product Demonstrations, Merchandising and various other jobs. By Tuesday afternoon I had read so much information on Merchandising I knew this was what I wanted to pursue.

Tuesday afternoon a job came into my email - I applied. Wednesday morning I got a call from the company...went through the interview process and got hired!! Today I got hired by another company to do merchandising at CVS stores!! I love this because it is independent work and I have a timeframe to have it done by. I drive to different stores, meet different people and it's steady regular income coming in.

Just to let you know...I went in today and cancelled my ShadowShopper account before I got charged (after my free week) because
  1. I think I'm going to have more work than I'll be able to handle for awhile
  2. I already have my name out there to companies now and have applied to several so I didn't figure it was worth it to have to pay for that information.
I know though that if I need to pick up work again and if I run into a dry spell I have that resource at my fingertips!

Birthday Weekend

Time's a flying by. I was in Walmart on Saturday buying some birthday presents and I saw a big sign over the door -

40 Days Until Christmas

Oh my goodness!! Can it really only be that short amount of time before the end of 2008 is upon us? I can't believe this year is almost over. I am still stuck back in the planning stages of last winter and "things I want to accomplish in 2008" - I don't even want to think about the New Year rolling in.

The last couple of weeks have been crazy around here. We have lots of birthdays that go from September-December among our family and friends. We've had birthday parties to go to and presents to buy. It's always a busy time of year for us and that doesn't even include the regular holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's.)

Last weekend, Tina (my daughter) and Bailee (my granddaughter) came in town. There was a performance at our civic center of "So You Think You Can Dance" and my mom took Tina and my son, Dakota to this show since they all like to watch it on TV. I got to babysit Bailee! We had lots of fun!!
She is hilarious in all her chattering she does. She speaks in a LOUD voice all the time. Bailee doesn't know what "inside voices" are...and she looks you right in the face and with a very serious expression on her face she will proceed to let loose with all this jibberish like she is really telling us something. Heaven help us when we don't understand her! I just play along like I know exactly what she is trying to say and I talk right back to her.
She had the best times with our dogs. She squeals so loud with delight - it sounds like she is screaming/crying. We laughed so hard at her reactions to the dogs because she gets so tickled when they play with each other. I've talked about how my best friend CJ adopted a boy 2 years ago. He is 5 days younger than Bailee. We celebrated his 2nd birthday Saturday. Bailee is sitting in CJ's lap because CJ is close to the presents! Bailee remembers this from when she had presents at HER birthday party 2 weeks ago - she was helping Caleb open his presents! LOL
Caleb loves Barney and farm stuff so they had a Barney at the Farm party...and had a friend bring a horse for all the kids to ride. There were lots of 2-3 yr olds there who wanted to ride so after all the older kids rode, CJ made her daughter, Cassidy get up there and ride all the little ones. She volun-told her! Cassidy wasn't too happy about parading around on that horse but she was a good sport. Bailee loved riding the horse!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Bloggy Giveaway: Sandi Patty book

I never posted who won this because the first person who won didn't leave an email address and she has a brand new blog and obviously doesn't check it....because she never replied to my comment so here's the winner and congratulations!
Mom Forever and Ever

Recipe - Ham & Cheese Cornbread Supreme

I tried this recipe last night - super easy and super delicious...one of those dishes you just can't get enough of!! We loved it! I cooked it in a pie plate even though it called for cooking it in a cast iron skillet. Dakota spent the night off last night so it was just Greg and I - you can see there's not much left...lol
Ingredients:
3 slices bacon
4 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 pkg (6 oz) cornbread mix - I used Jiffy
6 dashes hot pepper sauce (I didn't use because I didn't have any)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen spinach, thawed and well drained or
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and well drained (I used the spinach)
1 1/2 cups fully cooked cubed ham (1/2-inch cubes)
2 cups (8 oz) finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided (I used the Walmart fiesta cheese)
chopped fresh parsley for garnish (didn't use this - didn't have any)

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees
Beat eggs in large bowl.
Add milk, butter, cornbread mix, and hot pepper sauce, stirring until blended.
Stir in onion, spinach, ham and 1 1/2 cups cheese.
Pour batter into pie plate**(see alternate directions below)
Sprinkle remaining cheese over cornbread mixture.
Bake 30-30 mins or until set and golden brown.
While that's cooking, fry bacon until crisp, let cool and crumble.
After you remove from oven, sprinkle with bacon and parsley.

**Alternate directions (this is what recipe said to do - but I didn't follow recipe - I did what I typed above)
Cook bacon in cast iron skillet until crisp; cool and crumble
Reserve 1 Tbsp bacon drippings.
Drain off remaining drippings from skillet; wipe skillet clean with paper towel and return reserved drippings to skillet. Place in oven to heat.
Mix everything together (like directed above)
Carefully remove hot skillet from oven and pour batter into hot skillet.
Finish as directed above.

Makes 8 servings
Prep time 20 mins
Cook time 30 mins

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Harrassing Phone Calls

We have only used cell phones forever...until we moved into our new house and we decided to get a home phone. We never use it though so I'm not sure how much longer we are going to keep it. The only calls we get on that number are telemarketers and (before the election) political calls. Thank goodness the election is over so now we don't receive hardly any calls anymore! Here is a website www.reportphonenumbers.com that allows users to list phone numbers and make comments about the people that called from these numbers so others will know what to expect - whether it was a sales call, harassing bill collector or just a wrong number. There are some pretty interesting comments from users on this site.

Monday, November 10, 2008

A New Day

Changes are coming. I'm not sure what direction my life is getting ready to take but after much soul-searching and reflection this past week I've decided I have to make some changes. I've been in a spiritual and emotional funk for awhile. I can't go into details on here due to the personal nature of things but just know that I've recognized it and I am grabbing hold of it and I'm making some changes.

A friend of mine here in town makes cakes (yummy yummy cakes!) and she has a blog. I receive her Monday Meditations in my email. Her MM this morning was just perfect for the way I am feeling today!

Isaiah 55:8 (NKJV)
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD

Joyful 'toon

The church is made up of diverse peoples,with different cultures and styles. But, we can come together in unity when we are all following Jesus.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Where is God in the midst of troubles?

The last couple of weeks in Sunday School we have been studying Job. I don't know about you, but I don't enjoy reading this book of the Bible. It makes me angry to see how a faithful and loyal man who loves God with all his being is punished so cruelly at the hands of satan...with God's permission! He is like a pawn in a game of chess between God and satan. Yes, he remains faithful and continues to worship God through all his pain and agony. Yes, God knew Job would remain faithful which is of course, why He chose to use Job as the man for this job.

What I don't understand is Why? Why did God have to prove ANYTHING to satan? Why did God have to allow this dear man to go through such pain and agony just so He could show satan that Job would remain faithful to Him? God KNEW Job would remain faithful even if satan didn't know it...but what difference did it make? Satan is still around doing his evil and God is still on the throne...allowing evil to happen to good people (at least that's sure what it seems like every time I read Job!) See why I don't like to read the book of Job??

Friday, November 7, 2008

Review My Post

Did you know my last 3 posts I did were all done for profit? I made close to $30.00 just for writing about pants, costumes and eyeglasses. It didn't take me anytime at all to do it! PayPerPost is one of many companies out there that will pay you to blog for them.

Right now I have a special offer for you!!
If you are interested in finding out more about this click on this little red bar below and you will be taken to a special sign-up page where you will be given an opportunity to review one of my blog posts on YOUR blog and get paid for it! Go ahead and give it a try...
click right there on that red bar----------

Tactical Pants

Tactical Pants - these look comfortable! You can find these pants here for $24.99. In addition to these Operator Tactical Pants, they sell 24/7, Blackhawk and 5.11 Tactical Pants in black, khaki and green colors.

These pants are loaded with features! They have a total of 10 pockets, fade resistant fabric, dual front D rings, built-in blousing strings, Diamond Gusset Crotch, Cinch Waist System, Cargo Pockets with Organization System, Airport Friendly Heavy Duty Hardware and much more.

These pants are sold at such a low price because you are buying straight from the manufacturer - hence there is no middle man - so the savings are being passed on straight to you!

I'm in GA

I'm in GA for awhile with Tina and Bailee. Not sure how long I'm going to be here. I'm enjoying spending time with my daughter and granddaughter. Her husband Bryant is gone out of town a lot right now because of Marine Birthday Balls so this worked out to be a good time to come see Tina.

We went to Chehaw zoo and park today to get out and enjoy this gorgeous fall weather. The leaves on the trees are changing up here more than they are at home in FL so I'm really enjoying driving around on these country back roads and just taking in the scenery. I took pictures but I left my cord at home that would allow me to take my pictures off my camera so that will have to wait.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Christmas Costumes Anyone?

Now that Halloween is over I've often wondered what Halloween costume stores do the remainder of the year. I think I found my answer! While perusing the internet this morning I found this store, Halloween Adventure and I noticed that they carry Christmas costumes.

With Christmas right around the corner and pageants and plays coming up at churches and schools this is a great place to find some cute costumes to fit all those needs. There have been several times in past years that we have needed a certain costume for a parade or play one of the kids has been in and we have had to construct bits and pieces together to try to get a decent costume. I wish I had known about Halloween Adventure! I never even thought to look at a Halloween costume store for Christmas costumes!

This Elf costume is adorable! I love the movie Elf - this costume reminds me of that movie. I could see myself wearing this to a Christmas party! My friends would get a big kick out of this-LOL



I MISSED IT!!

Aw man! I totally missed it! This is my #509 post (I post out of order sometimes....LOL) and I was going to make a big deal out of my 500th post! Things have been a little crazy in my life this week though and I completely forgot about it.

Oh well....I've been blogging for a little over a year and 509 posts later I've made some neat Blog friends who enrich my life with their stories and I've made some money along the way and I've realized how much I truly enjoy blogging!

Here's just a few (of many) of my favorite blogs I read weekly...ya'll should really check them out!
Big Doofus Blog his wit cracks me up!
Miss Sniz - Big Doofus' wife
It's A Honey of A Life - this Honey Bee is about to pop with baby #2 and I just roll with laughter at some of her posts!
Diagonally Parked in a Parallel Universe - I love reading her hilarious anecdotes about her children! Reminds me so much of when mine were little.
Shine Again - this homeschooling, Christian mom of 7 little ones is amazing!
Two Kids, A Gear-Head and Me - she and I have become great email friends (even though she doesn't blog near enough!!)

Zenni Optical

Our new puppy has been sleeping in our bed at night with us. My husband often falls asleep with his glasses on and then pulls them off his head sometime during the night (without realizing it) and just lays them on the bed. He must have done this two nights ago and the puppy got ahold of his glasses while we slept.

When he woke up in the morning he had some nice little bite marks right in the center of both of his Progressive lenses! These are expensive lenses! Right now he has another pair of glasses he is wearing temporarily until we can replace the ones puppy used as a chew toy, but he can't read with those old glasses so they won't work for long.

I think I found a solution to our problem though! I just heard about Zenni Optical - a low cost provider for eyeglasses.
These titanium half-rim frames are only $15.95! That is a terrific price! There are hundreds of styles to choose from. Progressive lenses (which is what my husband uses) start at $37.00. Besides the Progressive lenses they offer Single vision, Bi-focals, sunsensor lenses, and tinted sunglasses. They manufacture and sell their own frames to the customers so there is no middleman and very little advertising money spent, hence the reason for the low prices. I am so excited to have found Zenni Optical since I have a husband and a son who wears glasses - I will definitely be checking into this company!

Things I know and want to share....

-1-
There are TWO sides to every story. When you hear one side of a story it's always best to keep in mind that what you are hearing may not be 100% true and/or there might be extenuating circumstances that you are not hearing. Instead of spreading the gossip, why don't we try asking the other party involved or better yet...just keeping our mouth shut?

"Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down." Proverbs 26:20

"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts." Proverbs 26:22

"A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends" Proverbs 16:28

-2-
This is my blog and I type what I want - if you don't like it or don't agree with what the content on here is...don't read it. Unsubscribe. Don't come back. I have lots of "personal" issues going on in my life that I choose to NOT put on this blog because they are, hmmmm personal, shall we say....and I very carefully select what I do choose to put on here. If you don't agree with those choices that is your problem, not mine.

-3-
When people choose to live in the past and constantly bring up issues from the past instead of moving forward...they are pretty miserable people to be around. I've been treated very poorly in my past by people I trusted. I have chosen to forgive those people and have relationships with them now. Why? Because God tells us to and because it is a wonderful feeling to NOT harbor hate and ill will towards other individuals...

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matt 6:14-15

-4-
We have a new President-elect - Barack Obama. It is not who I voted for but in response to his victory I will turn to one of my favorite Bible verses...
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matt 6:34

He may have won the Presidency of the USA but my God is still the ruler of all!

Wordless Wednesday - Bailee's Birthday Glasses

To see more Wordless Wednesday photos, go here.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Happy Birthday Bailee!

Bailee is 2 today! Bryant and Tina came in town this weekend and we had her birthday party yesterday at Bryant's mom's house. Bryant's stepdad made the cake - didn't he do a GREAT job?!!
Bryant had to come into town on Saturday with the Marine band to perform at a Marine Birthday Ball here at Pensacola NAS Saturday evening so Tina and Bailee drove in from GA by themselves. She came to my house and we spent the whole day together. We had a terrific day!

Bailee loves baby dolls! I gave her this baby stroller for her birthday. It was the perfect day for a party...mid 70's and sunny. Felt wonderful outside.
Bryant's stepdad made this pinata for the kids too - out of a cereal box. He is so creative!! The little girls all had a fun time trying to smash SpongeBob. LOLThis is a picture of Bailee "sulking" after she had to let somebody else have a turn at smashing Spongebob. As soon as she got another shot those fake tears turned off and she had a huge smile on her face again.
This is a short video of Bailee taking her turn with the pinata and saying "I got it! I got it!" and when her mom tells her it is somebody else's turn she says "Nooooooooo!! I got it!"



This is me and my friend Vickie. She is married to my ex-husband's brother (so we used to be sister-in-laws about 20 years ago.) She and her husband and 2 kids just moved back here to FL from CA about 3 months ago. They haven't lived close to us for 10 years so this is really nice spending time with them again. We have one of those friendships where we can always just pick right back up where we left off even though we haven't seen each other in years.
This is Allan and Maddie (Vickie's children) and Bailee's cousins. Dakota and Allan both like to play Xbox Live so no sooner had we gotten home last night from the party and those two had hooked up in the gaming world.
Bailee's mommy gave her a mop and broom set for her birthday. When Bailee got that she marched right in the house and started cleaning the floor. She got very upset with her mom for making her come back outside to open more presents! Hmph, the nerve of her...Bailee was trying to clean house! LOL
Such a beautiful day outside...my two guys were taking it easy after we ate lunch.
My dad and Greg were being mischievious.