All this for under $20.00

I love to get up early on Friday or Saturday morning and hit the garage sales. I enjoy looking for a great bargain, or a piece of furniture to restore. So this morning I mapped out several sales and we were out the door by 8:00 am. When I say we I mean my mom, me and my 3 kids (I don't advise going to garage sales with a 2 year old but I had no choice hubby had to work). Since we are a 1 car family and hubby had to take the truck my mom drove. All 5 of us crowed into her Ford Focus (not the ideal car for garage sales, but what do you do?) my girls were already fighting and we had not even gotten out of the driveway. I already knew this was going to be a very looooooong day, not to mention the weather was forecasted to be 95 degrees. My son was crying going down the road and I had not even reached the first sale. The first 3 sales were a bust, I always expect people to sell things that are clean and in nice condition, but I always get a rude awakening when I find junk! Finally at 1 sale I found this wrought iron peice to place above my door in the kitchen.
My daughter scored at the next sale when she found some items for her American Girls dolls. She found a bike and a locker to hold some of her dolls items.
We found a good will store and stopped in just in time for Kate to take a potty break and for Sam to throw the Mother of tantrums right in the middle of the floor (I know what your thinking how dirty, I was too at first then I got soooo darn mad at him I had to walk away and let him throw the fit) once he calmed down I coaxed him up from the floor and out the door. We were on to our next sale all the while my girls were still arguing about petty things like their legs touching each other. I found a sale off the beaten path and scored a few toys for Sam, I was hoping these would distract him from screaming in the car and from asking to eat lunch.
Next we headed to a park to eat "Uncrustables" and chips. I knew it would be a long day and to save money I packed our lunch. After navigating our way thru all the duck poop (ewe, so gross who knew ducks pooped big like a dog?) we sat on a shaded table and enjoyed our lunch. Off to our next sale clear across town, we stopped on the way at some other sales and saw more junk that I knew I could live without. We finally arrived at the church sale and I scored a great find. Not sure about it at first, but only being $5.00 I thought I would buy it and give it a face lift at home. I plan on painting the frame black and putting it up in my living room (maybe, still not sure). I think it caught my eye because of the little girl with dark hair looks like Kailey and the blonde looks like Kate, the littlest one resembles Sam playing in the ocean.
It doesn't really go with the decor in my living room, my living room has oak colored wood, not white like most houses now days. But I am going to paint it and see how I like it. We were headed home only after Sam threw another fit and stormed thru the toy section at this big sale.
As we headed into our subdivision we found yet another last minute sale. We finally found a bedside table for Kaileys room for only $5.00. I am going to sand it down and repaint it white.
So it was a great day, even though the kids fought and Sam threw a lot of fits it was the little things that made our day a great day. I still have just under $10.00 left, so I think I will hit some more sales tomorrow and leave my little boy at home with Grandma.

A Summer Night at the Legends

Yesterday our family recieved a little bit of good news, so we decided to go celebrate. We ended up at the Legends outdoor shopping center. We treated our kids to the T-Rex restaraunt, Sam was really the only one that was age appropriate but the girls enjoyed it a little. Since we don't eat out much anymore the kids really appreciate it and enjoy it when we do indulge in restaraunt dinning. When the Dinosaurs made noise and when the volcano errupted he would get so excited and cover his ears. There was so much for him to look at he did not know where to begin.
After we ate the kids were hot walking around outside, I thought it would be a great photo op to by the water fountain. Little did I know Sam would be going home WET. So worth the great pictures though.

After Sam got all wet and had sooooo much fun doing so, I found out that children are not to lean over and play in the water fountain. Did my kids have fun? Yeah. Did my kids get wet? Yeah. All in all it was a fun and enjoyable evening. It was the little thing of playing in the fountain that was so memorable for us last night.

Today was my first weigh in at Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I did okay last week, I lost 2 pounds. I decided that I need to switch up my workout routine, my body is used to running 2 miles daily, I am going to confuse it a little bit. I think I am going to try the P90X videos. I know they are hard and it will work my butt in ways it has never been worked before. I admit I love to eat food and I don't like to workout. You know how Oprah always says people eat for certain reasons, the only reason I eat is because I like food. So even though it is 9:30 at night I am going to put little man down to bed and go work my butt out.

Great Camera strap

If you are looking for a great camera strap the girls over at I heart faces and guest judge Lori Nordstrom at pepper are giving away a free camera strap. All you have to do is go to Lori's website and comment on which strap you like the best. My favorite was the appletini.
Good Luck.

Calling it quits

So I just woke up a little while ago (I went to the grocery store at 10:30 last night and went to bed at 2:00am, what was I thinking) and I have read that Jon and Kate are getting a divorce. I am such a fan of the show, with all the chaos that goes on in her life it makes me feel that mine is more organized and low key. Even though I have not had infertility problems conceiving my babies, I think it is such a miracle that she had 6 healthy babies. I enjoy watching the show and seeing all the cute things her kids do. Also I am nosy and I love to peek into the lives of others, you know see what goes on in their lives, get a peek at there house that sort of thing. I was rooting them on, hoping they would work things out not only for them but for their children. As a child of divorce I can speak from experience, those children will forever be effected by this. If you watch the show I am sure you can see the way Kate speaks to Jon, I would never think of speaking to anyone this way much less my husband. In my opinion she rarely showed him respect, bossing him around and yelling at him in public, it seems as though his self esteem went right out the window. Nonetheless I will still watch the show and of course I will pray for them.

Closer to God

At night we like to go walking/running as a family. We are so fortunate to have many walking trails nearby. After a stressful day I love to go here and relax, yes that's right running and walking relaxes me so much. Well today was a very stressful day and as soon as I started my walk my headache disappears and my stress level goes down.
I grabbed my camera as we went out the door, and I am glad I did, what a beautiful sunset we saw while walking. As I was running my mind was worrying about things going on in our lives right now, I am a believer that God is always listening. I thought now is as good a time as any to have a conversation with him (funny uh, who would pray while running?). Well as I was running I asked to God to give me sign that things will be okay for our family, as I turned the corner this is what I saw.......
A baby deer just sitting by the side of the path, now how often does a deer just sit there and not run? It gladly stood still for me and let me snap photos. After 10 minutes the deer turned and walked away, I thought to myself.....God heard me and this is the sign he sent me. It is truly The little things in life that make me feel closer to God.

Happy Father's Day

I want to wish Happy Father's Day to a very special Father. He is not my father by birth, but by marriage. I call him "Dad" because that is what he is to me.

My birth father was never around as I was growing up. My parents divorced when I was very little, leaving me brought up by my Mom. I had a great childhood and would not change a thing. Sure growing up I had questions as to why my birth Dad was not around, why he wouldn't send me even a card on my birthday, or just call the say "Hi".

I met my husband in High School, and I fell in love with his family from the start. When we got married it was not my birth father that walked me down the aisle, it was my husbands father. I thought it was only right to have the father that was there for me more in the past 5 years, than the father that was never there for me growing up. In case you are wondering...my birth father was at the wedding...sitting in the crowd with all of the other guests.

My Dad has been a constant in my life for the past 17 years. Whenever I have a problem he has a solution, He is a great father and grandfather. He was there for me when I needed him most 5 years ago and for that I am eternally grateful. He helped us through a very rough time, he listened, hugged, loved me and gave me a shoulder to cry on. He is the rock in our family and without him we would truly fall apart.

Dad thanks for always being there and loving us unconditionally, but most of thanks for the memories. I love you, Happy Fathers Day, Dad.

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Pants

Wow, I have gotten in three post today. As I sit here this evening watching a movie (not really watching but stalking blogs) with hubby and eating a big bowl of popcorn, I came across The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Pants blog (http://shrinkingjeans.net/). You can join a team and there are different weight loss challenges each week, you also need to weigh in every week. This is what I need something that I have to be accountable for, where people will see how I did for a week and how much I lost/gained.

I admit I do not have a lot of weight to lose, but I also want to feel comfortable in my own skin, and lets not forget about feeling pretty. Every woman wants to feel beautiful, it gives us confidence. I have had three children and with each pregnancy I got pretty big and gained weight. I am down to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I would love to lose 10 pounds and tighten up some more. I run some (it is not my favorite thing to do)and I walk some. We love to pack up the kids go to the local park and set out on the mile long walking trails. You could literally get lost on the trails, not to mention how spooky they are because no body is around.

So back to the weight lose.... I have always struggled with my weight. In high school I was never the really skinny girl, but I always okay with my body. I never had issues with my body and I still don't, I just want to lose a few pounds. I have two daughters (8yr and 10yr) and I want them to grow up loving their body yet treating it well and staying healthy thru exercise and good eating habits.They are at the age where self esteem is everything, and I want to make sure they have plenty of it. I never complain about me body/weight in front of them, I don't want them growing up thinking Mommy was never happy with her body. I especially don't want them growing up thinking they always have to be on a diet. I always express healthy eating habits (not dieting)and lots of activity (not exercise). I also want them to learn that God gave them the body they have and that is what makes them special, they don't need to look like other girls. We are all different shapes and sizes and we are all beautiful. So hopefully by joining The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Pants I can take off my last 10 or so pounds.

"We have a problem"......

On our way home from the Farmers Market, my hubby called me and said "We have a problem" I knew this couldn't be good. He said "I started to mow, and I saw all these bees flying in the air" "There are thousands of bees on the branch of the tree". I did not doubt him out loud, but I thought to myself thousands? There is no way there could be thousands of bees on our tree. Now I have seen this in movies or in T.V. land but never in real life. I told him "I am on my way home and we will see what needs to be done". Well as soon as I got home, camera in hand I went to the tree. This is what I saw.......

Our little Maple tree literally covered with thousands of bees. As you can see the branches are not that big. These bees were layered on top of each other.

I got my zoom lens, cause I sooooo do not want to end up in the emergency room. I snapped away at the bees, I could not believe my eyes. Like I said in movies and T.V. land but never, never in real life.

I was thinking to myself "my hubby did not exagerate at all, there are literally thousands of bees on this tree".



My hubby did not know what to do, like I said never in real life, he called his dad to come over with some spray. Well this spray only angered the bees, his dad had to come back with something stronger. As of now it seems to be working the bees are dying off little by little.


So there is my very exciting afternoon.

All the pretty Colors

So today I took my kids to the Farmers Market downtown Kansas City MO. We braved the 90 degree weather and set out to see lots of colorful fruit. The quaint little shops had so many cute things to look at.
Hawaiian Volcanic Rock plants. These plants grow out of volcanic rock, simply place them in a shallow dish of water and fill as needed. Very pretty, I am going to get one next visit.
Cute things to plant in my garden.

Just look at all the yummy fruits. Such pretty colors. I love fruit but I am very picky when it comes to my fruit. My peaches have to be hard not soft, and I put powdered sugar on my peaches. My strawberries I like a lighter shade of red, not dark red. Of course my apple can't be soft either. I don't like watermelon, I could stand it if I had to but it is not my first choice of fruit. After some delicous Minsky's Pizza we called it a day and headed home. On our way home I got a call from my hubby saying "We have a problem"...hearing that means something is very wrong .

Behind the Curtain

Today was movie day for us. A local theatre has movies on Tuesday for $5.oo. We have been wanting to see "UP" and today it fit into our not so busy schedule. I had heard it was sad but I didn't really know what to expect. Well the first 20 minutes of the movie you might want to have your kleenex handy if you are a sappy person.
It is basically about an elderly man named Carl who so desperately wants to hold on to his house and all his memories he shared with his wife. But in the end learns that life brings you many different adventures along the way, some good and some not so good. He also realized he wanted to hold onto his house so badly because of all the memories that were made there, but in the end he knew that the memories were in his heart and not just possessions in the house.

No matter what adventures you have planned in your life or for your family, things may not go the way you want. I have heard and believe that God has our whole life planned out for us. If we could pull back the curtain we would see the wonderful things he has in store for us. Although I question this for myself some days I truly believe it to be real. Just like Carl did not plan on his life taking the direction it took, we also don't plan on our lives taking certain directions. We make the best of it, and keep trudging forward, waiting for the next chapter in our lives to begin. Only God knows what that chapter will hold, happiness, sorrow, despair, joy, confusion, contentment? Only God knows The little things in life he has planned for us. As for me I can't wait to see what is behind the curtain.

Stressed and playing Sheriff

Today I have to admit, I am in such a funk! I know why, and then I don't know why. I am feeling stressed to the max, and I know my children are feeling it. Although there are so many things in life for me to be grateful for I am still in a funk. As I sit here and post the house is quiet (except for hubby talking on the phone) my girls are at the city pool, and little man is sleeping. I am feeling overjoyed for the time alone.

I grew up as a single child so I did not have a sibling to fight with, but my daughters are going to drive me nuts soon. It seems as though they are fighting over EVERY LITTLE THING lately. We went garage sale shopping Friday and they fought for 20min over where they had to sit in the car. They argue on a daily basis about who gets the remote to the T.V. in the kitchen, and today in the movie theatre (during a movie) they were bickering about the arm rest. I am pretty sure my younger daughter is the instigator, I know she loves to bug and bother her older sister. But my 10 year old is pretty good at calling the 8yr old a brat and other unnecessary names. Then the stress in my life starts to build and I have to try and put an end to it all. Sometimes I throw my hands up and tell them to go at it, and come to a conclusion themselves. My mother tells me this is all normal (she grew up with a younger sister) but I am so fed up with it. I often wonder will there be a time in their lives when they won't argue on a daily basis? Until then I will keep playing sheriff and try to ward off the stress in my life.
As you can tell in this picture. My older daughter is so serious and determined, always wanting to follow the rules and listen. My younger daughter is such a goofball always wanting to have a good time, be the life of the party and go with the flow. I love each of their personalities and characteristics.

I Heart Faces Sepia

Here is a photo I took of my son last week at a ball game. He loves to play in the dirt at the games, a typical boy. Be sure to check out all the sepia entries this week at iheartfaces.com. There are some great pictures that have been entered into this weeks contest.

Where did the time go?

So I have to tell you that my 8 year old still (on a rare occasion) sleeps with Mommy and Daddy. And I have to admit, I still like it. Last night she asked if she could sleep with us, since big sissy was at a sleep over. As we lay in bed, Kate snuggled up next to me, I started to wonder where did the time go? There are so many little things my kids did that I can't remember. Is this normal? I as a mother feel that I should remember everything that my kids ever did when they were younger. Sure I can remember their first steps, and crawling and other major things.
Poor Kate, when she came along my older daughter was 2 and she still required a lot of attention, therefore I think I forgot little things that Kate did? This makes me so sad I wish I had a remote and I could turn back time and watch everything over again. I guess that is what home movies are for, and it is good that we have a lot of them. Every so often my oldest will ask "Are you sad that we are growing up?" I want to tell her the truth "It hurts my heart so much to see you grow more and more every year" but I don't want her to think for a minute that I don't enjoy them growing up. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy them growing and watching them have their first dance, boyfriend, sleepovers, long phone conversations (lots of texting) and everything else that comes with the territory. But I do miss holding them on my lap, watching their sweet face as I feed them a bottle, discovering things for the first time and talking baby talk. So as much as I don't like time flying by me I will cherish all the pictures, scrapbooks, and video when they were babies. I will also cherish all the times I have now with them growing up and still discovering things for the first time. It's the little things in life I wish I could remember.

I heart faces vacation entry

I am entering a vacation picture into the www.iheartfaces.com vacation edition. Sharing our vacation stories through photos. We went to sunny Los Angeles CA last May. This picture was taken of my oldest daughter as we rode a double decker tour bus down Sunset Blvd. I had never been to CA and I was so excited to visit Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. It is not as glamourous as portrayed in the movies, but I still loved being there. I can't wait to go back again.

Feeling Guilty

"MAMMA" is what I am hearing as I post this. Lately my son has been battling nap time and bed time. He has learned to step onto a chair and crawl into bed (thanks to his big sissy), but he wants to do this over and over again. I have to quickly pull up the crib rail and tell him "night, night". Then it starts "MAMMA, MAMMA" ,as I head for the door he throws out his me's (what he calls his blankets) as a mother what do I do? I throw the me's back in bed, I then quickly shut the door and I hear the screaming. I feel sooooo quilty doing this, but I know he needs his naps, most days, and I need to have my Mommy time. I think in order to be a good mom I need a little time to myself, gather my thoughts, rest, scrapbook, read, watch a little T.V., workout, run, go for a walk, paint my nails and toe nails and anything else I see fit. Does this make me feel quilty? Yes, but I am a firm believer that moms need to take care of themselves in order to take of their family. So as I am ending this post my little boy is now quiet and I hope is drifting off to sleep. When he wakes up we will be playing outside, that is how I bribed him today "If you take a nap, we will play outside". I know when he gets up he will be in a much better mood and I will have gotten in my Mommy time.

The love of reading

This morning my kids and I planned on going to the "Friends of the Library" book sale. We have never been before and thought it would be fun and cheap. All books were on sale for $1.00 or .50 cents. Well when we pulled into the parking lot OMG, there were so many cars, I thought maybe we should have stayed home. When we walked into the book sale (which is being held in an old mall) there were so many books and so many people. It really wasn't as bad as I thought once we were in there, everything was very organized. I was so shocked to see people carrying bags upon bags of books to read. Now I love read myself, but finding the time is very hard for me. I myself bought 5 books, it will take me maybe till Christmas to read all 5 books. I always hope my children will develop a love for reading books like me, my hubby hates to read. My oldest daughter finally discovered she likes to read, staying up late at night reading is her favorite thing. My 8 year old hates to read, it is like a punishment for her to get in some reading minutes. My little boy absolutely loves books, he will sit and look at books for hours. I think I enjoy reading so much because my mind can wonder into a different time or place. I can vividly picture my characters in the book I am reading and I really enjoy that. So this summer I am going to make it a goal of mine to get in some major reading time, and maybe I will get all my books finished by September.

Home is where the Heart is

Driving around our small town on the back country roads is something my kids love to do. We almost always find ourselves wishing we lived in a house set back on some acreage with a lot of privacy. The truth is we are so lucky just to have a roof over our heads no matter where our house is located. I admit I take our house for granted with 3 children, myself, hubby and my mother all under one roof it can get a little cramped.

I have days where I do not want to be at home at all (since I work from home), but lately I am finding myself being more of a home body. I have more days where I only want to be at home and no where else. It is the little things that make our house a home.

1. The pitter patter of feet running in the house
2. The smell of popcorn popping on movie night
3. Loud music coming from the girls room
4. Laughter
   
5. Our annoying dogs yelping as the door bell rings
6. Children playing and having fun
   
7. The slamming of the back door as kids go to play outside
8. Noise from the kitchen as dinner is being prepared
9. Hearing "I Love You" as kids are being tucked into bed at night
10. These words coming from all around the house "Mommy, I need you"

In this economy when so many families have houses being foreclosed on, I am so thankful that I have a roof over my families head. I does not matter where our house is located. As we drove around looking at houses, and of course singing along to music this evening I was reminded of our nice house and all the things that makes our house a home. It's The little things in life....

It's all about Family

On Sunday we went to my in-laws, so all the cousins could play on the slip n slide. I remember having one as a child and all the endless hours of fun I had on it with my friends. My kids had a lot of laughs trying to get the hang of it. My 10 year old had the hardest time, she for some reason couldn't slide on her tummy, and kept sliding on her knees.
As I was sitting in the grass with my sister in law, enjoying the laughs, I started thinking to myself what a great family I really have. Now don't get me wrong we have had our fair share of ups and downs (more ups than downs). Now that our family is all going thru a rather rough patch, I started to think how we are all leaning on each other for support. It seems there is this black cloud that is always lingering over someones head in our family. It has been around ever since I have met my husband back in high school, sometimes it leaves for a while, but we always know it is lingering in the back ground waiting to rain on someone.
There is one thing I have learned with this stupid black cloud, you can always count on family. Our family is a pillar of strength for us, they give us support, praise, love, laughs and shoulders to cry on when we need it. I have faith that this black cloud will leave our family soon (at least for a little while) and the sun will shine again. So as I was sitting in the grass on Sunday I was thinking we have our health, a roof over our heads, 3 beautiful children, food on the table and clothes on our backs. These are some of The little things in life that matter to me, but The little thing in life that matters the most is having a family that loves us unconditionally.

Tank Top Tie-dyeing

Today my girls tie-dyed tank tops. It was a great fun activity to do. Now I do admit I am the type of mother that has a hard time letting my kids have free reign over something. I knew how I would have tie-dyed a shirt, but I did good, I sat back and let my girls decide all on their own how they would make the design. It was hard not to intervein and show them how to dye the shirt properly. I knew I had to let them do it all on their own, regardless if they liked the final outcome or not. The actual dyeing process was sooo messy and I do not do messy very well.Once the shirts dry I will post some pics, I am anxious to see how they turn out. So I guess The little things in life are about stepping back and letting your kids make (some) mistakes on their own. Of course if they do not like the shirt we will try again.

Surprise Breakfast!

I woke this morning to find my 10 year old cooking breakfast for the family. She was making scrambled eggs and english muffins. It was very cute she did not know that she was supposed to
cut the english muffin in half, and she had the burner on the stove up way too high. After a little instruction she was well on her way to cooking for the family. I was so tickled that she thought of everybody this morning. Ahh the little things in life.
As I sit here and type this my son is eating a blue popsicle at 10:00 in the morning. I know what you are thinking how could I give him a popsicle soo early in the am? Well my hubby works from home and we have to be very quiet all the time, can you imagine having to be sooo quiet all the time with 3 children? Talk about stress to the max! So back to the popsicle, my son wanted a popsicle and I said "No", he then started to scream while my hubs was on the phone. I had asked my daughter to just give it to him. She then started to ask "Why does he get everything he wants?" I had replied "Because I don't want to hear him scream". She then had a light bulb go off in her head, she asked "If I start to scream will I get anything I want"? If only life were that simple.

The little things in life.... that made me smile today

As we were headed home from our picnic lunch at the park, our favorite song by Kelly Pickler came on the radio. Blaring the radio I drove around the block till it was over. All three of my kids were singing out loud, I thought to myself this is little thing in life that made me smile today. What was the little thing in life that made you smile today?