Old Testament

As a mom, I feel like we all have days that we want to pull our hair out.

Hell, there are some days that I want to rip my eyeballs out, shave my head, and scratch my face off.

Just being honest.

There are also those moments where you feel guilty.

"I yell too much."

"Where did I go wrong?"

"Why will they not listen to me?"

In the end, all we can do is the best we can.

And then those little moments like bath time last night come along and knock you off your feet.

You look at your child in amazement with the breath knocked out of you.

Last night, for the very first time, I heard my oldest nutjob say the whole Old Testament.

With her mouth covered, scared she was going to say it wrong, she said every book of the Old Testament.

Her fabulous Grandmom taught her a little song at GAs that she attends every Wednesday night.

I yelled for Ryan to come to the bathroom.

He listened.

We beamed.

It was one of those "HOLLER... MY KID IS SMARTER THAN YOUR KID... IN YO FACE" kind of moments.

We are so proud.

It made me realize that there are the bad full moon days, but there are also those little moments that make up for the craziness.

Now, if only I can remember the above statement during the crazy chaotic days.

Fingers crossed!!

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Big,
We are super proud of you!  Always remember you can do anything!!


Love,
Mom

Voting day

Regardless of your opinions or political stance...

GO VOTE!

Make your voice heard and NOT JUST ON FACEBOOK!

Peace.

the post where i write in all lowercase because i don't like writing about this

i am going to tell you a secret.

it is a secret that i said i wouldn't tell anyone.

i am embarrassed and a little ashamed that i've done it and enjoyed it.

i have read the first two fifty shades books.

i have read fifty shades of grey (book one).

it should have been titled "fifty shades of red" or "fifty other titles to tell your husband when we asks what you are reading on the kindle".

i swore to myself that i would not read the other two books.

psh!  i was wrong.

the first one ends so oddly that it leaves you hanging.

you need more.

it is like a drug.

you read book two, fifty shades darker.

that is what it is... darker.

i haven't bought book three yet.

i felt that spending $20 on two such books was enough for one week.

when you read them, you feel like you are doing something wrong.

my nana always said, if you feel like you are doing something wrong... you are.

damnit.

i'm going to hell.

i have read porn trash.

i enjoyed the books.

i guess i will read the third book now.

afterwards i will read something religious and beg for forgiveness.

someone make me feel better.

please tell me someone else has read these books and felt bad about it.

Hipples

Emma says the darnedest things.

She is at the age where you never know what is going to come out of her mouth.

I also love that she makes up her own words.

The other night I was getting dressed in her PJs.

"What's that?" she asked pointing to her chest.

"I don't know.  What is it?" I answered.

"Ummm... a hipple."

Clearly she meant nipple.

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Happy Sunday!!

Fergie Ferg

The other night we were at my inlaws house having dinner.

Ryan was rummaging around and came across a perfume.

"Why do you have Fergie's perfume?" he asked his mom.

"My secret sister gave it to me."

"Why in the world would she give you Fergie's perfume?"

"Ryan, I don't know.  She probably thought I would like the way it smelled."

"Do you even know who Fergie is?" Ryan asked in a serious manner.

"Yes!  Fergie... she was married to Prince Andrew."

Yep.  That's right.  My MIL thought her secret sister had given her a perfume called Outspoken by Fergie.  That Fergie on the bottle she thought was none other than Sarah Ferguson.

So cute!

We explained to her that it was Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas.

I may have even dropped a few lines of Boom Boom Pow.

We all had a good chuckle in the kitchen that night.

Catch Up

So, let's play catch up.

We will start with Bug.

She is almost done with school.  Her last day is the 24th.  This school year has seemed to fly by.  It is kind of sad but we are all excited for summer.

She is still not talking at school.  She has also taken it to the extreme and is no longer tee-teeing at school.  Her reason??  She doesn't want anyone to hear her.

God.help.her.

At times I think she may have selective mutism however at other times I think she is just being a controlling nutjob.

She'll figure it out.

We are shooting for her to just say ONE word before the end of the year.

Fingers crossed!

On to Caroline.

She is still enjoying school.

We went through a spell where she wasn't doing so hot on AR tests.  We had a come to Jesus meeting and she has made 100s ever since.

She wants to start playing tennis this summer.

This is a big step for her.  She is my clingy child.

She is the child with SAHM syndrome.

She hates for me to leave her anywhere... youth group, group lessons, etc.

Caroline is also in the "hate" stage of her life.

She hates everything... me included.

"I HATE HOMEWORK!"

"I HATE BEDTIME"

It hurt a little the first few times she screamed "I HATE YOU!  YOU ARE THE WORST MOM EVERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"

We are slowly getting her out of the habit of using the H word.

A little pop on the cheek does the trick.

On to Ryan.

Everything is the same with hubs.

We celebrated our 6 year anniversary on April 21st.

He decided he wanted just us to go to the beach with no children.

We did.

It was wonderful.

We ate, ate, and ate.

We have soooo missed our favorite beach restaurants.

Friday night we had a late dinner at Ruddy Duck.

We both wanted the same thing... grilled mahi tacos complete with black beans, rice, sour cream, pico and Caribbean slaw.  Their Caribbean slaw is to DIE for!!

Of course, I have the best hubs in the world and he let me get the mahi tacos.

He had his favorite... Jambalaya.  It never disappoints.  It is the most amazing Jambalaya we have ever had.

I starved myself all day Saturday so that I could have a bomb dot com dinner Saturday night.

We had reservations at Front Street Grill at Stillwater in Beaufort.

We laid on the beach for most of the day which was awesome.  I bought a cute little juice box of wine.  Best invention EVER!

Of course, Walgreens did not have a big selection so I was stuck drinking pinot grigio.  It was pretty good though.

Our dinner at Front Street was good.

Being in Beaufort makes me happy.

I love the feel of the little town.

Everyone is so down to earth and super nice.

I found SkinnyGirl White Cranberry Cosmo while we were down there.

Super yum!

Do yourself a favor and grab some.

Of the margarita, sangria, and cosmo... the Margarita is still my favorite.

Speaking of me...

I am doing good too.

I started a diet January 9th.

It was a terrible journey in the beginning but I have made my way.

I am currently at 23 lbs. of weight loss.

I feel so much better.

I no longer drink any soft drinks.  I will have a little here and there but I mostly drink water.

I have also cut back my alcohol intake.

Drinking a bottle of Black River Red every night is not very good for you.  Whoops!

I wish I had taken before and after pictures.

I am still walking and toning.

I am super proud of myself.

So that is catch-up for us.

Hope you all are doing well too!!

Day from hell.

January is almost over and February is upon us.

I miss blogging.

Days like today make me miss blogging.

I need a break from being a mom for a few minutes.

As I type, Bug is standing beside me...

"Are these for Halloween, Mom?"

"Yes, Bug.  Those are Halloween tights.  Please go put them away so we don't lose them."

"MOM, these are for Halloween?"

"Mom!"

"Mom!"

"MOM!"

"MOMMY!!!"

tapping arm... "MOM!!!"

I am changing my name to Anastasia Beaverhausen.

Brownie points to whoever can guess what show that is from... WITHOUT googling ;-)

New Year.

Happy 2012!  I can't believe it is 2012.

When you say it "twenty, twelve" that is even more weird to me.

I am never one to make resolutions.  I break them most of the time so I gave them years ago.

However, this year I felt it was important to do a few things.

First, I want my family to become more green.  I am all about saving the planet... even if it is one beer bottle and wine bottle at a time.

Our carbon footprint has got to be HUGE due to the fact that my husband drives the most un-economical car on the face of the planet.

Secondly, I ordered this book...

I have heard so many things about this Dukan diet.  I decided to do a little research of my own and the diet seems to be pretty easy.

I guess I shouldn't call it a diet.  I am telling myself that I am teaching myself how to eat more healthy.

So there you have it.  My two resolutions for the new year... twenty-twelve.

Weird.

Oh Christmas TREES

This year, I was so excited about decorating for Christmas.

I had tons of cute little items to sit around.  We were actually in a house and not a 2 bedroom apartment that came straight from 1962... yellow kitchen applicances and all.
I decided to do three trees this year.

The family tree...

We decided on a top hat as our tree topper this year.  Ryan wasn't very fond of it at first.  However, it is too cute for words and I had to have it.

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Bug's tree...

I am a huge fan of white trees with multicolored lights.  It makes me super happy.

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This is Big's tree...

Big's tree is a little sad with no tree skirt.  I can't find one that I love.  Until I do, her tree will be skirtless.  Big decided she wanted the green tree this year.  She said she wanted white and pink lights.  Well, I made it work.  Ha!

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I guess you can count the ficus tree as a Christmas tree as well...

Please ignore the paper whites that have fallen over.  I have done everything I know to do to keep them standing.  They are just too damn top heavy.

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I don't know about you but glitter is my weakness... especially at Christmas time.  LOVE it!  I found this awesome glitter present at the pottery. What made it even better???  It's harlequin.  My two favorite things rolled into one.

I have had a few comments on my chalkboard.  "Happy Birthday!" ~Frosty

People read it as "Happy Birthday Frosty!"

Have you never seen the movie Frosty the Snowman.  He yells HAPPY BIRTHDAY in the cutest way EVER!

Caroline made the cute Santa Christmas tree topper.  She decided to put it on the rooster head for laughs.

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I have no great way to display Christmas cards.  I decorated this table with Christmas decor and threw the cards in a green wire bread basket.  I tied a few red bows with grosgrain ribbon and voila!  It's the best I can do this year.  My goal before next year to is make a board like Megan did.  So cute!!

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I had TONS of ornaments left over this year since we bought all new ornaments for the "family tree".  We wanted everything on that tree to match this year.  Anyway, I grabbed the triffle dish that I "borrowed" from my Mom and threw a bunch of ornaments in there.  Add a little houndstooth ribbon to the base and voila!!

MacKenzie-Childs catalog beside it.  I look through that thing a million times a day... seriously.  One day (in my dreams) I will own whole collections of MacKenzie-Childs.  One.day.

A girl can dream right?

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So there you have it.  My decorations in a few photos.  I have so many ideas for next year, I can hardly stand it.

From our family to yours

Big THANK YOU to Megan Wade for taking the BEAUTIFUL picture of my girls.  You are awesome!!

yuck

stomach bug got the girls.

have been up to my knees in vomit.

will finish christmas posts soon.

finishing laundry... dishes... edits... mopping... disinfecting... blahblahblah!

peace&love. -H

Jewish

Caroline got in the car the other day.

I always ask her how her day was and what she learned.

"Mom! We learned about Hanukkah!"

"Wow! That is cool! What did you learn about Hanukkah."

She went on and on about the Menorah, the Star of David, a dreidel, and potato latkes she colored in a mini Hanukkah Booklet. "Those are just potato pancakes, Mom" she said.

I was smiling and it made my heart happy. I love that Caroline is learning about many different cultures and their holiday celebrations. Then it came...

"And they get presents for EIGHT days, Mom! EIGHT DAYS! But they only get one present a day. But that is still cool. EIGHT DAYS OF PRESENTS!!! Do we celebrate Hanukkah Mom?"

"No babe. We celebrate Christmas. We are Christian and we are celebrating Jesus' birthday. The Jewish celebrate Hanukkah."

"Oh. So we are not Jewish?"

"Nope."

"Dag. I want to be Jewish."

I just giggled.

Christmas is upon us

I can't believe that Christmas is almost here!


I am nowhere near done with shopping for gifts. Then again, I ALWAYS wait until the last minute.

My house is slowly coming together with Christmas decorations. I wish I could leave them up all year. They make the house seem so warm and cozy.

I added two Christmas paintings to my collection.

Meet Mr. Santa Frog.


It is actually Lisa's vertical jumping frog with a Santa hat, belt, and boots.

Love him!

I also have this painting in the hall bathroom/girls bathroom.


It is by far one of my favorite paintings I've ever done.

I also have this cuties on the counter...


I love glitter.

Most of the time I go totally overboard with glitter.

Speaking of, my wreath on the front door is very glittery!


Yuck! I just noticed how smushed my bow looks. Oh well. I am too lazy to go out, fix it and take another picture.

Anyway, don't you love how it is complete with red glitter door hanger.

Here is a glittery close-up shot.


I could tell you that I made this.

I would totally be lying though. I am definitely not that creative and talented.

Speaking of creative and talented, I had an old smushed green wreath in my Christmas boxes.

With a little ribbon, it now completes the chest in my den.


Look at the bow! I am normally terrible at tying bows but this one turned out pretty good. I couldn't believe it.


A pretty perfect bow. Maybe I am a little talented.

Eat your heart out Martha Stewart!
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Tomorrow, I will share our Christmas trees. Yes, that is plural.

Catch up

Let's play catch up...

- Emma is loving school. No crying this year and she is even talking to her friends some. Fabulousness!!

- Caroline is loving school... finally! Her teacher just got married which was super exciting to her. She got her first reading list and she will check out her first AR book very soon. She is so much child. Can't wait to check out a library book. Remember how library books use to smell? I can't wait to smell that smell again.

- Emma still loves bows. BIG bows. Help me, God. Heather and Amanda, I am going to need your ebay seller lady's name please.

- Caroline's speech is going crazy again. She can't get words out. She isn't stuck on any one sound or blend. I have no idea what to do. It was bad a few weeks ago and now you can't even tell she has a problem. Help wanted.

- Halloween was super exciting. NOT! It rained and we only went to three house. Thank goodness for Trunk or Treat at church. We still have loads of candy.

- Revenge is the most fabulous show on TV. Seriously.

- Anna and I went to Lisa Jordan's All Girls Halloween Bash. I was suppose to be Wilma Flintstone. However, I looked more like Betty Rubble in a white dress.


See the wine glass I am holding? Lisa paints those. I have ordered 4 for Christmas and I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

- Speaking of Christmas, I already have my list made. Yayy!

- At the top of that list... this. An electric corkscrew. Hot damn! I used it this weekend at my SIL & BIL's house. It is the bomb dot com.

- I have tons of pictures to share.

- I need to blog again. I miss it. I always make empty promises about blogging though. Ugh! I wish I could post less on FB and more on here.

New recipe.

Just added my favorite shrimp recipe on my food blog ;-)

Be sure to try it!!