molly's self image, and drumroll....my first giveaway!!!!!

thats right! i am doing a blog giveaway in honor of my one year blog anniversary.

i've been wanting to do a giveaway for quite sometime, but didnt want to do one just because.

i wanted there to be a reason, like if i cant get enough of a certain kind of lotion, so i'm giving a bottle of it away, or i love this specific brand of whatever, so i'm giving one away, etc. you get the picture. there hasnt been anything lately that really caught my attention to that degree. well, except danny gokey, but i don't think he'd let me box him up and mail him anywhere.

moving on...i realized my one year of blogging was fast approaching and i thought, 'now theres a reason to do a giveaway!'

so, on may 29th (thats the date of my first entry) i will be announcing the winner of a 1 year subscription to family fun magazine

my mom gave me a subscription to this magazine about a year and a half ago, and i absolutely love it. its full of great craft ideas (cheap and easy), kid friendly dinners, and other great information. heres a link to one of my blog entries from november. all of the crafts pictured are from the winter issue of this magazine.

my kids are a little young for some of the crafts and activities, but if i like it i clip it out and save it for when they are old enough. even so, there is still always something for us to do or make.

back to the giveaway; there are 2 ways to enter the drawing.

1) leave me a comment and mention specifically that you want to be entered. also, make sure i have some way to get in contact with you. an email address, link to your blog, etc. i'll accept entries through the 28th.

2)mention my giveaway on your blog, and let me know you've done so, so i can put you down for another entry. :)

hooray!! i'm so excited about this. if you have kids or grandkids between the ages of 2 and 10, you will LOVE this magazine!!

on a sidenote, i have to share this story...

a few days ago molly was dancing around in here 'princess skirt', as she calls it (its really a glorified fancy tutu). dancing for her is really just spinning around in circles. she can make it around about 2 times and then she falls down.

so, i'm sitting in the living room reading a book. colbys at MDO, and molly is twirl dancing and falling over. after about 10 minutes of this she looks up at me from the floor with a defeated look on her face and says.

molly: "i fall down."

me: "yes, but thats ok. keep trying and you'll get better."

molly: "colby doesnt fall. colbys good."

me: "he is good at spinning, isnt he?"

molly: "i'm pretty."

me: "yes you are."

molly: "colbys good, but i'm pretty."

i dont think self esteem will be an issue for her. not in the near future anyway. :)

sign up for the giveaway!!

project 365, week 17

week 17 of project 365!
i think i've missed maybe 3 days of taking a picture so far this year, which i'm super proud of!
this week was odd because i got sick on tuesday all of a sudden. we came home from the park and my stomach started cramping up really bad every 5 or 10 minutes. i felt like i was in labor! this started right after i posted about my leg getting hurt, so yes i felt like i was falling apart right before my eyes!!
i'm much better today, but i went to a couple of drs and was laid out on the couch for about 48 hours. i have crohns disease (was diagnosed in feb '00), so i thought it might be related to that at first, but my gastroenterologist said the pain was too high up in my stomach to be that. at any rate, its gone now and i think i'm pretty much back to normal.
all thats to say, my week got a little thrown off, but i still managed to crank out a picture for each day--except sunday. my sunday picture for this week is actually from last sunday, so it was taken on the right day, just a week too early. :) good enough.

SUNDAY, april 19th
this is a rosebush that was already here when we moved into the house 3 years ago. i do nothing to it other than prune it back right before it gets warm outside each spring and it always blooms beautifully. i have a black thumb. my grandparents thought i might have some luck with a cactus garden one time when i was younger. they died; the cactus, not my grandparents. my grandparents are still very much alive.
i digress...
for this to have any life in at all after being in my care, or lack thereof, for 3 years is beyond me.
i just enjoy it and take no credit.



MONDAY, april 20th
the super fun sprinkler day. i hurt myself. i'm fine now. you can read about it here.


TUESDAY, april 21st
this is where i spent the better part of my tuesday once the stomach ache kicked in.


WEDNESDAY, april 22nd
hot! and its not even summer yet.




THURSDAY, april 23rd
i had told colby on tuesday that we could learn about tapeworms (long story), and had intended to look some stuff up on the internet, then i got sick, then our internet was down from tuesday evening till today. thursday i was feeling a little bit better, so i took the kids to the library and we checked out a few books on parasites plus a couple of extras. we are now all very educated about all the neat (or not) things that live in and on our bodies.

FRIDAY, april 24th
home all day. we started the morning in my bed reading our library books, then moved to the kitchhen table where we spent the rest of the afternoon coloring and doing sticker books.




SATURDAY, april 25th
a friend of mine invited molly and i to the first baptist church ladies' tea. they had just finished the esther study, so that was their theme, and the little girls were invited to come dressed like princesses. molly had mostly disrobed by the time we took this picture, but she looked adorable!! magic wand. feather boa. she was all decked out!

link up to saras blog for more project 365 pics!!

note to self: you're getting old

allen mentioned on sunday that he was going to come home and work in the yard monday evening. the kids and i were outside yesterday afternoon playing and i decided to be a fabulous wife and pull all the weeds so he wouldnt have to do it before he mowed. i missed a patch in the front-sorry babe.

molly kept asking to play in the sprinkler but i knew i couldnt get the grass wet before he mowed it. when he got home, he did the backyard first, so the kids could play in the water. we got a new sprinkler about a month ago, but it hasnt been quite warm enough to play in it, so its been in the box next to the backdoor for about 4 weeks. its a huge beachball with holes in it that spray water everywhere. super fun. yesterday was the big day to break it out, and there was much rejoicing.

allen: "are you just going to let them play in their clothes?"

me: "yeah, they'll be fine. they wont get that wet."

what? hi, my name is delusional.

colby wanted me to come get in the water with them, and after some coaxing, i finally conceded.
then allen says,

allen: "jump over it!"

me: "the ball?"

allen: "yeah, see if you can jump over it."

me: "(see if you can jump over it? well, when you put it that way...)...ok."

allen: "i'm gonna see if i can get a picture."

(because of course my camera was out there with me. 365, holla!)

me: "what? (so now i have to make it over the ball, and look good doing it?)...ok."

my form was better the second time.

i think i hurt myself.

well, i did hurt myself. i just dont know when. i didnt notice until later this morning.

there was the weed pulling; hardly strenuous.

i went to bodypump this morning, just like i do pretty much every tuesday and thursday morning. same class, 530am. i stand and lift weights. i shouldnt get hurt, but i suppose that could have done it.

i really think its a sprinkler injury. or leaping injury. whatever. or maybe i should call it a 'you're too old to do that before stretching' injury. this saddens me. i tell myself, 'this doesnt happen to you. you're a dancer.' true, but i havent danced in a year and half. move it or lose it, right? and i definitely havent been moving it. not in that chasse leap kind of way.

so i suppose if i'm going to be leaping over the beachball sprinkler on a regular basis (it was fun), i'll need to warm up and do some stretches before hand.

lesson learned.

oh, and allen did it too. maybe the mowing warmed up his muscles....

we came in and had whats becoming our usual monday night dinner (quesedillas and homemade guacamole, because the avocados are flippin' amazing right now!) and family devotion. the devotion verse was out of psalm 42; "as a deer longs for streams of water, God, i long for You in the same way."

allen read the devotion and at one point the book said, "when we look for God, we always find Him," and colby piped up,

colby: "and bugs too! i can always find bugs when i look for them."

or that.

its a process, yes?

dont make any sudden moves without stretching first!

project 365, week 16

here we are at the end of week 16. i took a ton of pictures this week, even though we spent a lot of it inside because of the rain. i had a very hard time deciding between some of them. sunday gets several since it was easter. tuesday and friday were heavy picture days, but i managed to pick just one. saturday i had to go with two.
i think we might stay dry for most of the week and get some good outside playtime before the next storm rolls in. april showers bring may flowers, right? and my roses are already blooming!

SUNDAY, april 12th
happy easter!!! of course i have to post easter pictures.

sunday morning was chilly and rainy (but i wore that new dress!) but by the afternoon it warmed up and dried off. we were even able to do an outdoor egg hunt!

this was about the best i could get of both of them. check out the matching shirts! love it!!

my handsome guys!

my sweet molly...and my easter dress!! woo-hoo!

MONDAY, april 13th
we went to our first round rock express game (triple A baseball) of the season monday night. colbys 'girlfriend' becca was there, so he was beyond thrilled. she had just come from soccer practice and looked particularly sporty.

TUESDAY, april 14th
colby talked me into getting a watermelon at the store on monday, but we didnt get around to eating it because we had the ballgame that night. i was going to chop it up for dessert and allen said, "lets just take it out on the deck and slice it up out there." the kids got super messy and went straight into the tub afterwards! it was really fun, though. feels like summers a-comin!

WEDNESDAY, april 15th

molly was playing at the park and peeked down at me through the wooden slats from above.

i loved it and had her do it again so i could take a picture.

THURSDAY, april 16th
colbys best friend evan gave him an ant farm for christmas, but they wont send the ants until its warm enough outside for them to make the trip through the mail. i sent off for them about 3 weeks ago and they came this week, so we were finally able to put his ant farm together! he and molly both have been enamored with it all week long. they'll probably end up right next to our hissing cockroaches. :)

FRIDAY, april 17th

the rain kept us in most of the day, but we were able to go out for just a little bit later in the afternoon. molly wanted to play with the bubble wand, and there wasnt any wind so they really cooperated. lots of great pictures, but this one is one of the coolest. allen got a picture of a bigger bubble, but i love the color of this one.

SATURDAY, april 18th

my parents have some friends visiting from australia. they come every few years and stay in the states for about a month. we went over tonight along with some other friends for a fish fry and crawfish boil (2 things the australians had not experienced). it was a lot of fun!

have a blessed week! check out saras blog for other project 365-ers.

friday fun

we had plans to re-seal our deck today because we've all been getting tragic splinters; and even more tragic is the lack of gentleness i have as i dig them out of the offended foot. but alas, its been raining since about 3am. project postponed.

i told the kids we could play in the rain before i realized it was an inappropriate 50 degrees outside. it may not have been quite that cold, but it was definitely too chilly to be sopping wet outside. i'm not one to go back on my word, though, so out we went.

all 4 of us.

in our swimsuits.

50 degrees (give or take).

lets just say it didnt last long.

of course there was molly who ran right out in it and stayed out for about 20 minutes, oblivious to the rest of us cowering under our umbrellas in the driveway.

i'm sure there will be other much warmer storms over the course of the next month or so. we'll give it another try at that point. today was just not the right day for it.

we came inside and read books, played 'bugs', had lunch together, and did laundry.

later in the afternoon allen went to run some errands which included a trip to hobby lobby to get me some scrapbooking supplies for tonights midnight scrap at the church (what a great husband!!!) and when he came home he brought in a box of dunkin donuts. we never eat donuts so the kids went crazy!! he got me a couple he thought i would like and 3 each of the kids' favorite. it was a fantastic surprise and we sat on the floor in the living room huddled around the open box and chowed down. we each had 2. well, the kids had 2 and allen and i each had 1 and then spit one that we both wanted. :) i doubt we'll be having dinner at out regular time tonight!

the rain stopped for a little bit so we went out and played with the bubble wand. the air was still, no wind, so the bubbles just kind of hovered in the air. very cool.

i guess the main reason for this post is an excuse to post all my pictures. i dont usually do 'heres what we did today' posts, but theres no way i can pick just one picture from today for project 365, so im doing this instead.

midnight scrapping at the church tonight. we start at 6pm and go till at least midnight. and some of actually get some scrapbooking done!! cant wait!

american idol...WHAT? and a link to allens sermon!!

i am a HUGE american idol fan. HUGE. i've tried out twice which is a whole post in and of itsself, and i've been to the tour concert i think every season since season #3. its the primetime highlight of my week, and when the season comes to an end i observe a 2 week period of mourning in which i wear black and listen only to ryan seacrest via satellite radio. ok, not really. i dont even have satellite radio, nor do i have that much black.

last nights episode was...interesting. i figured they'd use the save on matt if it came to that, but i was also guessing that lil would be going home after her less than stellar performances over the last few weeks.
i'm not a lil fan.
when you get right down to it i'm a danny fan. period.
there are others i like, of course, but lil is not one of them. i've been ready for her to go ever since she butchered martina mcbride in country week (seriously, why do we have to do that every season?).
so i'm anticipating next weeks results show in which, hopefully, we'll say goodbye to lil and either matt or anoop.

for those of you that aren't idol fans, i apologize for this post.
i just cant believe i've never posted about AI on here with me being as big of a fan as i am, so i thought it was time.

the icing on the cake however is that, because of my sick obsession, allen was able to use american idol (in a roundabout way) in a sermon illustration when he preached a couple of weeks ago. he leaned over to me right before he went up to give his message and said, "whatever i say, just go with it." of course i immediately start thinking, 'what is he going to say about me? will i be embarrased? just go with it???' it was a great "story" and an even greater message. the illustration is right at the beginning, but of course you're welcome to listen to the whole thing. ;-)
http://www.centralbaptist.org/media_player.asp?messageID=30342

ok, so for you other AI fans out there, thoughts on this week?? this season? i want to hear them!

project 365, week 15

woo hoo!!! week 15! i dont know why that excites me. 15 is just a good sounding number.

the weather once again went from chilly at the start of the week to 90 degrees on thursday and now we're back down into the 50's. easter is supposed to be rainy and cold tomorrow. i'm going to tough it out and wear that sleeveless dress my husband just bought me, though. its my first new easter outfit in 4 years. you bet i'll have it on.

here's the week...

SUNDAY, april 5th

the first load of easter candy i picked up. the robin eggs are for me (my fav!!). the lindor chocolates at the top left are for colby's easter basket--they look like ladybugs and bees and he loves bugs so i had to get them! although he doesnt really care for chocolate, so i guess i'll have to eat them. darn! the jellybean flower is for mollys basket and the m&ms and peeps are for a project you'll see on tuesdays picture. i had yet to get the 'egg' candy when i took this picture. talk about a sugar overload!!

MONDAY, april 6th

these are flowers colby and i made together monday afternoon. we each traced our hand, cut it out, and folded it around a straw. curl the fingers, add some leaves and a pipe cleaner and voila!! an easter lily. cute, huh?

TUESDAY, april 7th

heres the project using the peeps and m&ms. colby and i made these for his mothers day out teachers. i was very pleased with how they turned out. those are graham cracker crumbs on the bottom, and theres some brown sugar in there, too. you're supposed to dump it all in a bowl with some butter and vanilla and bake it. we made a batch with what i had left after the jars were made. it was pretty yummy. verrrry sweet and gooey!! heres the link to the directions http://creativeholidaygiftideas.blogspot.com/2008/03/easter-bunny-smores.html

WEDNESDAY, april 8th

colbys class easter party was wednesday after lunch. they had an easter egg hunt and everyone put their eggs in cardboard cartons they had decorated on monday. i thought it was a cute idea instead of baskets, and that way everyone got 12 eggs.

THRUSDAY, april 9th my parents showed up thursday evening with water balloons and bubbles. we had so much fun playing outside together! the water balloons didnt work very well; they kept bouncing off of us and busting in the grass. molly loved the bubbles-i was able to get this cute shot of her.

FRIDAY, april 10th friday morning we woke up and headed to mimi and papas house in houston. after mollys nap the kids went on a treasure hunt all through the backyard and even into the neighbors yard and down the street to a couple of houses. mimi and papa went all out for this thing! there was buried (literally-they had to dig it up!) treasure and a plank they walked and jumped off of. mimi even mailed them treasure map t-shirts ahead of time to wear down there. it was incredible. i might post some pictures monday or tuesday, but i'm not sure they'll do it justice, so we'll see. pei wei for dinner friday night, green eggs and ham for breakfast, and an easter egg hunt saturday morning made for a great weekend and kids that did not want to leave.

SATURDAY, april 11th on our way home from houston allen pulled over so i could take a picture of this field. the blubonnets on the way to (and from) houston were indescribably beautiful. this picture does not even begin to capture the color and thickness of them and there were several more like this all up and down hwy 290. it was like God had just covered this acre of land with a bright blue blanket. absolutely gorgeous! i'll have to remember this for next years pictures!!

i pray your easter is blessed and beautiful!!

bluebonnets!!!

we have bluebonnets in texas, but not as much as usual. i think its due to the crazy weird back and forth weather. back and forth is not unusual in and of itself here in the lonestar state, but from 30 degrees to 80 degrees in less than 24 hours? no wonder the flowers are freaking out. my skin is jumping on the freak out bandwagon too.

we dont know whether or not to get our spring pedicures or to keep our boots to the front of the closet. weather, make up your mind!! i need a commitment.

here are the blubonnet pictures i got of the kids yesterday.

at this age i'm lucky if they cooperate for a few shots. they actually did fairly well, but i cant ever get them to look at the camera at the same time. colby does this weird thing where he turn his face to the camera, but his eyes are looking at something else. i think hes just not into it.

the worst tee-tee day ever!

this afternoon i heard colby yelling for me in the bathroom. i was going in expecting him to need me to wipe him, or at least check his work. that is definitely not what i walked in to. pee. lots of it. spreading across the floor. into the grout. eeewwww!
he's standing in front of the toilet on the rug i just washed this morning with his pants kind of pulled down but not really. he has trouble with the button and between waiting a little to long to go to the restroom and not being able to get them unbottoned fast enough, he soaked himself. so i stripped him down and put everything in the wash-including his shoes and the now twice washed rug.
when we had recovered, if you want to call it that, colby said,"this is just the worst tee-tee day ever for me!"
my question for you that have little ones or have raised kids--especially boys!!-- is how on earth do i get that very small guest bathroom to not smell like pee anymore?
i've actually been meaning to ask for the past few days, but todays incident put the nail in the coffin...or toilet seat as it were. the bathroom stinks. bad. i've tried spraying everything with lysol, scrubbing the floor, air freshener. is there anything i dont know about, or that just works really really well that maybe i havent thought of?
anything? anyone? bueller?

project 365, week 14

the weather was beautiful this week!! we had some crazy strong winds on thursday (it blew everything off our deck and ruined some of my plants), but despite the wind we still got to do some great outdoor stuff pretty much everyday i think. another few weeks and we'll be at the pool! here's the week in pictures.

SUNDAY, Mar 29th
when we got home from church, we were immediately outside playing and stayed there till bedtime. we even ate our dinner outside on the deck.



MONDAY, Mar 30th
molly wore this shirt on monday. my parents got it for her in seattle several months ago, but its been too big until just recently. i think its really cute. hopefully she will potty train soon and wont be able to wear it anymore!!!

TUESDAY, Mar 31st

i took several pictures on this day. we went to a new park, took a walk, spent a few hours playing at grammies house, and had dinner with some friends. this picture was by far the funniest.

colby had his shin guards on as we were leaving for dinner (i guess you cant be too careful, right?) and at some point in the car i looked back and saw this. the expression is priceless. he was so proud of himself.

WEDNESDAY, April 1st

they're back! we get beautiful patches of bluebonnets (our state flower) all over the place in late march and they stick around for about 2 or 3 weeks. hopefully i'll have our yearly 'bluebonnet pictures' posted on here soon. we havent found a patch big enough for picture taking yet.

THURSDAY, April 2nd

we met my grandparents for lunch at cracker barrell and they bought the kids these pinwheels. this was the day we had the 40mph winds, so it was a perfect day to stick these in the yard and watch 'em go! please excuse the dead grass and dirt; the yard hasnt recovered from winter yet.

FRIDAY, April 3rd

when we were outside thursday, colby said, "this is great kite flying weather," (which struck me as funny since he hasnt ever flown a kite) so that night we made a trip to wal-mart and let each of them pick a kite out. we stood out in our cul-de-sac and flew kites for about an hour or so friday morning. we also washed cars, and rode bikes and the 4-wheeler...and all four of us got our first sunburn of the year!!

SATURDAY, April 4th

colby has been wanting to see this movie since the first time we saw a preview for it several months ago. i took him today while molly was napping; shes not quite ready for movies yet. it was actually pretty funny, other than a bit of adult humor that i wasnt too thrilled about my 4 year old hearing. fortunately he didnt pick up on any of it.

hope everyone had a great week!!!