est. 1991

One of my best friends made me these vinyl die cuts to place under the family I have up on my living room wall. It was exactly what that space needed. 20 years today Chris & I have been married & I still love him like it was 1991.

What the heck, Wal-Mart.

Logan opens up his new clock radio tonight & got the shock of his life. He blames Hadlley for all the pink bling stickers. But I blame Walmart customer service for apparently not checking the returns very well. I sure hope it was customer service & not the midnight shift bored & blinging out clock radios, lol. We all got a good laugh out of it though so all is good (if they let us exchange for a non pink blinged out one).

Aftermath

After gifts were opened, do I need say more :) ?

Leaning tower of Christmas tree

I do believe this might be the last year for this leaning tree. We have done everything to make it straight & it just doesn't work.

Christmas colored pretzels

Hadlley likes hats!!

Hadlley took all the hats he could find in the house & tossed them all in the living room. He also left the kids new Santa hats.

Cookies

Saw this in the news paper the other day & actually made them. They are pretty tasty too. I did use peanut butter & chocolate chips. (will add receipe later)

Hadlley is here

Hadlley, our little elf, showed up today & had som fun toliet papering Logan's room.

A surprise

I walk to my desk this morning & see a fresh arrangement of flowers on my desk. I figure it is for the whole kitchen. Once I get closer I see a card also. My name is on the envelope, I open it & the name it's signed by there are two people at work with that name. No last name listed. But I'm thinking to myself, why would either of them give me flowers, they must be for everyone. Such a mystery. Another co-worker comes in that works in the same room with one of the persons. I ask her to find out if it was her & if they are for all the kitchen or just me. She comes back in later & tells me that it was her & they are for me. It really made my day!! She used everything from her yard, except the carnations. Which by the way pink carnations are my favorite flower!!

Garden tomatoes. Yum!

I finally remembered to check my tomatoes that I had picked from the plants when they were green as could be & I was amazed to see that there were many that was ready. Oh my they were so yummy. Nothing like fresh garden tomatoes in December. Read the post about picking the tomatoes HERE.

LIGHTS, camera, action!!

It's time to grab those decorations & get that tree up. Here is the big tangle of lights for our tree.

Logan injury

I got up this morning & asked Logan to get the newspaper. Silly kid didn't put any shoes/socks on. He stepped on one of the trees seeds (or sticky balls as we call them). Sweetgum tree is the name of the tree. Once he stepped barefoot on it he fell, caught himself with his hands, but managed to scrape the end of his big toe.
As I was trying to put a band-aid on it I asked him how he managed to get all the hard to bandage injuries. He had nothing for me. **update, Monday he wore his shoes to school, but rubbed the scab off & wore flip flops for a couple hours. Tuesday he opted for flip flops all day at school, someone at lunch accidently kicked it & caused more pain. I think he's thankful for the Thanksgiving break. Photo from day 2.

No glasses

The kids annual eye exam was yesterday. Stephanie decided to try out contacts. When I got up this morning (early to wake her up so she'd have time to get her contacts in) she was already up & in the living room. Sitting on the couch with the table in front of her & the full length mirror from her room propped up against that. I asked her what she was doing. She told me the left contact went in first try, but that she got tired of standing up. The right one proved to be a bit tricky. She finally got them both in.

"I'm to old"

Logan's reading teacher does a fun thing each Friday called Fun Friday & the kids get to buy items from the Kirksey Kash they've earned for being/doing good through out the week. So Logan came home with this face mask a couple weeks ago. I snapped this funny picture & now I am having to use it for the Halloween post because Logan informed me he is to old to go trick or treating. Stephanie hasn't been into trick or treating for a couple years now.

Changing Colors

This is a tree just down our street & every afternoon on the way home from picking Logan up from school for the last couple days I've noticed how pretty it is. It has all the fall colors, which normally I don't care much for. Maybe my tastes are changin'.

Before and After

School Conferences were tonight. A teacher asked Logan to step out in the hall so she could ask Chris some CSI questions for an upcoming segement in her class. While out in the hall Steph decided to "Steph-a-fy" Logan's locker. She did a good job I think.
BEFORE

AFTER

:05 minute clean

I believe I started this "5 Minute Clean" when I got into the Fly Lady site, but soon got out because I just couldn't keep up, lol. She says to clean in :15 minute spans & not to drag out more than you can get put back in a :15 minute span. I do like that idea. Since :15 minutes is a lot to young kids (at the time I started this) I shortnend the time to :05 minutes. When the timer goes off we stop. They know that I mean a :05 minute clean is really :05 minutes & they don't complain (to much). Some days like today takes a little longer than :05. So we did a few of them today & the house is looking much better. And thanks Steph for doing all your spans at one time & getting the kitchen looking good!!

McDonalds Monopoly!

Chris is determined to win the big prize playing the McDonalds Monopoly game. So far he has lots of duplicate pieces & has instant won food prizes, Red Box Rental, & 20 Snapfish prints. I enter the codes online & have won a lot of My Coke Reward points, a Red Box Rental, & Snapfish prints as well. A lot of places are running out of the game pieces since it's nearing the end. Even the Huntsville McDonalds had no pieces on their medium soda cups. Where this photo was taken yesterday.

Bag Balm

It's getting close to winter & cold temps that tend to dry out your hands. Especially when you have to wash your hands as much as myself & my co-workers do. This Bag Balm is made for cow udders, but works wonders overnight on my dry, cracked hands. I am not even sure where you can buy it anymore. I have had this can (from Walmart) since Steph was a baby.

Steph got tagged!!

Steph came home after school & told us the truck got tagged & she doesn't know who did it. I guess all the cold temps made someone think about Christmas. I bet in a few days (if that) they will claim their "art"!
UPDATE~A friend of a friend told her she drew the Christmas tree on her truck. She looked at the other 2 friends & they admitted their "handy" work.

Green tomatoes

With the forecast of cold tempatures tonight & the rest of the week I decided to pick all my tomatoes plus one small cantaloupe. A co-worker said to wrap the tomatoes in newspaper, place in box, then store in cool/dry area (like under a bed) & th would ripen nicely.

Student of the week!

Logan came home today with big news. He was selected for Student of the Week. The certificate says "for always turning in completed assignments & participating in class". Way to go Logan!!

Knock off GS Cookies??

Shopping in Aldis's this afternoon I spotted a box of cookies that looked like Samoa Girl Scout cookies. Then I found a box that looks like Thin Mints & the Tag a Longs. I will let you know how they taste.

Homecoming Parade

This afternoon was the RHS homecoming parade. We met up with a friend & visited before it started & during. Both of our older girls were in the parade. Hers is in band & Steph was helping out with a friend of hers & throwing candy. Logan & Allison had a good visit waiting for the parade to start also.

Broken glasses

Logan got in the car this afternoon & told me his glasses broke. They can't be repaired, but his vision is only corrected in one eye & it's not real bad. Since it's almost time for his annual eye exam we are going to just wait it out.

What could this mean?

Hmmm wonder what this photo means? Details to come soon!

Plumbing repair

Lovely fun times getting part of our kitchen floor jack hammered up for a drain pipe repair.

Lost............

Which way should we go? Left or right? I think we went to the left but I am not 100% sure. Hucks Corn Maze in Lowell was fun. It isn't real long so check it out. Thank you Pam & Retha for plotting our route & let me be the Mama-razzi I am.

Logan's cookies

Here is the cookies a friend made for Logans "friend" party. Friend as in a couple girls (one of my best friends girls) that he has pretty much grown up with. We enjoyed a low key afternoon of grilled hotdogs (thanks Chris), the yummy cookies along with ice cream, Wii game (Just Dance 2), then to the corn maze in Lowell. Thanks girls for celebrating Logan's 13th birthday with us.

If anyone is interested in ordering some custom made cookies then check out the most awesome cookie blog. www.ljscustomcookies.blogspot.com

Class Ring

Today in the mail was a postcard telling Stephanie it's time to order her class ring.

A year already?

I have this calendar at work & I keep track of my bank mileage, but also dentist appts, dr appts, etc. There is another calendar at home on the fridge & one in my purse. I don't use the one on my phone.

So today it has been one year since Stephanie passed her drivers permit test & needed to have taken her driving portion of the drivers test or start the process over again. As you know she passed & got her license towards the end of March, but it was so odd seeing that wrote down & her driving by herself for about 6 months now. Time flies!

The missing tv remote!!

I am not really sure what the deal is with this remote. It's the remote to our tv in the bedroom & for the life of us we can not keep up with the silly thing. No big deal except that you can't watch tv unless you have this remote. I tend to DVR things on TV 2 (bedroom tv) & watch later on TV 1 (living room tv). We have to have this remote to also DVR something on TV 2. Most DVR timers are set up but of course I needed it to set the timer for Survivor which came on Wed. Why not just DVR on TV 1 you ask? Well that was because the Americas Got Talent finale was DVRing on TV 1. This remote has been lost for over a year before & Chris found it lodged between the night stand & bed on his side. Over the summer Logan was in there watching TV & a couple days later I notice the remote MIA again. Chris, Logan & I looked all over for it. Granted our bedroom is the catch all & cluttered, but still you'd think it'd be found fairly easy since it just went missing. We gave up & I decided to look for it again & guess what? It was in plain sight under the bed. Craziest thing ever because we had all looked there before (more than once).

The Last One!

Stephanie took her last pill tonight. It's been a long time since she hasn't had a pill to take every day. I believe the "journey" started June of 2010. If she doesn't have any more breakouts then she's home free til her appointment in December. Of course if she has any pimples pop up we are to call them. And we are expecting a call from someone at the clinic to talk about a procedure to take care of the scarring that has already occurred. Hopefully it will all clear up on it's own & no procedures will be needed. Keep your fingers crossed.

Happy Birthday Chris

Today was Chris's birthday. He chose Five Guys for dinner then we headed over to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. Happy Birthday to you Chris, hope you had a great one!!

Happy birthday to Logan

In our family you choose where you eat dinner on your birthday. Logan chose McDonalds (surprise surprise). He enjoyed his day with all his family. Not often does your birthday fall on the weekend to celebrate with the family.

What we found

On the way home from picking Logan up from school I noticed something in the road. After I was past it I realized it was a knife. After Steph got home we headed to go to her dermatologist appointment & I went that way so both of us could look for it (she saw it driving home also). We couldn't find it & decided to look one more time on the way home. We saw it & stopped to get it off the road. Wonder how it got into the middle of a road?

It was negative!

Right before I went to bed Friday night my throat was starting to hurt a little. Nothing major but annoying. I didn't sleep well that night at all & woke up Saturday morning to my throat on FIRE!! I didn't want to go all weekend feeling like that so I decided a trip to the walk in clinic that accepts our insurance was the best decision. They did a strep swab test & let me tell ya I don't like those things at all. They always have to use one of those wooden things to hold your tongue down. Well as they swab it I gag to the point of almost throwing up. It's bad!! The nurse said "Wow, you didn't like that did you?" I wanted to say "What makes you think that?" But I was to busy coughing & gagging still to talk, which is why I think he decided to sass me. I really don't think he was sassing me, but still, sheesh, ya think?

So anyways the swab test came back negative. The doctor said many of them have been so they went ahead & it sent it in for a culture. Also lots of cases of strep in the 6 to 8 range. Since I am at the school & get to touch all the cards it's very possible that could be it.

However I think it's just very bad allergies & was turning into a sinus infection which has been to known to happen to me more than once. My throat felt like drainage however she said it wasn't, but it was very red & inflamed. I take allergy meds & just recently switched from the Walmart generic Clartin D to the Walgreens generic. The doctor gave me a prescription for allergy meds & those pills looks totally different than the last 2 boxes I took. So who knows!! I did decide to fill & take the antibiotics. Either the strep will come back positive or it will turn into a sinus infection (if not already). So I should be covered (hopefully).

Scrapbook viewing

Logan has always loved looking at the completed scrapbook albums. He also loves looking back at his school yearbooks too. One is usually always out open in the living room floor. Since he was in bed when I finished up the album I showed it to him (both kids) real quick this morning before I left for work. Tonight I noticed him looking at it closer & reading all the journaling. Sorry the photo is a tad blurry (iphone & bad lighting in our living room plus I zoomed in on him some).

so many papers...

The day I got home from CKC in Tulsa in the mail waiting on me was my monthly scrapbook kit. I have been waiting for this kit to arrive so I could get it done & decide what beach vacation photos to use on the kits (2 monthly kits were vacation themed). Then take all my beachy scrapbook papers & embellishments & get my layouts planned out. My goal was to get my whole album finished by Friday. A co-worker of mine is moving to California & has been asking to see my vacation photos. I wasn't sure if I could accomplish it or not. Especially since I have apparently have so many pretty papers. Choosing layouts was difficult, but I managed thru all the decisions & actually finished up the whole 23 pages on Wed. night.

CKC~Tulsa

I look forward to this day every year. It's the big scrapbook convention that is a scrapbookers heaven held in Tulsa. Also fun is meeting up in person with some of the scrapbooking ladies I am friends with online. We only get to see each other a couple times (if that) a year so I always look forward to it.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Today is my dads birthday, but he'll always be Daddy to me. Happy Birthday Daddy we love you today & forever.

Only 1 more & 5 more

As I was thinking about these photos I snapped this morning. It dawned on me that I only have 1 more First Day of school photo to take of Stephanie & only 5 more of Logan. I can't believe the time has flown by so fast. Every first day of school picture has been taken by the trees in our front yard except for Steph's kindergarten photo.

My Mom

Went over to my parents house today since my dad's birthday is tomorrow. Decided to snap a couple photos of them since it seems like I don't have many.

Baby Shoes

Here is the cutest little pair of baby shoes I found today shopping for a friends new baby. Had to share.

Locker Time @ Open House

Logan got to go pick up his schedule, choose his locker, meet his homeroom teacher (which we were told by more than one person that Mr. Rambo is great), & purchase his planner/gym clothes tonight. They place the kids on teams & he is on the Panthers Team this year. So he got to choose any locker with a green tag. He was tall enough this year to choose a top locker. The combinations were on the back of the tag & he tried it out & had it open & shut before I could even get my phone out & the camera up to take a photo. He turned it in & it was recorded as his locker & then we went back for his Mama-razzi to get a photo.

Dentist checkup

The kids had their 6 month dentist check up today. Last time we had some issues to work on. Steph has always had problems with tartar buildup & her teeth not looking really white. Although she has never had a cavity. She has had to have 2 baby teeth pulled because the permanent teeth wouldn't push them out. She has had a slight touch of gingivitis for a couple years. Last check up it had gotten a lot worse. They wanted to switch her to every 3 month cleanings. I said to wait for this check up & we would decide. I saw a commerical on tv about *Crest Clinical reversing the effects of gingivitis in 4 weeks. So we tried it & it worked! Her teeth is MUCH better the dental hygienist said. She has a couple problems areas to brush better but said to keep up with what we were using. Gotta love Crest Clinical!!

*Crest didn't reimburse me for this post! All opinions are my own.

Windows Media Player + Madonna

I decided to really get down & clean. All those places that normally gets skipped when you "clean". Like the shelf that holds all the CD's & cords by the computer in the dining room for one. So when I clean I LOVE listening to music! I LOVE the CD by Madonna, Erotica. Released in 1992. If memory serves me correct I believe Retha or Steve & his wife gave this to me for Christmas. They sure got their moneys worth I'll tell ya. I didn't have a CD player in my car at the time, but I would crank it up on the CD player & clean til my heart was content. Anytime I would put this CD on, Steph would ask "Who is coming over?" lol She knew it meant I was going to clean. When I bought my new car in '07 it has a CD player & this CD was one of the first that got played. I would sing to my tone deaf ears as loud as I could. Because of course I'd have the volume up loud with no kids in the car to complain & be in heaven, I couldn't hear myself singing after all. So when I got my m3p player way back when I had this CD transferred onto that. Now that I recently got an iphone I am going to have Chris transfer the CD (which is still in my car btw) onto my ipod on my phone soon.

Today I plugged in my m3p player on my laptop, since I was to lazy to walk to the car & get the cd. I have listened to this CD probably at least 3 times already & I never get tired of it! Good thing Logan has stayed in his room or Steph's & hasn't commented on my terrible singing. Steph is gone so no comments from her either & I've been singing all day long.