Happy Thanksgiving!

You and your families shall eat and rejoice...because the Lord your God has blessed you.
Deuteronomy 12:7

Wordless Wednesday

She Makes Me Smile

On Friday we were getting ready to go to playgroup. Jadyn came to me with 3 or 4 necklaces in her hand. She said she wanted to give them to her friends in playgroup.  I asked if she was sure she wanted to do this.  She assured me that she wanted to share them.  I told her that the girls would take them home and she would no longer have them.  She said, "Oh I was just kidding, Mom!"

Earlier in the week, I gave Jadyn a bubble bath.  I was standing in the bathroom doing my hair, etc.  Jadyn said to me, "Mom, my bath's not perfect enough."  I know she probably doesn't know exactly what perfect means.  She was just trying out a new word.  I just said, "Oh really??"  I wanted to say, "Oh princess, I'm sorry your bath is not perfect enough.  Shall I adjust the temperature or add more bubbles?  What else can I do for you?"  :)

Saturday Randomness

We're having a relaxing Saturday and that's really nice. We don't get too many of those. As the holiday season gets busier, I'm sure our Saturdays will too.

Time for some randomness....

Here are some photos I took recently.

These were taken in our front yard about 3 weeks ago.

Jadyn and Lexi
Kitty-Cat Cuteness

Jadyn is wearing some dress-up stuff and coloring. These are 2 of her favorite things to do.

I opened a couple of cans of kidney beans earlier this week when I was making a recipe. I have been cooking for more than 26 years and it's the first time I've ever found corn in a can of beans. I've found stems before, but never corn. Should I consider this a bonus? Thank you, bean company!

Remember, no matter how cute and cuddly they seem, never try to hug a panda. Panda Story

8 Things About Me

A blogging friend tagged me this week, and so here are 8 Things About Me.

(Most of my items are in no particular order.)

8 Favorite TV Shows:

• House Hunters International
• House Hunters
• Buy Me
• LOST
• Forensic Files
• Intervention
• Unwrapped
• Dr. G: Medical Examiner

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

• Took Jadyn to preschool and felt sad when she cried. : (
• Shopped for Christmas
• Shopped for birthdays
• Went to Starbucks
• Ate leftover chili (yum!)
• Checked blogs, Facebook, e-mail, etc.
• Made an easy dinner for my husband and children
• Went to dinner with friends

8 Things I Look Forward To:

• Getting all of the Christmas shopping done
• Seeing our Christmas tree up and decorated
• Seeing extended family at Christmas
• My next cup of coffee
• Spring and Summer 2009..... which would mean that winter's over.
• Kaitlyn's wedding
• No potty type accidents ever
• The first big snowfall (believe it or not)

8 Favorite Restaurants:

• Qdoba
• Chipotle
• C-1 Buffet
• T.G.I. Friday's
• LeeAnn Chin
• Don Pablo's
• El Rodeo
• Solos Pizza Cafe

8 Things on My Wish List:

• No paper clutter anywhere
• Finishing the kitchen makeover
• Living room magically gets a makeover and I don't have to figure it out myself.
• Decide on a hairstyle for myself
• Learn how to do tilework
• Learn how to knit or crochet
• Get motivated to lose weight again
• Grandchildren.......no pressure here guys. Really!

8 People To Tag:

• Anita
  
• Diana
  
• Laura
  
• Lea
  
• Kristin
  
• Stacie
  
• Gail
  
• Terry
  

*Play along if you desire.

Rules, Rules - here are the rules:

1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Answer all 8 of the six items listed.
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My Blogging Sidekicks

Jadyn and Sophie are usually around to keep me company.

This is what she thinks about having her photo snapped over and over.

Sophie always wants to have her paw on my hand when she's at the computer with me. Sweet, but is this always necessary?

I'm hardly ever lonely when at the computer. :)

Monday Memories

Monday Memories

How Much Is A Little?

Today's story happened during the very earliest part of our marriage. We were living in our first apartment and so I'd say we'd only been married a few months at most.

My older sister told me once that if you ever run out of dishwasher detergent, you could substitute a little dishwashing liquid such as Joy or Dawn. She said it was okay to do this, and you only needed to use a little. Well how much is a little?

I did run out of detergent one time and decided to give the liquid soap a try. I used what I thought was probably a little bit. As I remember, I filled the dishwasher cup about 1/4 full. I then started the load and left the room.

A few minutes later I returned to the kitchen and had quite the surprise! There was tons and tons of bubbles coming out of the dishwasher and onto the floor. I do mean TONS! The bubbles were quickly filling up the whole kitchen and it was about 6 inches deep I'd say.

I started to get a bit nervous about this. Can you imagine? Alan was home at the time and so I called him to the kitchen. Who knows what I said? "Uh honey, I think we have a little problem! What are we going to do?"

Seriously, it looked like something you'd see on a TV sitcom. Ever seen a show when someone used too much soap in the wash? You get the picture.

Alan kindly asked me to leave the kitchen. I guess I was being no help at all. LOL Somehow, he cleaned all of it up. It took quite a while. I'm sure he was slightly frustrated that I'd tried something like this. I think we had to run the dishwasher a couple more times to get rid of all that soap.

It's a pretty funny memory. Needless to say, I never tried that again. :)

This isn't me, but looks like it has happened to others too.
I atually found quite a few things on the Internet about other people who have done this!

Two Nice Awards

My friend Melissa has given me 2 very nice awards. I appreciate this so much. It's always nice to know that folks enjoy what they are seeing on my blog. Thank you very much, Melissa!
I'm happy when I can make someone smile. What would our days be like without a little joy?


The Smile Award qualifications are:
1. Display a cheerful attitude.
2. Love one another.
3. Makes mistakes.

4. Learn from others.
5. Be a positive contributer to the blog world.
6. Love life.
7. Love kids!!!!!

The Rules:

1. Must Link back to the Creator

2. Post the Rules

3. Choose 5 People to give the Award to

4. Recipients must fill the Characteristics Above

5. Create a Post to Share

6. You Must Thank the Giver

The Rules:
1. Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass the award on to 5 most deserving blog friends.
2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom he/she received the award.

3. Each Superior Scribbler must display the award on his/her blog, and link to this post, which explains the award.

4. Each blogger who wins the Superior Scribbler award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky list. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives this award!!!

5. Each superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

*I'm breaking the rules this time. (gasp!) I'm just going to post these awards and not spread the love. Know that I DO love all of your blogs! :)

Saturday Night at the Salon

Lauryn came over for dinner last Saturday night. After dinner, Alan went downstairs to watch the TexasTech game. Tech is his alma mater after all.

Since it was just girls, I said we should take Jadyn to the salon. She needed a haircut. We didn't actually go, but Lauryn suggested that we could have a nail salon for Jadyn.

We borrowed from Kaitlyn's nail polish supply. (Thanks, Kate!) Lauryn painted Jadyn's fingernails and toenails. Jadyn chose pink for the toes and purple for the fingers.

Jadyn asked if she could paint our nails. Lauryn was smart and chose a very light color with just a bit of orange tint. I chose bright pink and we also did one nail with silver glitter. Wow, our nails turned out attractive/interesting. :)

I'd catch Lauryn's eyes every once in a while afterward and she'd be smiling or about to giggle. I'd say, "You're laughing at my nails, aren't you?" She said, "Mom, it's a little hard to take you seriously when your nails look like that."

I told Jadyn that while I loved how she painted my nails, I probably wouldn't wear it to church the next morning. Luckily she didn't feel sad about that. Even though my nails were so interesting, I just couldn't see myself going to church that way. It was a bit messy. I took it off the next morning, with much difficulty. My cuticles were still pink tinged.

Our time at the salon was fun, and we'll have to do it again sometime. It was pretty painless, and it gave Jadyn a lot of joy.

The Graduate

Jadyn completed a couple of programs this week. I thought I'd share some photos

On Wednesday she finished the Playschool at the high school. The program lasted about 2 months and was for 1 hour per week. They held a graduation celebration for the kids and parents. They had a little graduation hat for each child, a "diploma" and cupcakes too.

I figured Jadyn would not want to wear the grad hat or walk across the little platform. I was right about that. No big deal. As long as she is ready to wear her grad hat and walk across the stage at her high school graduation, that will be good enough. :)

Jadyn, not wearing the graduation hat. :)

Another yummy cupcake wrapper? :)

I was finally able to get her to try the hat on at home, when I promised her there would only be ONE photo. Thank goodness it turned out pretty well.

Jadyn took a gymnastics class 1 night per week for about 2 months. She finished the class this week. Parents were only allowed at the first and last classes, so we looked forward to seeing what she'd learned at the last class time. Here are some photos....

Jadyn Funnies

This week, Jadyn told me: "Mom, I love your husband!"

:)  :)  :)  :)  :) 

When Kaitlyn was visiting last month, she asked Jadyn what she (Kaitlyn) should have for breakfast.  She said, "I could have _____, _____, or how does oatmeal sound?"

Jadyn said, "Oatmeal doesn't make a sound!"

Wordless Wednesday - So Special

Monday Memories

Monday Memories

I thought it would be fun to do a recurring Monday post, called Monday Memories. I'll share a memory from the past each week. It may be from my childhood, my kids' childhoods, etc.

I searched the Internet for an image, and finally decided to make my own. This board has photos and little mementos of mine.

Maybe you have a similar memory too and you'd care to comment. Maybe you'd enjoy doing a Monday Memory post on your blog. If you do, please let me know. I'd love to see it.

Today's memory: When I was a child, we loved to watch The Carol Burnett Show. I'm sure the very mention of it dates me, but that's okay.

If you are young, you might not even know who Carol Burnett is, and that's okay too. Many of us do remember that show and loved it. Who could forget all of the hilarious skits, including Carol as Scarlett O'Hara or Tim Conway as Mr Tudball and Carol as Mrs. Wiggins?

Back in the day, we didn't have cable. We lived out in the country, and we couldn't get it. We only had 3 or 4 channels. We waited all week for our favorite shows to come on.

The Carol Burnett Show was on Saturday nights. We couldn't wait until it was time. My mom would make a big batch of popcorn in a skillet (no microwaves then) and we would have Coke or KoolAid. Sometimes we would have chips and dip instead. Usually it was plain potato chips and sour cream because that was my mom's favorite. To this day, I still love that too. I think we loved the popcorn and chips almost as much as the show!

My dad was a policeman and often worked the night shift, so it was just the 3 of us kids and Mom. I'm sure by the time the show came on we'd already had our Saturday night baths and we probably had on our pajamas. Our hair was freshly washed and done up in curlers. Must have curly hair for Sunday church!

I cherish the memory of those Saturday nights with my siblings and mom.

Delicious!

This was too funny not to share. We had our playgroup over today, and one mom brought cupcakes. Jadyn had a cupcake after her nap, for a snack. I wasn't watching, but busy emptying the dishwasher.

Suddenly Jadyn said, "Mom, the cupcake paper was yummy too!" I said, "What?!" I looked and there's only a small remnant of a chewed cupcake liner left. I just burst out laughing so hard.

It must be a sign that I've been a mom for a long time. I just found it totally funny and didn't panic. She won't die from it. Extra fiber right? It was a mini cupcake if that makes some of you feel better. :)

Favorite Photo Friday

This photo of Lauryn and Jadyn was taken 2 years ago. Isn't it sweet? Lauryn was staying in our church nursery with Jadyn, trying to help her adjust and also giving Mom and Dad a break.

Sweet Sisters

An Impromptu Picnic and Walk

Jadyn and I decided to take advantage of our gorgeous weather and go for an impromptu picnic today. I'm sure I could speak for all those who live nearby and say that we are very blessed by this beautiful day.

Soon enough our weather will become chilly and we'll have to spend our days inside. We must get outdoors while we can.

We packed a quick lunch and headed to a small park by the lake. It's just a few blocks from our home.

It was so wonderful out there, very sunny and warm. The smell of autumn was in the air.

Here are a few photos from our picnic and walk.

She was so excited to play, that she didn't even want chips. Now if you know Jadyn, that's really different!

Collecting branches. Notice that the dock is out of the water. We had planned to walk out on the dock to be over the water. Well, it had already been removed. Who does that? Only in Minnesota. Where we come from, the docks do not need to be removed from the water for winter. :) We did get on it and learned that it rocks back and forth in a seesaw motion. That was fun.

Walk softly and carry a big stick.

Follow me!

Do NOT come any closer with that camera!

Running away from Mom and loving every minute of it.

Leaves on the water. What you can't see in this photo is her muddy backside. She slipped near the water and got a little messy. We had to remove the jeans before she could get into the car. :) She MUST throw sticks into the water, always. Sometimes it's hard to wait fom Mom to give you a hand. Oops!