A Great Give-Away!!!

I've had my eye on the Silhouette SD for a while now and there are some great ways to win it out there!

Check it out over at www.tidymom.net contest ends soon!

A budding artist, a passel of pigs & a bun in the oven.

First off: Not my bun, not my oven. SERIOUSLY. But we'll get to that a little later. It's awesome news!

Well, we just finished up with Holly and Grace's Art In The Afternoon classes. I must confess, I'm kinda glad. The classes getting out at different times was kind of a pain for me, but I digress. Holly took art/painting. Aren't her pictures wonderful? That's the friendliest lion I've ever seen, her sun has top oral hygiene skilz, turtles have long been one of my faves, and check out the diving action on that dophin! Yeehaw, Holly! (She threw in the house with pink tree trunks, just for good measure.)

Grace took drama, and her group just completed a production of The Real Story of the Big Bad Wolf. The premise of the story was basically that the wolf got a bum rap and ended up in prison for murdering those piglets. (That's the short version.) And Grace was a cell mate. Even the door jam and paint job contribute to the effect, albeit unintentionally....

Here she is (far right, back row), with her cast mates. Aren't they all cute?

She had a fun time, but I don't know that she'll go for drama again. She says that it's embarrassing to talk in front of all of those people. Although singing a song about a wolf puffing and huffing and snuffing, then sneezing out a booger wasn't too embarrassing at all.... Allie drove down from Birmingham to attend the play with me. Here she is. In the room that looks like the visitation center of a prison. Seriously. It was bizarre.

And that brings us back to the bun. It's Allie's bun and Allie's oven! Our little Allie recently found out that she's going to have a baby. She's very excited and we know that she'll be awesome. She's a wonderful Mommy already and we're so proud of the amazing woman she has become. Congratulations, Freddie! The little bean should make it's appearance sometime in late October or early November. And since Allie can't handle surprises, we should have a pretty good idea of whether it will be of the male or female persuasion well before it shows it's little head.

Next Stop: SPRING BREAK!

Florida, a bargain, two bears and a bunch of ducks.

What, may you ask, do these things have in common? Why, it was our January trip to Tallahassee!

At the end of January, John had to make a run over to the corporate office. With two hours notice, and luck on our side as we needed to board the hounds, we decided to tag along. The company's paying for mileage and hotel, so why not? Right?!?

We survived the four hour drive and no blood was shed, though it got close there toward the end. Thank goodness for the portable dvd player and mp3 players! Once checked into our hotel, we headed over to our oldest daughter's house to have dinner with her and her husband. The food was great and we're super thankful that they were willing to accomodate us on such short notice. It was really nice to be able to spend a few hours with them and do some catching up! (And John thinks it's pretty awesome that with three of the kids grown and gone now, we can impose upon them to take care of us now and then! I agree, it is pretty wonderful.) Thanks again, guys!

The next morning we dropped John off at the office and headed over to the mall to kill some time. I've turned into a total mall Scrooge over the last several years, so I was happily surprised when we drifted into Gap Kids to look at what was on sale, and hit the mother load on winter clearance. I LOVE that! I'm an enthusiastic bargain shopper and try to stay a size/year ahead on clothes, so this was right up my alley, baby! We got cute t-shirts, soft, warm pants for next year, a couple of jackets, new mittens, hats and scarves. It was awesome! I think I walked out with 13 or 14 items for under 30 bucks. Yay!

While we were at the mall, we paid our first visit to Build-A-Bear. It's a good thing that we saved so much money at the Gap, because our frugality ended there. How, may you ask, could we have escaped this particular money pit for so long? I attribute it entirely to my Scroogedom. The problem is, one can only take Scroogedom so far and so long before becoming an ogre. So I caved. H and G REALLY wanted to go, and the rest is expensive history. They both opted to put sound in their bears; H went with the one that says "I love you!", and G decided on the roar. (How fitting, considering that roaring and growling seem to be her favorite angry sounds to make these days!) ;)

Our last stop of the morning was at Lake Ella, a nice little park that's great for walking and duck feeding. H was ready to wade through the ducks and get to it! She had no qualms about being in the middle of all of those birds and cheerfully doled out bread to them.

G did not share her sister's enthusiasm for this peaceful past-time, and was a slightly more reluctant participant. What do you think?


















The difference made me laugh. She just wasn't feeling much love for the ducks. Or the gulls. There were a TON of gulls there. Now, I've been around gulls before, but these were soooo agressive! They would fly right up in front of you and hover just in front of your face, waiting for you to toss some food to them. It WAS pretty cool how they always caught it in mid-air though... G didn't really appreciate the novelty of that, either. Before we left, I got a shot of the girls together. H is showing me her teeth and looking at some more birds to go feed. G is holding on to H and giving me the 'hurry up and get me out of here!' look. Gotta love it!

A windy Saturday, friends at the park & a crazy woman with a camera.

On a blustery afternoon about a week ago, we headed off to the park for some fun with friends. I took a million pictures of everyone, but really like these two. They aren't going to win any awards---G doesn't really need that other hand, does she? That's why H.F. gave her two, right?!? Still, I love how they capture the joy of the girls doing things they love.

While it always worries me, H loves exploring outside (usually as far from the house as possible) by herself. There were six of us on the playground, but she was always off by herself exploring and finding what she liked. See how happy she looks in that moment that she glimpsed the next thing she wanted to go to? I love that! While the distance that she wants to roam still gives me ulcers, I should work harder to not worry about her love of solitude. After all, being able to appreciate solitude is a valuable thing, right?

Then there's G. She is such a rowdy little stinker! At 8 she isn't much different than she was at 2. Neither of the girls are, really. G still loves bouncing and tearing around like a lunatic, constantly in motion; it's when she's happiest. So I love this (one handed!) picture of her on the teeter-totter. It shows how she lives life--a smile on her face and arms thrown open wide to embrace the moment she is in; preferably with as many friends around her as possible. G does not possess the same appreciation for solitude that her sister does. ;)

Anyhow, we had a lot of fun. Squealing, jumping, climbing and dangling were in abundance that day. But man, was it cold! We had to go 'warm' up by hitting the DQ for ice cream and french fries when we were done. Because H and G are numbers 4 and 5 in our kid line-up, I find myself more aware lately that many of the things we're experiencing with them are likely 'lasts'. I feel a greater sense of urgency than ever before, to take it all in and really live those moments as they happen. I've gotta soak it all up, baby!