Two Cutie Pies

Look at this little cutie pie:


This is my nephew, Rylan. He is sitting in the big dumptruck we gave him for his birthday. The second I saw this picture, I immediately thought of another cutie pie:

This would be Bryce when he was about 18 months old. He absolutely loved this "big black truck". We lived in this dumpy little apartment, so he got to keep it inside. This is where he sat in the morning to drink his juice and watch his shows.

Batting 0 for 3

You do not want to be my friend this month, especially if you have a February birthday. So far, I have missed three very important birthdays. The worst part is I found out after the fact from each friend. I could have died. These are very important people in my lives, and I totally dropped the ball. So is it better to get them a gift after they know you totally forgot, or do you just appologize and plan to make it up to them later? I feel a little silly getting them a gift now. What do you think?

Remember this?

I had a few of you ask if I could get some more, and I just found out that I can. I am going to go tomorrow morning and buy a few more, so if you would like one, I will be happy to mail it to you. I think they were about $25. Just let me know!

I'm Hooked!

Well, I think I'm hooked! Two years ago when our house burned down, it took a huge collection of priceless scrapbooks down with it. I swore that I would never invest that much time or money in scrapbooking again.

Yesterday, I went to a Creative Memories class that showed their digital program. I am so excited I can't stand it! They have two different softwares that I bought yesterday. The first is to organize your photos, crop them, fix them, whatever. It can even "photoshop" your photos by taking people out or, my personal favorite, slim the old thighs!! It has a great way of organizing photos so you don't have a million files in "my pictures". It also has a space to caption each picture if you wanted to. That way you don't forget the cute things that happened or were said. I was VERY impressed, and it was only about $40. My current filing system is already a mess and I've only been using digital for about a year.

The second software is the Storybook Creator Plus. They offer a free version, but it is very similar to what you can do on Shutterfly. This software is only about $60 and it lets you do anything you can think of. It has a million fonts, tons of stickers and papers. You can put anything exactly where you want it. It is truly just like scrapbooking but without all the mess and time. When you have put together a book, you send it to the CM lab and they print it for you. A 12X12 book with about 100 pages costs about $150. If you've ever scrapbooked, you know that a homemade album costs much more than that if you actually added it all up. They also come out with new digital kits you can buy online that adds new papers, stickers, etc. Another huge advantage is that once you upload a book to CM it is stored on their server forever. So if anything were to happen to the books, all you have to do is reorder it.

Anyway, I know it sounds like I am selling the stuff (I'm not), but I am just so excited about it. I have already moved about 1/3 of my pictures to the new software and can't wait to be able to start the fun stuff. I have already hit Richard up for a laptop. I can so see this being a great thing while I'm waiting in carline or at baseball practice.

Just thought I'd share. Have a great day!!

Most Creative

Well, I don't need anyone to tell me that Bryce is the "most creative", but it's always nice when others agree. The assignment was: bring 10 things from home. You can bring as much of each 10 thing that you want. They had no idea what they were going to need the stuff for. The day they brought their items she told them they had to make a puppet out of their supplies. Bryce absolutely loves things like this! He made a puppet that is a robot. They were broken into groups and had to create a puppet show with their various puppets. Yesterday, he came home with his and said the class had voted his "Most Creative". This is HUGE for him! I am not surprised that his was the most creative, and I wouldn't have been surprised if the teacher had chosen him, but being that the class did, makes it that much better!

Way to go, Bryce!!!

Tennis Anyone?

I am so excited! At Braden's baseball practice I was talking to a couple of moms about signing Bryce up for tennis lessons. In the course of the conversation, we realized that we all wanted to learn how to play ourselves. Yesterday, I signed us up for tennis lessons! We are all very excited. I just hope we don't embarrass (or hurt) ourselves. If I had to be hoonest, I don't know if I'm more excited about playing it or the cute outfits! I've already ordered a few online. I figure - even if I can't play, I can look cute.

On To Something a Little Lighter

I am not really a big reader, but I read the bood My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult a few months ago, and couldn't put it down. Not to mention bawling my eyes out! I picked up another book by the same author titled, Nineteen Minutes.

It was about a high school shooting. It was so interresting to me because it talked about children who get picked on at school because they're a little different. I have one of these children, and it is very hard to deal with. He has had a much better year this year, and has never been severely bullied, but he doesn't know how to handle it at all. How do you teach a child how to roll his eyes at just the right time, or how to be sarcastic? These things come very naturally to me, but I have a child that just doesn't opperate that way. It is extremely frustrating. I think this book helped me to think of things a little differently, to make sure I am giving my children what they need at home, and help as best I can at school.

Anyway, it's one of those books that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I started reading it Friday, and I have been staying up extra late to finish it. In fact, I keep thinking I should turn the TV on to see the coverage of the news story - then I remind myself it was fiction!

So I think I will delve into one of the photography books I picked up recently. I don't think I can handle another intense one right now.

Look What I Found!

** For those of you who have asked, my friend who knows the owner is going to call her tomorrow. I am sure, if she has any left, that she will let me buy them. I will let you know if I get any more. I am more than happy to share!

I got to go to this business the other day and buy some items wholesale for our school's auction. This couple travels to China, Japan, etc. buying items to ship to the US and sell both wholesale and retail. I have shopped there many times, and love the things she has, but this time I found a true treasure. I didn't even realize what it was, but I picked up this cool wood container thinking I could fill it with something for the auction. When I was checking out, the woman said, "You know, that is an actual money box from China. They use it in the fields for their money, and that one has actually been used there." I thought I would start crying right there. I can't wait to use it in the nursery. She only had a few more, and I don't know when she will be open again, but I think I might try to go back and buy the rest of them.

My Grade Came In

I asked Bryce if he got his paper back from the other day. He said, "Yes, but you didn't capitolize two of the words, and I got a 23/25". Well, excuse me! He's right, though. It was two careless mistakes. Maybe I'll do better next time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! The kids were so cute this morning. I got them nerf guns (I'll bet we're the only ones who give guns on Valentine's Day!), a huge Hershey's kiss and a chocolate covered fortune cookie. A couple of them were really funny. Here are the boys. Bryce has his mouth full, and I guess I wasn't willing to wait.

Here's the box of fortune cookies I found. I thought they were neat.

Bryce's fortune said, "Knowing you gives others strength". I thought that was sweet.

The really funny one was Richard's. He's not really the romantic type. I've been know to get a post-it note with something sweet written on it for our anniversary. However, other anniversaries I've gotten diamonds, so it all evens out. I'm not overly romantic myself, so it's not a dealbreaker. This Valentine's Day, he said, "Isn't the SCC concert for Valentines?" And it is, so I really don't care if he got me anything else. These are the fortunes he got:

They say, "You will surprise a special someone with thoughtfulness". Do you think I should be worried? Maybe there's another someone special out there! haha. The second said, "Your odds look good in the game of love." Hmmmm Maybe one depends on the other?!? We laughed!

Here's Cade. He's holding a gift for his special someone. He has a crush on a little girl in his class. They went to preschool together, but he never showed any interest until this year. She is the cutest thing, and he was so sweet asking if he could get her a valentine. We decided I would pick up the box of candy, but the bear was something extra I found. He was so excited about it. Out of all the boys, this is the first valentine one of them has brought for a girl. It would be Cade - no surprise there. I'm going to be a school today, so I'm going to try to snap a picture of the two of them. I'll post it if I get it.

Have a great day. Love all those babies!!!

I Don't Want To Do 6th Grade Again!

So, when's the last time you had to write a 6th grade paper? All year, Bryce has been bringing home English papers for me to proofread for him. His teacher makes us check them and sign them, so any mistakes are on us! Of course, she has never said that, but seems to me, if Bryce isn't getting 100%, that would be because I didn't proofread well enough. Luckily, I am pretty good at grammer, punctuation and spelling, but tonight's paper just about kicked my butt!

They had to write a paper about a pencil and it had to contain "dialogue". This means that the whole paper consisted of quotation after quotation. Talk about drive me crazy! I really don't care if the comma goes inside the quotation or not!

I finally looked up the rules on the internet to make sure I was doing it correctly, and even typed it for Bryce. All he does is henpeck, and besides taking all night, I would have had to correct the whole thing anyway. Is that wrong? I do feel that he gets a little too much help from me, but I also know there are kids whose parents write the whole paper for them. I definitely don't do that. I also feel sorry for the kids whose parents don't know how to proofread something for them. What are they supposed to do?

Anyway, I just thought I'd let you all know that I am now refreshed on my 6th grade punctuation if anyone needs any help! However, spell check still isn't working, and I don't feel like proofing this post, so feel free to correct my grammer, spelling and punctuation! LOL!!

God help me when he gets to high school!

Great Weather, and Baseball!!

I was going to give you a picture, but blogger isn't letting me!

What a great weekend we had! The weather has been absolutely gorgeous - 70 degrees and sunny. We have been taking full advantage of it too! We had friends over to eat both Friday and Saturday and the kids rode their bikes and played football until they couldn't see the ball anymore. Yesterday we started baseball!! Yay!!! Braden and Cade had back to back practices yesterday (Richard is coaching both teams). We ended up being at the ball field from 12:30-5:00. I actually got a little sun on my pastey white legs. I had a blast. Richard, on the other hand, was so sore last night that he could hardly move. I didn't see him this morning, so I don't know if he hobbled to work or not. I know you cold weather people probably don't like hearing about the great weather, but don't worry, it won't be long and we will be suffering with 100% humidity and horribly hot temperatures!

In other news, I AM OLD!!! I don't feel old, I don't think I look old, but it's the only reason I have. I went to the doctor this past week for that sinus infection. While I was there, they took my blood pressure (3 times). It is VERY high! It was 160/100. I have never had problems with my blood pressure, so the doctor made me buy one of those at home machines and continue to test it. It's high every time. I am really upset about it. I am already on cholesterol medicine, but that wasn't a surprise because my dad had a heart attack at a very young age, and I was kindof expecting to have problems with that. Since the doctor's visit, I have found that my dad and one of my brothers are on blood pressure meds already. Great! Am I really going to be 36 and taking cholesterol AND blood pressure medicine EVERY day? My other concern is China. When we did the physical, I had to do the letter about the cholesterol. What are they going to think if they see cholesterol and blood pressure? Does anyone know how old your physical has to be before you have to update it? Does anyone know if these issues will be a problem? If we don't go SN, I am under the "new" qualifications.

We're Back

Well, we made it back. We had a nice weekend in Texas. The boys had a great time, but can you believe, I forgot my camera? It was actually nice to just chill out a little while. I think Cade and I came home with a sinus infection, though. So I guess I'll be visiting the doctor soon. Oh, well.

So, what's a post without a picture? I wanted to share this picture from Christmas Eve. My aunt and uncle sent these robes to the boys. I would have never thought of getting something like that for them, but they LOVE them! They wore them as soon as they got out of the shower, all Christmas morning, and still when it's cold. They are so cute in them. I think they thought it made them look like Rocky or something because this is what they started doing:

But, they're not always crazy (believe it or not), so here's another picture from that night:

Well, we're off!

The kids have a couple of days off of school for the Mardi Gras holidays. Everyone around here either goes to Disneyworld or skiing this time of the year because we're the only ones out of school.

We are heading to Houston to visit my in-laws.

Have a great weekend!

Weather in China

I just received a couple of disturbing emails from Jenny Bowen from the Half the Sky Foundation. I had no idea, but there has been awful weather in China and much of the country is having a hard time dealing with it. She listed each province and orphanage and gave an update on each. You might want to check it out. They are asking for donations to help the orphanages with water, food and heat. If you don't see the message listing the orphanages and want it, I can email it to you.