Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Bloggy Giveaway Carnival

Since I have discovered the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival at http://www.donttrythisathome.typepad.com/bloggy_giveaways/ I have really enjoyed myself going through some (not enough hours in the day to go through all of them) of the giveaways and entering to win a bunch of great stuff but I have felt bad that I was entering but not giving so decided I would try it.



I will give away a set of corker hairbows that I will make. Similar to the ones in the picture below. I will let the winner choose between a smaller pair or one larger bow. And I will also allow the winner to have some choise (from what I have on hand) in the colors of the hairbow(s).



To win simply leave a comment and let me know what color combinations your child wears the most. Anyone can win. Make sure there is a way to contact you if you are the winner. I will have one of my girls pick a number on Friday, August 1, 2008. Good Luck!

And for many, many, MANY more great giveaways visit http://bloggygiveaways.com/

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Today is...

My birthday! I am 34 today, I still feel young. So far today my sister brough me doughnuts this morning when she brought her kids, my favorite kind ;D they were YUMMMMMMY but I am sure not helpful on this road to loosing weight but oh well, you only have one birthday a year, right. I asked Elianna and Alyvia (my oldest niece) if they knew who's birthday was today. Alyvia yelled out "It MY birfay!!" followed by her jumping up and down saying it over and over again,lol. Then Elianna said "It Mommy's?" I just smiled real big at her and she said "I wanna buy mommy a dwess". I said ok then told her to ask Daddy for the money for it, lol. But she didn't like that (probably because daddy is at work and when she wants something she wants it NOW if not sooner) and said "No, mommy give me money!" In her usual demanding tone of voice.

My neices are the only kids I have today, other than my own of course. And it's a BEAUTIFUL day so we are headed to the park for a picnic lunch. I should have some pictures to share later today.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Me playing around and chores for the girls

For Mother's Day DH bought me Photo Shop Elements. I had been wanting something like it for a while but never knew which program would be easy enough, yet still do some of the "special" stuff that I was wanting it to. I haven't done a whole lot with it yet (just finally got it loaded on the computer about 2 weeks ago) but tonight I played around with it a bit. Here are some things I did.

This is the original picture
I just loved how "old fashioned" looking this water fountain looked so here are some things I did with the picture.... First turned it black and white then brought out the colors in the tiny flag and the fountain.

Then I really played around with the colors. I think I like this one best.

This one I didn't do tonight, I did it quite a while back when I had the free 30 day trial of PSE so I could see if it was for sure what I wanted. When I figured out how easy this was I was convinced. I had wanted to do this to my own photo's since Sears Portraits did this to a picture of Bethanie when she was 3. I think if I softened this picture a bit, it would make it even better. I just have to figure out how to do that now.

This one was really cool bringing the color out in it. To see it go from B&W to the bright colors of the rainbow and the girls skin and swim suits was like that one commercial on TV. This pic makes me think....Children bring color to our world :)

So the girls started doing chores tonight. I had wanted to start them at the beginning of summer but seemed like there was always something going on and the time never seemed right. So today Elianna put the clothes from the washer into the dryer. Both girls dried the dishes. And while I played with the pictures above, Bethanie washed the dishes from dinner. The funny thing about it...THEY LOVED IT...you would have thought they were given a new game to play. They even started to fight a little because they both wanted to dry the dishes :D I gave them both a towel and they went at it like it was the best game ever. WOO HOO, now if only their excitement for chores will last :) So why is it that all these years I have been doing it all????? Silly me, I could have been laying back, eating bonbons, watching my favorite tv shows instead, lol.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

I'm SOOOO ticked off...

at my husband, the old frog!!! I usually don't vent about him on here but today I just have to! This week has been so busy for me and my girls. We had bible school at our church, I helped out ALOT with decorating, crafts, snacks, and I taught 2 nights. I only saw DH pretty much in passing the whole week. Then yesterday we (not him, he spent the day at home playing his game) went over 2 hours away to the Creation Museum (very, VERY cool place but PACKED on Saturdays) to wrap up the week of Bible school. Dh had gotten free tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game for Sunday (today). All week I had dreaded it, I knew I was just going to be really tired and didn't like the idea of driving over 2 hours each way again after just doing it on Saturday, also I was frustrated at him because everyday this week he had done something that he KNOWS I hate (I won't get into what IT is because that would just lead to this post being MUCH too long). BUT when I asked him a few times through the week about what day/days we were going (he got tickets for next weekend too) he kept saying he wanted to go to both. No hesitation, he acted like he was looking forward to it. So I sucked it up and actually started looking forward to it, after all it was going to be just me and him, a day with no children after a week centering around them, it would be a nice break, I was just going to over look the IT that he did all week.



We got home late last night, after midnight after a nonstop day of the museum, wet playground, walk by the lake to feed the geese, Chuckee Cheese, then the long drive home. Had to completely inconvenience my mom (who went with us yesterday) to take the girls home with her to spend the night. I was TIRED. But I set the alarm to get up early today. I SO didn't want to get up when it went off but I did. I took a shower, shaved my legs (I don't do this nearly as often as I should), got all lotioned up, and he came to the door. We ended up "spending some time together" and it was great. As he was walking out of the room I asked "so what time are we leaving?" and his response..."I don't really feel like going." WHAT???? he said it wasn't that he didn't WANT to, it was that we really didn't have the money to go. I tell him I already filled the van up with gas and I had some cash left over. He said he would rather save the gas and save the money for next weekend because he was really wanting to go to the night game. I told him I would be getting paid for babysitting before next weekend so I would have extra money. Nah, it had nothing to do with the money...he just didn't want to go, he wanted to stay home and play that stupid game of his (world of warcraft, I am REALLY growing to HATE that game). After about 2 minutes of sitting in the bedroom thinking about how I really NEEDED this day with him, I went in to find him ALREADY playing his game and told him "let's just go, we already got gas, we got a babysitter, we can eat at McDonald's or somewhere else cheap, we can do it with out spending much money at all today. Then next weekend we can spend a little more money. I just want to spend the day with you." No! So then I got ticked, he was putting that STUPID game before me again, seems to be happening more and more here lately. I go in, have a little cry, decide it's a huge waist of $45 tickets for really good seats (he got them free from work) so I go ask him if he's sure we aren't going, he just gives me a look. So I call my dad, he's out of town, call my brother-in-law, he can't find anyone to go with him, so I give up. Matt says something about do you have the directions, me still fuming say why, that ticks him off, I said so are we going to go, and he snaps "if your going to act like this all day, I guess I am going to have to." Oh no! That just ticks me off EVEN worse than I already was. So I storm out of the room.

The more I thought about it the madder I got. So finally I went in and went off on him. Told him exactly how I felt about not really wanting to go at first but then looking forward to going so we would have an "US" day. I told him how frustrated I was at him for the IT he did all week but how I was willing to just let it go so we could have fun together. I told him if it wasn't for him doing that we would have had plenty of money to go. He tries to deny it saying he didn't spend any money for it, I KNOW he was lying and told him so, he didn't deny it, he knew he was caught. I got on the computer for a little while to calm myself down, then went in and layed in bed. I fell asleep, woke up and it was 2pm! I had slept for over 4 hours. Called my mom to tell her we didn't end up going and told her I would come pick the girls up in a little bit. I felt better after waking up, didn't feel as mad. I thought we can still do something so the "us" day isn't completely lost. So I go in where he is and ask him if he wants to go get something to eat. "No, I'm not hungry" UGH, "well we don't have to go right now", "nah, I don't want to". UUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! That just makes me mad all over again.

So I wait till I am not so mad and I leave to go pick up the girls. I kept thinking how, since he is such a butt, the girls and I will just go do something fun. I get to my mom's, walk in, Elianna sees me and says "uuuhhhh, I don't want to leave, mommy you leave, me stay here with mamaw". Bethanie doesn't want to leave either. Oh, I felt so loved and wanted today, NOT!!!! I seriously had to just walk out of the room and turn my head because I could feel tears coming to my eyes. Bethanie got her shoes on and went out when I said lets go, but Elianna well it was a battle, just as it usually is with her. She just kept crying and saying "I don't wanna go with you".

A couple miles down the road she fell asleep. Bethanie and I decide we want to go get something to eat and get ice cream. We get there and Elianna will not wake up. I ordered what I knew she would want then sat her down in a booth so I could carry the food. She screams. I fight with her for a few and finally am able to go get the food. Nothing made her happy, she didn't like the drink, she didn't want her hot dog on a bun, she wanted a spoon for her applesauce, etc. Finally she eats and starts acting better. Then it was time for ice cream. I give her the options for what she wants. She decides on a vanilla cone, I asked her a couple times if she was sure, told her what Bethanie and I were getting, yes, she still wanted a vanilla cone.....that is until she got it...."I don't want this, I want what Bethanie has" uugghhh.

As we were about to finish up Bethanie notices that the sky had turned really dark, she knew a storm was coming. She has recently developed a HUGE fear of storms, so she starts crying and pacing the floor. I gather up our left overs and trash so we can hurry up and get out of there before it starts raining. As soon as I was out on the road I knew I should NOT have left that building. It turned out to be a REALLY bad storm. The wind was blowing, the rain was coming down in sheets extremely hard. I was trying to listen to the radio to make sure there was no tornado warnings/watches but I guess the weather was so bad, the radio kept going to static when the weather advisories would come on. I had to pull over 4 times because it would get to raining so hard and the wind blowing that I couldn't see and didn't feel like I could control the van well enough. Bethanie in the mean time is all huddled in a little ball in her booster seat, with her head between her knees and her hands over her ears all while she is crying and rocking back and forth. I didn't let her see it but I was extremely SCARED too. There was a little pond a ways from the road in a field we passed (before the rain started coming so hard) that had WAVES, I mean it looked like the ocean the waves were so big, I had never seen anything like it. I reached back and held Bethanie's hand till the wind started blowing us so hard that I felt like I was loosing control. Finally we made it home, safe and sound. Bethanie and I cuddle on the couch to watch a movie all while DH is, 10 hours after he first started, STILL PLAYING THAT STUPID GAME!!!!! It was such a lovely day. The only good things....the snuggles with Bethanie and the Thin Mint GS cookie blizzard I got from DQ, YUMMMMY.

I just hope and pray that tomorrow is a better day.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

What color should your blog be?

Your Blog Should Be Blue
Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere.You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant.From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

I found this on a blog I just happened to run across, thought it was fun. Try it for yourself...
http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorshouldyourblogorjournalbequiz/

Monday, July 7, 2008

July 4th Weekend!! What fun!


Happy Birthday America (a little late)!! Me and the girls had a very nice weekend. The night before the girls had spent the night with my mom, I stayed up REALLY late then slept in (till almost 1pm :0 ) then I met my mom and the girls at my cousin Hannah's house for a cookout and fireworks. I was a little disappointed going into the 4th because we would be missing the big show of fireworks that they put on at the river bank, but then it rained almost all day so the big show was postponed, YEA. It cleared up long enough for the cookout and most of the fireworks at Hannah's. We had a good time but I forgot to take my camera :(

See these pots? I just love them! I bought cheap ($1 I think, maybe $2) stone colored plastic pots, cut stars out of contact paper, stuck them to the pots then spray painted them red and blue. I think they turned out SO cute!!

Here are a few pictures of the girls in the yard on Saturday.

I love this picture! Elianna was refusing to look at me, I was following her around with the camera, finally told her just look over your shoulder at me PLEEEEEASE, this is the results.
Deep thought or angry??? with Elianna it's hard to tell, lol.

Then on Saturday the 5th we spent the day at home till evening. DH, the girls, and I went to Gatty's for dinner. They have a GREAT all you care to eat pizza/salad/pasta buffet, they had my favorite-Buffalo chicken pizza-YUMMY! After we ate we played for a while in their game room. Then me and the girls headed down to the river bank to get ready for the fireworks. We were really early so we just enjoyed the lovely evening, we went across the street for ice cream, and took a nice walk. Although the temp was very mild, our ice cream melted VERY quickly and we all 3 ended up with it all over us. So we walked to the nearby retirement center. Outside they have a beautiful area with a gazebo, fountain, and lots of flowers and greenery. It's just lovely! I told the girls they could wash themselves off in the fountain. I meant for just their hands to get in the water BUT....

They hopped right into it, shoes and all! Elianna stayed where she was just getting sprinkled on, Bethanie went around to the other side where the water was pouring down and got soaked! I had already decided I was going to enjoy my evening...so I just laughed :)There was also this drinking fountain there, you had to push a foot pedal to make it work, Bethanie had to hop on the pedal with both feet and jump to make it work, she's such a skinny Minni! Elianna's not, but she couldn't get it to work at all, lol.

Then we went down to the river bank. This was before the show and before the rest of the family we were meeting arrived. The girls were having a good time playing and dancing to the music from a local band. It's funny that it looks like there is hardly anyone there, there was actually a pretty big crowd.

Bethanie took this picture of Elianna and I as we waited for the show to start, I just love it!!! She did a GREAT job!

And Elianna took this picture of Bethanie and I, lol. My hand is out like that because I was signaling and telling her to RAISE IT UP.

The fireworks show wasn't anything great, rather short and not too exciting actually. After they were over we went home and went to bed.

Today we got up, went to church, went to a birthday party for my nephew, Nicholas, who turned 10 today!!! Left there and headed back to church. After services we had a little get together with sandwiches, wraps, and chips followed by a meeting to get things all finalized for VBS that will be the next week after this one. While the women were inside for the meeting the kids were outside playing in their new HUGE "sandbox" (it's actually a volley ball court :) ). We finally got home at a little after 10. We are all exhausted but wishing the long weekend didn't have to end. I'm dreading going back to the same old, same old. Hope everyone else enjoyed their long weekend as much as we did :D

My princess slideshow