Having fun with Packing Peanuts!

Who wouldn't have fun playing around in these? This occupied my girls for a good 45 minutes while I was sitting on the computer! Thanks UPS:)

Enjoy your Saturday folks!

I'm in the mood for my first ever give away, so come back tomorrow and find out what I will be giving away....hmmm, I better get working on that:)

Such Talent!!!

Some people just have so much talent! This Artist is one of them! I may be partial, because she is my mom, but I think you would agree! I love this McIntosh Rose, wouldn't this look so cute hanging in a smaller window? No boring curtain!
or maybe you want a larger piece? This could go on a wall or you could hang it in a window! This piece is so beautiful! Simplistic, clean lines and all clear beveled glass! It allows for all that wonderful sunlight to come pouring in, but gives your window some added beauty!
Aren't these little guys just too cute? I think they are so fun and they would be a great little gift too! Place them on your window sill, a shelf or just randomly throughout your home or office!
One of her staples in her shop are her crosses! They are so beautiful! A wonderful piece for a gift for someone special or yourself! The blues in this cross are so serene and calming. All that detail work in the center, you can really tell this artist pays close attention to her detail!
All of her stained glass would make great gifts for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, graduation...the list goes on and on! Plus, if you don't find what you are looking for or if you have an idea in your mind or maybe you like something, but would prefer it in another color, well she does custom work and would be glad to work with you! So take a stroll on over to BellaRose Design and take a look around, I know you will be very glad you did!

On the GRiLL

Okay, I will admit that we rarely grill out, but I always love the way dinner tastes when we do! Plus there is not much mess in the kitchen! My goal for this summer is to grill out 2-3 times/week, if not more!

This is my new favorite thing on the grill, Corn on the Cob!

It's very simple, just place on grill, low heat with the shuck and all and cook for 20 minutes or so, rotating every once in awhile! Be careful the other night two of the ears of corn caught on fire...oops!

If your children are like mine, corn is one of the few veggies they will actually eat! They love it on the grill and so do we! Let me know if you have any more fun, easy ideas for the grill!

I think my next adventure for the weekend is to try a pizza on the grill, wish me luck!

WHiTE Girl Can't Dance!

Okay I'll spare you the pictures, but I've been taking this class called Zumba.

Let's just say, my title says it all! The leader of this class is amazing, she can shake her booty like no other lady I have seen. I'm sure it looks like I am in slow-mo trying to keep up with everyone! I definitely get a work out when I take this class! If you ever get a chance to take a class like this one, I would highly recommend it! It is more fun with a friend:) I now have a new appreciation for those that dance on TV!

What a Great FiND!

I found this Encyclopedia set for mother's! It is 67 years old and in great condition!


Aren't these pictures just great! All six books have random pictures throughout!
For this set I only paid $4. Isn't that incredible!

It's full of some fun information for Mother's from way back when! It's amazing how much of the stuff that we do today is still the same. Except for a spoon full of cod liver! YUCK!

I will be posting some fun info that I find in these books. This will be a fun read and a great addition to my home decor!

Relaxing TiMES...

I'm back and I hope everyone had a fun filled Memorial Day weekend!

The weather was gorgeous this weekend, but back to being in the 50's for Tuesday!

So we went to spend the weekend with my parents and we also found some time to go have a cook out with Jeremy's side of the family! Thankfully we grew up in neighboring towns so both of our families live super close to each other!

Well my dad is not all that Internet savvy. He tries, but then gets frustrated:) Can anyone relate? I was browsing the Internet when I asked him if he had read my blog? He said, "Your Bog, what's a Bog?" He was serious! I said, "No dad, a BLLLLOG" He said it right, but soon forgot and kept on referring to it as a Bog all weekend:) I find this very funny!

I love my dad:) When I woke up on Saturday him and my mom had made a trip into town to get some groceries...this is what he picked out! He said it was just for his girl, but that I had to share:) Awwww thanks dad! He kept on asking me if I wanted any whoppers. I think he just wanted me to open the box so he could have some:) I did open it and he did have some!

Here's Addie trying to be like her Aunt Sarah...there is no sound coming from the headphones. What a goofball!
and here she is all clunked out. Probably a sugar crash:) What a sweetie pie I love pictures of little kids sleeping, they are so innocent! That is her sucking thumb, all shriveled and pruney!

Daddy and Addie sittin' on the picnic table enjoying the weather!
Alaina and Aunt Carri petting Gracie. Alaina loves dogs and really wants one, *sigh* that translates into my dog!


Lettin' my toes hang out, such a great feeling!
Addie was obsessed with the dogs and making sure they would get enough water to drink!
She had to try out the doggie door. I mean what kid could resist a doggie door?


All in all we had a nice time visiting family and enjoying God's creation outdoors. My hubby did a little fishing, I went to some garage sales(I'll show you my awesome find tomorrow!) I helped my mom take some pictures for her Etsy shop, that was fun! Well usually if Etsy is involved it has FUN written all over it:) We got back Sunday and on Monday we did some cleaning, not fun, but needed! It's amazing what a little team work will do!

Enough already!!!

I am so tired of changing diapers lately!

Addie is now 2 and is determined NOT to wear a diaper anymore! Which sounds great in theory, but when the girl takes off her diaper randomly without telling mom...let's just say that creates some problems!

I hate to admit it, but she has gone #2 twice this week...without a diaper on...and she wasn't sitting on the toliet! I am trying the whole bit, "Addie if you go potty on the toliet you get an M&M!" It's not really clicking yet!

I love BiRDS, but...

...NOT when two of them are stuck in my garage and I am trying to leave to get my daughter to school and I am already late and I still have to get gas! This is what happened to me yesterday morning.

My husband left for work and left the garage door open for me and I guess two little birds flew in and when I opened the door they started to fly around in the garage. Oh my goodness, I guess this is publicly telling you that I am a big baby, if I am scared of two little birds. Jeremy told me to just shoo them out using a broom, but I couldn't even do that. Come on, there's two of them! Surely the other would attack me when I was trying to get one of their family members out of MY garage!

So do you want to know if I made it out of my house? Well I did, but I had to go through our front door and sneak quietly into the garage so the birds wouldn't see me and start flying around! Um...let's just say that one of the times while loading up my van they started to fly around and I started to scream like a little girl and run out of the garage! I am just praying that none of my neighbors saw this little meltdown!

Have any of you ever had a moment where you are completely oblivious to your surroundings and you start doing something that would look completely ridiculous to anyone watching? Then when you are done and you compose yourself you look around and make sure no one saw it?

Oh and by the way, I was late getting Alaina to school, by about 15 minutes!

From Baby to Toddler....

I've been debating to chop off Addie's hair lately.

There's always food stuck in it, I can never run a brush through it without having a major wrestling match with her and she never leaves any of the cute hair bows that I put in it longer than 20 minutes...
So here is the results...I love it, but I was kind of sad...no more baby curls!
She went from baby to toddler in a matter of a minute!

It was cute the next morning when she looked at herself in the mirror, she shook her head and smiled. She totally could tell that I cut off her hair!

Pinkalicious SWAP...

I LOVE pink, I mean who doesn't. It sure does bring out the girlie side!!! If you want in on this swap head on over to A Sparkly Messy Life and add your name to the list. You have until this Friday!

This is my first swap ever and so I'm super excited to see what I get and I hope I live up to my end of the bargin too:)

My mommy...

Her name is ROSE...she's my mommy!

She's a pretty fun gal!!!
Okay, since I already wrote all of the sentimental stuff in her Mother's day card, here's a little poem for my gal pal I call mom...

My mom is very creative, not just with art

Over and over she would

Tell us kids

Help out your mom and do your part!

Every time we would sigh,

Rolling our eyes. She would say, "Just pretend you are my maid, but you don't get paid!"

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!

(I am not a poet and this poem proves just that!)

It doesn't take much to make me SMiLE...

A glass of PEPSi...okay I know it's not the greatest choice of beverage, but on Friday night...it's like my beer:)

Here's a great, "mom tip" for you. If you drink pop, but don't like it when it goes flat!!! Then squeeze all the air out of it until the pop goes back up to the top, but make sure none comes out, then screw the cap back on super tight! Now it will stay fresher longer!!! It really does work.
The rest of my bag of cheesy/caramel corn. This stuff is to die for!!!
...and my new fab purse!!! I'm normally not one to pick out orange colored items! But I thought what a fun color for summer and it would look great for fall too! Who am I kiddin' by the time fall gets here, I'll want a new one:)

Talented Photographer!

Aren't these baby birds so stinkin' cute? I just love them!!! This gal is one of my favorite photographers!!! She is able to capture such a great picture that transports you directly to the location! It's as if I were standing right there beside her when she took the picture!
I love this picture of the bridge, so unique!!!
So fresh and springy!

Go ViSiT Maia's Menagerie today and find yourself a wonderful print for your home or office!

one of my favorite illustrators...

Maureen O'Keefe...my aunt!

This lady is soooooo super talented and I love her to pieces. I come from a very talented family. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa:)

Her attention to detail is out of this world!

Just how sick are you?

Since Addie hasn't been feeling well, I think Alaina wanted to get in on some of the attention that she was getting from mom. What do you all think? :)

TULiP TiME...

What a wonderful time of year...TULiP TiME...We are so blessed to live in such a fun area! The tulips are in full bloom and look so luscious, as always!
Here are the wonderful Dutch "Klompen" dancers. It is so fun to watch them dance as they "klomp" on the pavement! I have seen one of them loose a shoe:)
So fresh and elegant! I love spring time colors!
Jeremy eating a deep fried twinkie. I tried a bite and I'm stickin' with the funnel cakes:)
What a cute family...introductions...ME, Alaina, Addie, and my hubby, Jeremy!
Alaina was doing great sitting on the curb, until I asked her to look at mommy. The sun was too bright and she kept thinking she was going to fall! Doing great though!

This is such a cute picture. She really didn't want to get her picture taken, she kept saying she was tired. Come to find out while we were waiting for our food at Steak N Shake she threw up all over herself, me and the floor. It was so gross!!! I felt especially bad for those that were eating and I had to walk by them to get to the bathroom! Oh man, what an evening!!! Sorry everyone!

Just to let you all know that she is doing better. She woke up in the middle of the night wanting to go potty...she's not potty trained, but I let her try anyways. As she was sitting there in the dark I said,
"Addie does your tummy hurt?"
"Yes"
Oh you poor thing, I thought. A couple of seconds went by and I thought I wonder if she really knows what I mean? So I said,
"Addie, does your arm hurt?"
"Yes"
"Addie, does your toenail hurt?"
"Yes"

Okay, I'm pretty sure she is feeling better, just tired and in the cuddly/clingy mode!

I've Been Tagged...

Julie from Joy's Hope tagged me and this looked like a fun list to fill out, so here it goes...

4 Jobs I have had:

1. Grocery Bagger. (You know those teenagers that stand at the end of the aisle and say, "would you like paper or plastic?")
2. Sales associate/display artist at Mikasa, for fine china and other fun things. (I got to use the fun scanner and do all of those fancy displays way up top on the cabinets)
3. Cosmetologist. I have my hair license, but I HATED this job and only did it for 4 months, (I still cut my husbands hair, my kids and occasionally mine!)
4. Jane's Bridal and Tux shop. (Yes, I got to deal with all of those brides AND their mom's:) Man could I tell you some stories

4 Movies I have watched more than once:

1.Fried Green Tomatoes - I LOVE this movie
2.The Wizard of OZ
3.Mary Poppins - I think somehow Mary handed down her bag to me, because some days I feel as if I'm about to pull a floor lamp out of my purse!
4.The Princess Bride - Mahwidge is what bwings us togedder today! Wuve, twu wuve,(if you've seen this movie you'll be able to translate!)

4 TV Shows I cannot miss:

1.LOST - At first I thought it was going to be stupid, but now I can't miss it!
2.The Office - These people crack me up!
3.American Idol
4.Smallville - We have almost all of the season's on DVD. So we are a couple years behind then the general public, I don't care:)

4 People who email me regularly:

1.Courtney(my best friend)
2.Sarah(my sister)
3.Trina(another wonderful friend)
4.Rose(my momma)

4 Places I have been:

1.Hawaii (to all 4 major islands. Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Kauai)

2.Chicago, IL
3.Philadelphia, PA
4.Ontario, Canada we went to Niagara Falls!

4 Favorite foods:

1.ANYTHING with CHOCOLATE and NO nuts:)
2.French fries - These things are evil!!!
3.Starbucks, Grande Mocha Please!
4.Tacos with guacamole!!!

4 Places I would like to visit:

1.Australia - Who wouldn't want to go down under?
2.Anywhere in Europe
3.New York City
4.The West Coast

4 Things I am looking forward to this year:

1.Watching my two girls grow and change, even though sometimes it's hard to see them get older
2.Celebrating 8 years of marriage with my wonderful man:)
3.SUMMER
4.the fireworks on the 4th of July, "oooooh, aaaaah, eeeeeh oooooh"

4 People I am tagging:

1. Sarah
2. Crystal
3. April
4. Lacey

LOOK what I won!

This super, duper cute sign was made by Joy's Hope I've recently came across her BLOG Go ViSiT her and you too will agree that she is one of the sweetest gals around!

yummy STRAWBABiES

Yes, I did call this yummy fruit, "strawbabies" This is what Alaina refers to them as!

So delicious! I washed and cut up this huge case that my hubby brought home! This is a great, "MOM tip" It allows you to be able to eat them when you want and not have to clean them. Probably most of you fabulous mom's do this already, but I find it super annoying to stand there and do this, so it doesn't always happen! Have a super day:)