Friday Fill In

...here we go!

1. It's cold and forming condensation on my wine glass, it sure is humid here.

2. I love tomatoes with mozzarella and balsamic vinegar.

3. My favorite health and beauty product is Aveda hair products....if my hair were longer, I imagine I would walk around sniffing a lock of hair all the time.

4. After a nice long ride....and we were at the beach. (taken Memorial Day '08)

5. Well, first of all I did not realize Will's birthday party is in a week. I am on the hunt for some great party favors, since my old standby of the foofoo cookies will take too long. I really do not like putting together that bag of crap kids get at parties.

6. How sad, I don't even remember; those were the cast of characters in a recent dream and it was fairly unremarkable since I can't even remember.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to veggie pizza with the family, tomorrow my plans include menu planning and finding the birthday party favor crap mentioned above and Sunday, I want to sleep in!


Friday fill in courtesy of the talented Janet...

Photostory Friday: Giving up Bunny

Livi is a thumb sucker. She has always been a thumb sucker. I think I even have a sonogram of her sucking her thumb. Trust me, I tried to get her to take a "binky"....but no, she has always wanted her thumb. Along with the thumb, she wants her bunny. My brother calls her a "secret sucker". She holds one ear of her bunny in her thumb sucking had, while rubbing the other ear with her other hand. Over the years she has rubbed a hole in that ear.

One year went by then another....

Six days before her second birthday, her Daddy deployed for 15 months. This shot appearred in the Austin paper. It was also one of my first blog entries: Stuff Portrait Friday: Freedom. Probably not the best time to try to take the bunny to stop the thumb sucking....(the only time she sucks is when she has the bunny.)

Fifteen months later in Dec '07, Bunny is the one thing she wanted to bring to the welcome home ceremony. She was worried her Daddy forgot Bunny. Again, not a good time to take Bunny away.

That summer we moved......remember the chaos of that summer:
Went to the beach '08 for a week
We SOLD a house.
Lived in Oklahoma for almost a month....most of it without Husband
Lived in Ohio for three weeks
Bought a house in KY and painted every square inch of it

By now Livi is three and a half years old. She still has Bunny

Last night, on her own free will, she announced she was ready to give up Bunny. We have had a tiny gold ring in a princess Limoge box. We promised her when she was ready to put Bunny away for good, she could have the princess box and the ring. Going to sleep was a bit rough, there were a few tears., but she did it. All by herself! First thing this morning...Thursday, May 28, 2009, she earned that golden ring!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

ABCs of our weekend

For some reason I am in a severe blogging funk....these ABC posts are such an easy way to get my random chaotic thoughts together. So, from last Friday until now....

Attended the kids preschool graduation

Brought to tears to see my little boy and girl end another year

Cried....okay, I cried. I did. But not the big honking "ugly" cry, just a few leaky tears.

Drove to Ohio for the long weekend

Eat (okay it should be ate, but I need an E word) lots of good food

Finally downloaded the pics from my camera...eeks guess how many I took?

Grandkids galore...all of my in-laws grand kids were there this weekend. It is so nice to live close enough to drive up for the long weekend.

Happy to get to hold my new nephew.

I love seeing how patient and gentle Will is with his younger cousins.

Josie's toots make me keep a can of Febreeze very close by me.

Kids played on the slip-n-slide

Love that my mother-in-law keeps pinot grigio on hand because she knows this is my favorite!

Made it home from OH in less time, despite getting lost. I used Google maps on my Iphone mid trip to find our way back! whew hoo!

Nine shows on my DVR from the long weekend...."Medium" is playing now.

Olivia has a song in her heart that is bursting out of her mouth 24/7....how's that for a positive spin on she talks non-stop!

Photos are finally downloaded. I need to make copies for my in laws.

Quite the rain showers today....soccer was even cancelled, a rescheduled rain game.

Really nervous for Will's first half day camp next week.

S'mores by the fire....sugar 'em up and hope they crash right at bedtime. Very fine line of timing there.

Today was the first real day of summer break for us! The kids even slept in just a tad.

Ugghh....is this thing almost done.

Very good grilled burgers tonight...cumin and oregano, then topped with cheddar and cilantro. Yummilicious

Welcomed Baby A into the world...congrats to my sister-in-law M and her husband A.

Xpect lots of grins and giggles when a new baby is around.

Ya'll still reading this because I need to go get some

Zzzzzsss.

Nighty night, y'all!

Peony surprise

When we moved to this house, it was late summer. The flower beds behind the house had already come and gone. So I cleaned them out, saved what I thought wasn't weeds, and hoped for the best. Then even in March or so, I cleaned out some more stuff. I seriously did some weeding and digging up stuff.

I wondered what would come up back there. To fill in some of the blank spaces, I ordered a complete foundation garden from Spring Hill Nursery. I mean, it comes with a diagram and all the plants! How easy can it get?

Much to my surprise one of the few things I thought might have been weeds were these peony bushes! The bushes are so full that the blooms make the branches droop. They are so gorgeous.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Manic Monday

If you could completely redecorate any room in your house at no expense to you, what room would you choose? The master bedroom. Every other room in the house is pretty much done. I absolutely love West Elm or Pottery Barn. One day we will get to it. It definitely always seems like our home is a work in progress.

Which hour of the day do you feel goes the slowest? That moment just before my alarm clock goes off....I wish kids came with a snooze button. You know, just bop them on the head and they go back to sleep for nine more minutes! Yeah, wishful thinking...I know.

If your birthday could be in a different month of the year, when would you have it? Anytime during the school year. I never got to bring cupcakes in for my classmates since my birthday is in the summer. I did have one teacher that did half-birthdays! I would totally bring my chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting!

Fleur-de-Lisa hosts the original Manic Monday here

Friday fill in

1. If we had no winter, the kids would never get to ride those fun sleds.

2. Things that come out of the kids' mouths a perpetual astonishment.

3. If I had my life to live over I would try to relax a bit. *pic taken at the pool from my neighbor in TX**

4. I try to live in the time of here and now inside of four and twenty hours.

5. If you've never been thrilled then I am sad for you.

6. To be interested in the changing seasons means I need to check my allergy meds.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to pizza with the family, tomorrow my plans include soccer for the boy and Sunday, I want to veg!

Photostory Friday: sunshine

This week we finally had some sunshine and warm weather that I have so desperately been craving. The kids were able to play in the sprinkler for a bit. The picture below the big hair post just below this one was taken this afternoon as well.

After getting a handful of shots of the kids, I thought I would take some pics of the flowers in the garden. Yellow flowers against the blue sky are one of my favorite things.

As I ventured over to the flower beds, Will and Livi both had to come over to hop in the frames. The crazy pics never get old for a 4 and 5 year old. I think he is still missing Monkey!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

tuesday with tommie

WHAT I’M READING: the latest Real Simple magazine

WHAT I’M WATCHING: Whatever is on the DVR, I haven't watched TV the last two nights! So I know Gossip Girl, Castle, Charm School, Medium, House, Desperate Housewives, Daisy of Love....oh yeah, some good "trash TV" as Will calls it.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO: Josie snoring.....and Gossip Girl.

WHAT I’M WEARING: jammies

WHAT I’M EATING: had chicken quesadillas for dinner earlier

WHAT I’M ENJOYING: first day to let the kids run around in the sprinkler. They would run through the sprinkler, then come hug my legs. Lots of silly laughter!!

WHAT I’M SNIFFING: not much, spring allergies are not my friend. My nose is kind of stopped up!

Happy Tuesday, y'all

Note: tuesday with tommie pic circa summer 1991....bride's face blurred to protect the innocent.

Let me just say, a great deal of hair product and Aqua Net went into that hairdo.

Mother's Day: an interview

Picture of Will and me at the Mother's day tea at his preschool. Blurry, but the only one I could get on my Iphone. Also he is smooching his lips, so that I wouldn't see his food! silly boy!

Will: I really love it when my mom tickles me.
Livi: I really love it when my mom snuggles me.

W: My mom likes to snuggle.

L: My mom likes to love on me.

W: My mom always tells me, "Stop, chewing on baby." (**a little baby he sleeps with, no child is getting gnawed on my my little boy!)

L: My mom always tells me to "Clean my room!"

W: The best thing she does is love me.

L: The best thing she does is snuggle me.

W: It makes her happy when I kiss her until she laughs.

L: It makes her happy when I love on her.

W: My mom loves to cook
L: My mom loves to do the house blessing.

W: I like it when she hugs me.
L: I like it when she cooks dinner.

W: The best thing she cooks is pasta.
L: The best thing she cooks is cheesy pasta.

W: When my mom shops she likes to buy Cheese Its and chex mix

L: When my mom shops she likes to buy food.

W: My mom’s favorite household chore is getting it up and down (cleaning both floors)

L: My mom's favorite household chore is to clean the floors and use her new vacuum.

W: My mom’s favorite TV show is 'trash' tv
L: My mom's favorite TV show is the news.

W: At shops she likes to apples and bananas.

L: At shops she likes to buy mommy chips (tortilla chips).

W: At the hotel, she likes to swim in the pool.
L: At the hotel she likes to help us go to bed.

W: and L: If she could go on a trip, she would go to Disney world

W: I love my mom because she is my mommy

L: I love my mommy because I just love her.

This weekend, Will's soccer game got rained out.....so both he and Husband were able to go to Livi's first ballet recital. She is in "creative dance". It was quite cute to see all these 3 and 4 years old dancing to their songs.

Friday Fill In

And...here we go!

1. Apples are to oranges as laundry is to cleaning.

2. So happy it is the weekend and that's all I have to say about that.

3. I think I hear the quiet house, kids are sleeping.

4. You're a grand ol' flag. (Will is learning this for his preschool pre-K graduation.)

5. Do what you want to do, but have fun while you are doing it....it was raining cats and dogs today. This is the street in front of our home....when it rains, get your raincoat and boots.....Then go have some fun!

6. The kids were dragging every tw0 and four wheeled toy out of the garage and behind him was a Radio Flyer wagon; in the wagon was a bucket filled with bottles of bubbles and sidewalk chalk.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Livi's ballet recital, tomorrow my plans include grocery shopping and Sunday, I want to have my favorite meal for Mother's Day!

Friday fill in courtesy of the talented Janet...

Having a week like this

Louisville Zoo, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

Ever feel like this....?

yeah, me too.