project 365 - day 63

For awhile now, a friend, Angelina, has been wanting to sleep over at the house. This was finally the big night. I even went out and got them a tent to set up in the family room. Because I am a huge pushover and the girls really wanted it. It was cute though. And as Perry said, we now officially own more camping gear than any other family who never goes camping. lol. And I'm fine with keeping it that way, btw. Me and the outdoors not good friend. Unless there is a beach and free-flowing liquor involved.

project 365 - day 62

For a few mornings I've been noticing when I go out to my car to leave for work in the morning, the bird feeder has a beautiful red bird in it. I finally decided I would try to snap a pic of it. Naturally I am not quite quick enough for the bird, but I got a great shot of the feeder. lol. Maybe one of these days I will manage to get the bird, too!

project 365 - day 61

Owen is MUCH better at baseball than he was last year. His team is not fabulous, but there are a few kids that are doing pretty well. I guess we'll see how the season goes.

project 365 - day 60

This giant dirt pile is next to one of the fields that the baseball team practices on. And God knows you can't have a giant dirt pile without kids wanting to climb in it. I don't think that dirt will ever come out of their clothes, but they had fun, and isn't that (mostly) what life is all about?

project 365 - day 59

Every time I see his face, I can't get over how handsome he is...

project 365 - day 58

One might think that Rico exists only in his cage, but I assure you that's not the case. He just really, REALLY likes it in there.

project 365 - day 57

The most photogenic and friendly cat on the planet, Sherbert. He kind of looks pretty serious for some reason. He's truly not.

project 365 - day 56

Nicole clowning around in the car. She's getting better about getting her picture taken!

project 365 - day 55

A picture of Perry. Truly I don't have much to journal about lately, not sure what is with me.

Another meme from Ginny

More fun from Ginny:

1. What brand & flavor of toothpaste do you use? I'm not particular. It's currently cinnamon flavored something.

2. If you were in charge, what time would work start and at what time would work be finished? Not sure, but it would NOT be a five day work week.

3. Hot Dogs or Hamburgers? Turkey burgers

4. If you could bring any one famous person back to life, who would it be? nobody I can think of (I'm sucking at this aren't I?)

5. What is one thing we would always find in your fridge... what one thing would we never find? always diet coke and never peppers

6.If you could 'have' one feature from any of your friends, what would you take and from who? Melissa's amazing outlook on life.

7. What is the last scrapbooking thing you purchased? more Thickers

8. What is something that you own that you should probably just throw in the trash, but you never will? a bunch of sweaters that I never wear

9. I push you into a room and lock the door. I leave you there for 6 hours. The walls are hiteboards' and in the middle of the room there is a box of colored markers. What will be written/drawn on the walls when I let you out? well, that depends on whether or not I KNOW you're coming back in six hours. If I think I'm trapped, possibly forever, then I'd write evil crap about you for locking me in. If I knew it was just for six hours, I'd draw flowers. Two very different responses to two very different scenarios. lol.

10. What would be your ideal car? one that cleaned itself inside and out nightly while I slept

11. What was for breakfast? oatmeal

12. Name one thing that is so normal to you now that someone who was your age 50 years ago would think was abnormal. surfing the web

13. I'm letting you trade places with any actor or actress for any performance. Who are you trading with? Kate Winslet for Titanic. Who wouldn't want to make out with Leo!

14. How are you different now from when you were 15? (And weight or grey hair cannot be your answer!) much more grounded in reality

15.Which famous picture would you like to have taken? the flag at ground zero

project 365 - day 54

This was too cute to pass up. Nicole decided Jasper needed some company down on the floor, because he was being grumpy to Rico. Not sure why he does that, but he'll growl and bark at Rico for awhile, and then finally cave and start licking him. Proving yet again he's just a big softie. In any case, Nicole was giving him hugs and then finally went and got herself a blankie and lay down with J, petting and kissing him. So freakin cute.

I'm featured!

Melissa over at Organized Life by Design has chosen to make me the featured member this month. As a result, she asked me to create a blog post over there about ways to keep families connected. I am not sure if non-members can read the blogs over there, so I'll copy it down below in case anyone is interested.

When Melissa asked me to be a feature member of the month here, naturally I was very honored. She asked me to write a blog post about ways to bring your family closer together. Initially I didn’t think that would be very difficult, as that’s one of the things I DO as a Once Upon a Family consultant. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there isn’t really a simple, cookie-cutter answer to that question. Families are complex, ever-changing, and so dependent upon the various personalities of the members of that family. What works for me might work for some of those reading this, but not others. Some of you might read my ideas and think they are cheesy, and on some level I guess they are. But I think that there is some level of cheesiness necessary to make life fun, and to make family life memorable. So I just ask that if you’re skeptical about some of these ideas, give them a try. You (and your family) might just surprise yourself!

1. Have a family questions night. Have everyone in the family write down three random questions that everyone in the family has to answer. These could be silly things like “what’s the absolute best meal you’ve ever had?” or more serious things like “name two goals you have for your life” or though provoking things like “what are your favorite four qualities about each member of our family?” Asking questions like these that you normally wouldn’t think to ask can provide awesome insight into the other people you share your house with, particularly the kids, who often come up with some very surprisingly deep answers.

2. Start a “pebble jar”. Get an inexpensive glass jar with a lid, and 52 small decorative rocks (Walmart is a great place for both of these things.) Put all the rocks in the jar, and once a week over dinner, take out one rock and pass it around the table, with each person saying what their favorite thing that happened that week was. This helps all the members of your family remember to focus on the good things that are going on around them and be grateful for what they have.

3. Honor the little things. In my house, when one of the kids does something that displays one of the character traits that we’re trying to teach, we’ll do a little honor ceremony over dinner, lighting a candle for them and presenting to them a key with that character trait engraved on it. For example, if one of the kids picks up all the dog toys and puts them away without being asked, they might be given the key of Responsibility for the evening. It never ceases to amaze me what a huge incentive such a simple thing can be.

4. Take the time. There will ALWAYS be things you should be doing (you should probably be doing them now, rather than reading this, right?) But at the end of the day, what matters more – that your kitchen floor got mopped, or that you took fifteen minutes to play checkers with your son? When your children grow up, do you want them to look back and say that mom always made sure the laundry was folded? Or do you want them to look back and remember a mom who enjoyed spending time with them just having fun?

So there you have it. I could probably go on and on, but I’ll save that for a future post.

project 365 - day 53

Yet another attempt to get a cute Rico cage pic. He does the cutest things in there, but I rarely capture them on film. He twists his body around so funny, and always puts his back legs up on the bars like that. You guys out in blog land are going to think I always have my sweet doggie locked up, but in reality the cage is rarely closed, he just likes to go in there and lay down. It's his happy place. We all need one of those, I guess.

project 365 - day 52

I don't think I remembered to post about it, but I had this amazing winning streak a week or two back, where within like 48 hours I won like 6 different raffles and prizes and stuff on some groups that I'm in. One of the things I won was $60-some dollars to spend on Chris Agostarola's Watkins website. I'd never tried Watkins before, but it all looked yummy, so it was fun picking stuff out. It came today, and one of these days I'm actually going to cook so I can try it all out!

project 365 - day 51

Since the kids were at Grammy's for the weekend, we didn't get a chance till now to make their Valentine's cakes, that I ordered from Mary Keyser at Greeting Cake Company. How cute are these?! They come with everything to make a cake, you just add water and microwave them. Too fun. I am sure I'll be buying more of these, as they have them for like every holiday ever.

project 365 - day 50

We finally decided to get rid of the old Boflex type machine we had and get a new weight machine for the house. LOVE it. Hope I never have to move it, but LOVE it nonetheless.

project 365 - day 49

I know, you're wondering why my Valentine's Day picture would be sports. Well, let me tell you, in their infinite wisdom, the soccer association scheduled their big closing ceremonies where the kids get their trophies on Valentine's Day. Wow. Yay. Naturally I didn't get a pic of the kids together with their trophies, so this is from before the parade. Blissfully, they kept the thing shorter this year than last year, and for that I am grateful.

project 365 - day 48

Finally a Cole picture! Since I got this pic of Owen yesterday, I wanted to get a Cole pic with all her Valentines cards and candy. Unlike Owen, she WILL eat hers, and quick, so I have to jump on my opportunity before it's too late. She actually wasn't real pleased with having to sit there for this pic, so that's why it looks like she's so listless, because she was. Under protest, as usual, at getting her picture taken.

project 365 - day 47

This is like the all about Owen week. Someday Nicole will see this and get a complex. Ugh. Anyway, at school his class did their Valentine's party early, because his teacher was going to be out, so here's Owen with all his Valentines and candy and such piled on him. The funny thing is, as excited as he might be to HAVE it all, odds are he'll eat pretty much none of it. He's odd like that.

project 365 - day 46

Today one of the kids at school had red and blue hair color spray and so of course they were all playing with it. It was so much fun I had to snap a pic. Unforturely, you can hardly see it, but his hair is very red and just a little bit blue. Call me crazy, but I think it's adorable.

project 365 - day 45

As much as Owen loves his DS, his sister loves the computer - Webkinz and Cartoon Network specifically. Is it wrong that when she runs low on Webkinz cash, I go on for her and play some of the games to earn more? She just loves shopping in the little Webkinz store so much. How can I deny her? And I'm GOOD at those games.

yummy

I just made Chocolate Peanut Butter brownies that I got from Sharon at River Street Gourmet. OMG, so yummy. You must try them! All of you!

project 365 - day 44

When I run out of things to take pictures of, and I will, there will always be Owen and his DS. Truly I do not remember what this child did before he got this thing a year and a half ago.

25 things meme

Ginny posted this on one of my yahoo groups, so here's mine:

1. I am addicted to the snooze button. I hit it for about an hour every morning. Drives dh crazy.
2. I LOVE the smell of dog feet. They smell like love to me. Rico's smell better than Jasper's, but Calvin's smelled the best of all.
3. I've lived in six states, from east coast to west coast and far north to far south.
4. I am an only child, and I do think that it forced me to be more creative growing up so I wouldn't get bored.
5. I am still not on Facebook. I might remedy that anytime now.
6. I am on MySpace, but I forgot my login information ages ago so I've not been on in probably a year.
7. I adore shopping. I can't get enough. Online or in person, I am most definitely a shopaholic.
8. My little toe is odd. It’s way shorter than the other toes and kind of curls sideways under the toe next to it.
9. Despite the oddity of my toes, I get pedicures regularly, and almost always have my toenails painted five different colors. Most people call them skittles or m-n-m’s.
10. I’ve had the same toe ring on for 12 years. Prior to that I lost many, frequently.
11. I love to gamble, esp. Blackjack and Three Card Poker. I was so very excited when we got those games at Hard Rock here in Tampa.
12. When I was little I used to think I wanted five kids. Now, not so much.
13. I chew pen caps all the time. I keep a stash by all my computers, and also by the bed and in the car. If I can’t find one for some reason when I want one I’m like a junkie looking for a fix, digging through the pen holders in the house. It’s pathetic.
14. I was a double major in English and Theatre in college. Then I got out and realized I needed a skill, so I taught myself web design.
15. One of the wildest jobs I ever had was right after college, working as a shot girl and beer tub girl in a bar, dressed in a bikini. VERY good money.
16. I grew up in a tiny little town that didn’t even have a fast food place.
17. If it were up to me I would take in every stray animal I came across. DH is not on board with that plan, so we have just three cats and two dogs (at the moment!)
18. One of the fishies in our fish tank had babies that we just discovered yesterday. I am so excited about this, though I know the odds are good that the other fishies will eat them.
19. I have two tattoos, one that I got when I was 17 and one when I was 21.
20. I like to cook but I don’t have time anymore.
21. I am pretty fairly consistently two years behind in my scrapbooking and I don’t know how I will ever manage to catch up.
22. I think Sugar Free Sobe Adrenaline Rush is about the yummiest non-alcoholic drink in the world.
23. I constantly make new attempts at keeping a journal and I always fail, typically stopping after only one or two entries. Then when I go back and find them again they always seem to start out with “this time I’m really going to keep up on journaling”. Ha
24. I have very little patience, and that’s something I desperately need to work on.
25. I’m really bad about lurking on people’s blogs, and not commenting. But I’m out there!

project 365 - day 43

Owen went to a birthday party at Pump It Up today for one of his classmates. As much as I despise making that drive (oh how I wish we had one closer!) the kids always enjoy it so much there.

project 365 - day 42

Today was the last soccer games of the season, so you would think my pic would be of one of those, but no. HAD to snap these pictures. Sherbert and Rico playing together. Sometimes I think it's amazing that either of them enjoys this, what with the head in the mouth, the claws, etc. but they both seem to love it. And they certainly both come back for more. Kind of odd really.

project 365 - day 41

Tonight was Girl's Night Out that Angela organized. We did Melting Pot and then to go see "He's Just Not That Into You." Very cute movie!! Definite chick flick!! The whole evening was a lot of fun. I didn't know most of the girls there, just Angela, Melissa and Chelle, but everyone was super nice. And of course the food was awesome. I even showed restraint and didn't drink at Melting Pot, but mostly because Vibha and I had hit happy hour after work before I had to be at dinner, so I was already 4 margaritas in when I got there. This shot is a group pic after dinner before we left for the movie.

project 365 - day 40

The school had an awards ceremony for all the kids in Kindergarten and First grade that read this collection of specific books. So tonight I took Cole to the ceremony and she got to bring a teddy bear to go listen to stories with her. She instead chose to bring her giant dog. After the reading, they each were presented with a certificate, a book, and some goodies for participating. Super cute.

project 365 - day 39

Father and daughter, all bundled up in the INSANE cold we've been having here in FL. It strikes me as just SO not right that it should ever get below freezing here. That just wasn't in the brochure at all.

project 365 - day 38

The kids decided that Jasper was cold and they should share a blanket with him. Oddly, he didn't seem to mind it. Perry said he looked like one of those little old men who always has the way too small blankets over their legs. Poor JJ! But he did walk around with it on for awhile before it finally fell off (or he pulled it off, not sure which!)

28 Things for February

Ginny posted this on our 365 Group and I thought it was fun:



Twenty Eight Things For February

One thing I wonʼt let anyone else buy me: shoes
One thing I would love to have, but I probably will never have:. a ton of land
One thing you will never find in my closet:. flats - I love heels
One thing I would choose if I were having elective surgery: tummy tuck
One thing I love about my house: it's big
One thing that I love to do: shop
One thing I would like to change if I could: my lack of willpower
One thing I would change as a woman: again, lack of willpower
One thing I would do if I had unlimited money: volunteer instead of work
One thing I that I will not do again: too many to list
One thing that I would like to do: adopt all the animals that need love
One thing I could do without: traffic
One thing I love to smell: vanilla
One thing I would do if I won the lottery: pay off my house
One thing that infuriates me: people who harm children and animals
One thing that I love about scrapbooking: . reliving the memories
One thing I am addicted to: . shopping
One thing I pray for: . peace for myself and those I love
One thing I wish I had: . bunches of cash
One thing I would do again, regardless of the pain:. belly button piercing
One thing that I absolutely hate to do: laundry
One thing that is weird about me: I chew pen caps constantly
One thing that I need help on: getting things done
One thing I find most relaxing: reading
One thing that could get me in trouble: my big mouth
One thing that annoys me: people driving too slow
One thing I dread; therefore, donʼt do very often: . mopping the floors
One thing that I have learned, but still sometimes forget: dunno, I forgot
.

project 365 - day 37

My very handsome son enjoying some breakfast! And playing his DS, naturally.

Fun Valentine's Craft

Looking for a cute way to craft with your kids for Valentine's day? This one is simple and requires very few supplies (aka very little money!)

Supplies needed
crayons in your favorite Valentine's colors
wax paper
craft paper or cardstock
pencil sharpener
scissors
string or ribbon
an iron

Directions

1. Take a large piece of wax paper, about 12x18 and fold it in half, then unfold
2. Using your pencil sharpener, sharpen the crayons, to create wax shavings
3. Spread the wax shavings evenly across one half of your folded wax paper
4. Fold the other half of the wax paper back over, so the crayon shavings are between the two halves, then crimp the three open sides a half inch to hold the shavings in
5. Put a piece of the craft paper down on your ironing board, then place the wax paper over it, and add another sheet of craft paper on top
6. Iron on medium, checking frequently, until the shavings have melted
7. Once cool, cut out hearts from the wax paper and hang them from the strings

Anyone else have some fun and inexpensive craft ideas to share for Valentine's day? Bring 'em on!

project 365 - day 36

This is one of those pretty vacuums, the Dirt Devil Kurve. I needed a new dust buster type hand vac for downstairs cause mine is old and sucky, and then I saw this and I couldn't resist. Not as if I need a vacuum which I can put on display, as they've always done just fine in my laundry room, hidden from view, but this was just so cute. So we'll give it a shot.