Cousins

Millie and Tison were trying to hide from me. They were under the covers. When I said I was going to lay down on this comfy bed they started to laugh hysterically. They were too cute!

Can't get enough of this little bruiser!

Blaine and Isaac were too cute together!

Can you believe those BIG BLUE eyes. I thought my children had BIG EYES!

The boys and I had a little quick trip up to Gainesville yesterday morning. Aunt Lacy was sweet enough to watch the boys while I went to an appointment. I was LUCKY enough to pick up my beautiful little niece from Joy School. It was so much FUN. Millie was so excited when she saw me. She started yelling, "Aunt Gladys, Aunt Gladys". The children had a nice time playing together and I got to cuddle little Isaac. I enjoyed some nice conversation with Lacy too. I love that I have so many sisters now. Having family close by, all around us, is such a blessing!

Home Teaching Companions

Tonight, Paul was going to visit one of his assigned home teaching families, the Lamas's, and he decided he would take Tison as his companion. Tison was so excited. He ran into his room and put his church clothes back on. The picture of them below was when they were leaving. Blaine got right in on it. I LOVE my 3 men. They are ALL so handsome and sweet. I couldn't feel more blessed!

Oh What a STINKY Day!

Today this sweet girl of mine got the WORST news ever. They are moving her teacher up to the 5th grade because the classes are too big in that grade. They are completely splitting up her whole class and moving them to other 3rd grade teachers. They have been together for a whole month already. When their class got the news they ALL started to cry. Nicole said even the boys started to cry. She had never seen any of them cry before. They ALL loved their teacher. She is one of those teachers that are few and far between. Willing to work with every single child when they might be having an issue in a certain area. Very strict, but loving. The change will take place Monday. It is a SAD day in our home.

Have a Little FUN!!

LOVE this guy's work!! Isn't this what life is all about it? Living for moments like these.

Rainy Day from Ryan Southwell on Vimeo.

The Treasure Box

We have been having a bit of trouble with homework being accomplished by one of our children who's name will remain anonymous. So, I went on a treasure box shopping SPREE yesterday and created our very own. (In the girl's classes there is a treasure box they get to pick out of each week and they get so excited about it-the one at school is behavior based) We have everything from crafts to note pads, note cards, stamps, stickers, movies, books, boxes of gum balls, winter gloves, play dough, glow sticks, etc. All 3 children were so excited. Tison is participating too. He has to do a 1/2 hour of "Starfall" each day. When the girls got home from school yesterday I presented it to them and what occured after that was complete SUCCESS.....Homework accomplished......Wooooohooooooo! What a relief. I will keep you all posted on how it goes.

Our little "MUNCHER"

Our little boy who has never had to say a word because his siblings talk for him uttered his first sentence tonight......."I bite." This happend while I was playing with him on our bed and he grabbed my hand and tried to bite it after saying those words. All I could do was laugh and tell him, "No, we don't bite." And then I took this picture of him. He is just so cute ALWAYS!

Kelly-Nicole's Best Friend

Kelly is Nicole's best friend since Kindergarten. They were LUCKY enough to be in a class together again this year. They love spending time together and talking on the phone. Kelly's mom and I have bcome friends as well and enjoy talking when we get the girls together. Kelly is such a SWEET friend. She always invites Michelle and Tison to play and to her birthday parties. Well this past weekend we celebrated Kelly's 9th birthday. The kids had a blast! They swam in the pool, ate cake, helped Kelly blow out the candles on her cake, played stick the glasses on Barbie, tie dyed shirts and ate plenty of candy. The other girl at the party is their friend Nya. She has been the girl's friend as well over the years. They are like the 3 musketeers.

We had a great weekend!

My Latest Diaper Cake

For most of you that know me you know that I have been making diaper cakes for years for friends baby showers. Just thought I would post a picture of my latest one. This one is for my friend Anne-Marie's baby shower in November. I had a lot of FUN making this one!

A Mud Seat, a Chalk Board, and a place for Mail

Who would have thought that those 3 things would bring a SMILE to my face every single day? But they do!

I will start with the Mud Seat. I love organization, although sometimes in our home things get REALLY disorganized. The children's backpacks and shoes laying all over the house last school year were driving me CRAZY......."A place for everything and everything in its place" :). So my WONDERFUL husband decided he would design and build a mud seat for our very small and narrow laundry room. He did it! It totally works with plenty of walking room. It is BEAUTIFUL and I LOVE being in my laundry room. Now I need you all to imagine a plain white wall with nothing else but a large cork board/tack board on it for the before picture ( I forgot to take one ). Now here is the AFTER picture......the finished product....YIPPEE!!!

A little FYI...that is a very tiny backpack hanging there. The girls backpacks fill the whole space.

I LOVE my new laundry room. The color on the walls is the same blue we used in our bathroom and it is a favorite of mine. No more shoes and backpacks all over the house. YEAH!!!

Then I got rid of the cork board and bought a small cork board and magnetic dry erase board.....LOVE it!!

Now for the chalkboard. This summer we were able to travel, visit with friends and stay in their homes. One of my friends made her whole back splash into a chalk board and another one of my friends had chalkboard paper on her wall. I LOVED the idea of having a chalkboard in my kitchen and immediately thought about one of the sides of my kitchen cabinet. So I bought some magnetic paint to prime the cabinet with and then painted with chalkboard paint. The finished product is a chalkboard in the perfect spot in our kitchen. A place for me to write menus, grocery lists, and favorite quotes. Thank you Heather and Heidi for this wonderful idea--love you two.

NEXT, is my find at the craft store. For years I had been trying to find the PERFECT basket to put on our wall by the front door to place our mail in when we walk in the door. I loved this tin when I saw it and it has worked out perfectly and it was 40% off. Before I made this purchase mail would get tossed on our dining table and would just pile up. Now I have a place for mail and I always remember to go through it because there is only so much room for the mail in this beauty of a tin. And it is in my favorite color RED! ( I can not figure out why blogger underlined this part of my post)

Making some of these changes in our home did not cost us very much and has only added to the functionality and beauty of our home.

So the next time you get a creative idea of something you want to do in your home....Just DO it!! You will be happy you did! I know I am.

FYI.....FUTURE PROJECT: Letters on my kitchen walls! That is all I am saying. I can't give it all away or else there would be no surprise. I will remember to take before pics this time.

The Library

(Tison and Blaine with their treasure of knowledge :) )

I went to the library today and checked out 19 books for the girls and boys. Tison and Blaine helped me pick out quite a few of them. Then we came home and read a couple of them. I was just about sworn by my husband to never return to the library to check out books because at the end of the last school year I had a number of overdue fees I had to pay. I am making a promise now that I will not return any more books later than the due date. I just can't stay away! My children LOVE to read and I LOVE to read. I love when the book fair comes around to the kids school. I always purchase them books that we can read throughout the summer. A little something new and something that I do not have to return.

I hope to one day have a little library in our home. That has always been a DREAM of mine. I dream of wall to wall books from the floor to the ceiling with a nice bay window seat and a beautiful thick wood desk with drawers on both sides (3 on each) so the kids can have their own place to put/do homework or study. Until then I have to check out books or else our little home would be over run with them.

A Brand New Suit and Mickey Mouse

A little man's request on his birthday......A black suit like his Daddy's and to see Mickey Mouse....and these are the events of his birthday.

(I wonder what could be in this box? Hhhhhmmmm, a suit maybe? :) )

(Our little birthday celebration before church)

(Tison's doughnut cake)

(A little sugar rush before church)

(Opening his 1st gift)

(Excited!)

(Where has my little boy gone?)

(What a "STUD"!)

(When we arrived home after church he opened his 2 other gifts....Excitement!)

(A new outfit and a Thomas the train Lego set)

(Apple Cranberry Nut Salad with Feta Cheese and Balsamic Vinegar and Fettucini Alfredo....Tison's birthday dinner request)

(One happy boy!)

(Dark Chocolate covered strawberries...another request)

(Michelle, Goofy, and the Birthday Boy)

(Do you see the chunk of food my almost 2 year old is about to put in his mouth.....and he did. That boy LOVES food!)

(Chef Mickey Mouse, Michelle, and Tison)

(Nicole and Minnie Mouse)

(Picture with Pluto)

(Love this one!)

(Picture with Donald Duck)

(Blaine was dancing to the music with his hands/fingers...he was too cute!)

(Blowing out the candle on his cupcake they gave him)

(We all watched him eat it with envy....well maybe the kids did :))

(Believe it or not we had "goofy" sitting with us at breakfast....j/k Uncle Chris)

(Tison, Nicole, Mima, Michelle, and Blaine)

(Papa and Blaine at breakfast)

(oooooooooooohhhhhh) :)

(Opening gifts)

(Tison and Mima)

(The infamous Smiley Face balloon)

(Tison's Dragon Cake)

Just as I mentioned in my earlier post, Tison opened up his brand new suit Sunday morning and wore it to church. He looked like a little "STUD", so handsome. That morning was also filled with balloons, a doughnut cake, and a couple of more gifts after church (Thomas the train Lego set and a striped polo shirt and jeans). He is so cute. He told me that the gifts were exactly what he wanted. After lunch Paul and I took a long nap trying to recover from the loss of sleep during my friends wedding preparations (which turned out beautiful thanks to her family and friend Veronica). Then as Tison had requested we had Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken and Apples and Cranberry (except there were cherries because I ran out of cranberries) nut salad with Feta Cheese Crumble and Newman's Balsamic Vinagarette Dressing. And for dessert....Dark Chocolate covered Strawberries - a FAVORITE in our home.

Monday morning came with more excitement! Mima, Papa, and Uncle Chris were coming to CELEBRATE and we loaded up in the car and met them at Disney's Contemporary Hotel where we ate at CHEF MICKEY'S (thank you Mima and Papa). The kids had so much FUN seeing Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald Duck and the breakfast was DELICIOUS. They brought Tison out a little cupcake to celebrate his birthday. It could not have been a better morning. Then we headed back home to greet the mother of all balloons (a 36" smiley face balloon-per Tison's request...when I was ordering balloons for the wedding he saw the smiley face balloon and said I would love that for my birthday.......and I couldn't resist....the people at Publix got a kick out of it when I had it inflated that morning) and Tison opened up more gifts. Tison and Blaine had a ball playing with his new talking, interactive Woody and Buzz Light Year Dolls. Later that afternoon we had Chicken Salad and a Dragon Cake and ice cream.

I still can't believe that my little guy is 4. He has a heart of GOLD and just to illustrate how sweet and selfless he is here is a little birthday story. For Tison's birthday Uncle Chris got him the 3 green aliens from Toy Story. The girls thought they were cute and wanted to play with them too. So Tison gave them each one to keep. Now how many kids would give their siblings or anyone for that matter part of their birthday gifts?
I am so happy he had a WONDERFUL birthday.