Staying Connected

I didn't think I had a whole lot to talk about, but then I started looking through some pictures and realized that there were quite a lot of things I was wanting to write about. Don't worry, I won't do it all in one post, but hopefully I can get back on here more and post some new stories.
A while back, we got a camera for the computer so that we could talk to Ryan's family in Alabama via Skype. Its a free video conferencing service that allows us to "see" them more often. We haven't done it too often lately, but the other day Adriana wanted to call PopPop and HeeHee and talk to them while she took a bath. (This isn't the first time she has done it while taking a bath, that's where she gets the idea.)
While Adriana is on there talking to them, she doesn't want anyone else in there with her, to steal the spotlight away. I sent Ryan in to get this picture, so its not the best, but you can see the computer sitting on the counter and Adriana in the tub talking to her Grandparents.

Before she got in there all by herself, I had Paxton in there too getting a bath. All 4 of us cram in the smallest bathroom we have. Its so small that we can't all fit in the picture while talking to them on Skype.



And I know you may think I only take pictures of my little man these days, but Adriana wasn't pleased at the moment that Paxton was in the tub with her, so she refused to smile. At least Paxton is happy!
I have been very challenged with these kids this last week. Paxton isn't much of a napper, which is hard on me. He cat naps all day. The longest he sleeps is like an hour or hour and a half at a time. Adriana use to sleep 2 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. This on and off sleeping all day is very hard to get anything done. I have also been dealing with a big 3 year old attitude lately. I don't tolerate much from her in way of her acting up, having fits or talking back. I'm pretty strict and I'm only strict so she doesn't grow up thinking she can act that way and get what she wants. This week has been a CHALLENGE! She mainly bothering poor Zoe, by hitting, picking up and biting her. I'm over telling her no, setting her in time outs and swatting her. NOTHING is working! I take away things like videos, TV shows, playing outside and so on. Hopefully it will click SOON! She tells me all the time not to be bossy. When I feel like all I do is yell at her all day, I can't blame her for saying this. Anyway, this might help explain why I haven't posted anything in a week.
There will be more to come, so stay tuned!

Chasing my Tail

I don't have a whole lot of time (the story of my life these days), but I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten about writing. I would like to say that I'm so busy working out and exercising that I just haven't had the time to blog, but that is not the case. I have two children that have been very challenging these last few days, so I have been dealing with them. Stay tuned, I will update, sometime, I promise....

10 in 5

Alright, here comes a challenge to everyone. This is my goal. I want to lose 10lbs in 5 weeks. By Memorial Day weekend, I want to be 10lbs lighter. We are going down to Alabama that weekend, and possibly the beach and even though 10lbs won't be my ultimate goal, I have to start somewhere right? I'm bound and determined to get these 30lbs, that I have been carrying on me since I have had Adriana, OFF! To me, losing 30lbs seems very overwhelming, so I'm breaking it down to 10lbs increments.

I know I am going out on a limb, broadcasting this to the world, but even though I don't like this number on the scale, it doesn't defy who I am. Most everyone out there, wants to lose a pound or two (or 30 +), so I'm extending my challenge out to all my readers. Lets do our own "Biggest Loser" challenge. Instead of earning money for losing weight (which would be nice, but sorry, this well is dry), we give back to a charity. I got this idea from my Zumba class. For every pound you lose, by May 27th, you donate that many pounds of food, toiletries, clothes, etc to a local food pantry or shelter. All in all, I think this challenge will make you feel good on the inside and out. Now, I'm not saying for sure that I'm going to lose all 10 pounds. I may very well slip up. Its hard for me to diet. I LOVE french fries, pizza, cheeseburgers and desserts, so its hard for me to cut all that out. But I will try to cut back on how much junk food I do eat. If I lose 5 pounds, and have worked my rear end off doing so, then I will be happy with myself. I still won't be at my ultimate goal, but at least I know I'm going something (FINALLY) to help me get back down to a size 8.
I hope you will accept this challenge. There may be some of you who don't need to lose a pound, but you could still give to a local food pantry. If you chose to accept this mission, I wish you all the best of luck in your challenge and hope that by May 27th you have met your goal. Who's in?

Yet, Another Blessing

(Sorry the picture isn't the best, Adriana HAD to take it).

God blesses our family ALL the time, its just most of the time, we take it for granted. ALL of us can find blessings in our lives. One of the big blessings God has blessed us with is with formula. I know this sounds silly, but this stuff is like liquid gold (or at least that's how they price it). When I was pregnant with Paxton, I started a "Formula Fund" to start saving up for this HUGE expense. These cans go for about $13/can. One can lasts about 3 days, so you can do the math. I found out that people sell unused cans on Craigslist for a fraction of the price. (Majority of the people selling these cans are on the WIC program abusing it, but since we don't qualify for WIC and can't afford it a full price, this is where we have found the best place to buy this.) I have to say, with Paxton being 5 months old, we have yet to buy a can at full price. Today was a huge blessing. There was a lady selling 30 cans for $200, which is about $6.66/can. This is still a great price, but a huge chunk of money to be out of right now. Winter was hard on us, financially, and we are still trying to get on our feet. I met this lady this morning to get these cans and before we made our transaction, I asked her if they were expired. It didn't even dawn on her to check the date. Well, come to find out, only 13 cans WEREN'T expired, so she only charged me $80 for these cans. She felt really bad that the majority of them were bad, so she asked me if I wanted the ones that expired in Jan/Feb, so I took them. I think they will still be okay, its powder, its not going to go bad overnight. So to sum up, I got 23 cans for $80 which boils down to less than $3.50/can. What a HUGE blessing in our time of need!

My Little Man

My little man is getting so big. Its hard to believe that he is going to be 5 months in less than a week and a half.


He's got such a sweet personality and is really coming into his own.

He's sleeping about 10-12 hours a night, which is so great. He is also getting to the point where he can get his own passy into his mouth, therefore he isn't waking up as much at night.

He is starting to cut his two bottom teeth, which means drool and chewing, all the time.

He loves to smile, and his little grin, just melts my heart. What a sweet baby boy! He loves to smile at Adriana and watch her as she sings and dances. Nothing entertains him more than to watch her.

He is rolling over all the time and can do it so fast. I can set him on his back and turn around just a few seconds later and he is on his stomach.

I'm loving my little man and taking in all the moments, for they will be gone before we know it.

Pedicure

Tonight after playing in the yard, in the garage and just running around barefoot, our daughter was filthy! Well, mainly her feet were filthy. I thought it would be fun to do a mini Pedicure on her. I got out my foot bath and tried to scrub up her feet.


Before her pedicure, pretty dirty. (Sorry the picture is sideways.)


She was so excited and didn't know what to think or what a pedicure even was. I can't remember how she said pedicure, but it was so cute. She was so excited to dip her feet in with the jets.

She didn't let her feet soak too long. I think the thought of the foot bath was more exciting than the actual thing itself.

I let her pick her own polish color out and she picked blue, and believe it or not, I had that color on hand. I don't know the last time I used it, but it actually came in handy tonight.

It was fun doing a mini pedicure. She sat still and liked the end result. Have to do it again sometime.

(She didn't understand when I wanted her to show her nails that I painted, so this is the picture I got.)

How To Have A Garage Sale 101

Well THIS is my garage sale pile (well, not all of it, I have more!). I know it looks a fright, but its somewhat organized and I know what's going on with all of it.

At the request of my friend, Annie, (and some other's along the way, although I don't think they read my blog) here are some of my tips on having a garage sale.

1. Collect the "goods". What I do, since I have a garage sale at least once a year, I start a "garage sale pile" throughout the year, and it just grows and grows. If you have kids, I find it easy to find stuff to throw into the garage sale. Kids toys, books, equipment and clothes tend to sell the best. If you don't have any of these items, go through your closets and find coats, sweaters, jeans, etc. that you haven't worn in a while. If I haven't worn it in a year, its gone. Also, look for household items, kitchen items, Christmas decorations, candles,purses, shoes, picture frames, etc. If you're like me, you will want to purge your stuff that doesn't get used that much (so you can justify buying something new!).

2. Pick a date.

3. Pricing. Once you have a rough guess on a date, start pricing items. Since I tend to have a TON of clothes, I start early, so I'm not stuck pricing till 2am the night before my sale (which has happened before).

The more prepared you are before set up, the better.

You can get pre-made stickers that already have prices on them, like these shown. I find the best value for buying these is at the Dollar Tree. Buy more than you think you'll need, you'll be amazed how many items you have. Masking tape also works great too. Price things that you would pay at a sale, but don't short yourself for higher dollar items. If you have furniture or other big ticket items, price them what you want for them, and if they don't sell, post them on Craigslist. I have always had good luck selling items off of there. People are willing to pay more on Craigslist then they are willing to pay at a garage sale.

4. Set Up. Remember what they say. Presentation is half the sale. I believe this very much. Just think, when you are garage sale-ing, you tend to do the classic "drive by" if it looks like there's nothing there, or if it looks junked up. As far as clothes go, unless you want to sit and fold clothes over and over all day, I would suggest hanging as much clothes as possible. I know this can be tricky. You can either rent a clothes rack, look for one on Cragislist (I found a big round one that folds flat for easy storage, for $10), or get creative. Hang a broom stick in between bar stools or hang from the tracks on a garage door. The easier you can make it for people to look, the more likely they are to look and in return buy more.

If you have multiples of something throw in one box with one price. Example is "All Kitchen Towels, 50 cents/Each". This saves you time from pricing each item. To save a lot of time, you could price "All kids clothes $1.00/Each unless marked". I have never done that, because I find somethings are cheaper than that and somethings are more expensive, but these are just examples.

Another part of set up, is getting tables or boxes to display items. I tend to group things together, like all kitchen items together, household decorations together, etc. Another important thing, is while the sale is going on, "fluff" the look of your sale. If it starts to thinned out on a table or area, rearrange. Make it appealing to people driving by, this is what's going to make people stop and look.

5. Set A Time and Advertise. I tend to do my sales at 7am to whenever. I tend to advertise it from "7am-?", that way, I'm not tied down to a certain time if its super slow. I tend to have my sales on Friday and Saturday. The more chances you can have the sale, the better. Next thing is to ADVERTISE! Find out free advertising tools, such as Craigslist. Some local news stations websites have a "classified" section that you can post garage sales for free. Also, put up good signs. Bright signs with big writing are great for people driving by. Put up enough signs to get people to your house.

6. Money. Make sure to get enough change for your cash box. Plenty of $1 bills and quarters. Accepting checks is up to you. I have done it a few times, and never have had a problem. I think you can tell most of the time, if you can trust people or not. IF they don't have enough cash with them, you can tell them you can hold the items for 1 hour, if they want to run to the bank or ATM. This is up to you though.

7. Make a profit. I generally have really good luck with my sales, and its a great way to earn some bucks. Have fun. Its a lot of work, but worth it.

Hope these tips helped those who needed help. I'm by far not an expert on garage sales, but have put my fair share of them on. Good luck and happy Money making!

Don't know how to title this post, so I will leave it blank. Yesterday, today and tomorrow marks a 10 year anniversary of probably one of the worst weekends of my life. And even though it has been 10 years (which is hard to believe), its still so fresh in my mind. Back then, this weekend, marked me losing 2 good friends.
On Friday, April 7th, my best friend Susan got married. This should have been a joyous occasion, however, in my minds eye, I was losing a friend. I was 19 and was losing my best friend, the one that I was, as my mom called it, attached at the hip with. The closest person that could be considered my sister. Me and Susan did everything together, went everywhere together, and I knew that after she got married, she wouldn't have time for me anymore, and this broke my heart. (Please remember, this was my thinking at age 19, not now.) I was sad that life would never be the same. Of course, now that we are older, both married, both with kids, life isn't what it was back then (and it shouldn't be), I still consider her my best friend, even though we don't get to see each other but a few times a year. So, I say all that to wish Jim and Susan a Happy 10th Anniversary, here's to many more!
Okay, back to 10 years ago. The day after Susan got married, I really did lose a good friend in a car accident. I can remember it like it was yesterday. His name was Jon Newhart, and he was a great guy. I was working that day, at the community college we went to, and talking to Jon online, about being the only one there and being bored. I told him I was hungry and couldn't wait to get off work. About 30 minutes later, here he shows up with a sub from the Sub Shop (my favorite sub place and also where he worked). He brought me my favorite, a Veggie Sub. I thought that was so thoughtful of him. Later that day, he, I and our friend Greg went bike riding downtown Jeff City. We had a great time doing that and afterwards, went to my house to cool down and relax. Me and Greg were going to meet Susan and Jim at Arris' Pizza that night for dinner, and invited Jon to come along. He said that he didn't know. Him and Jordan had planned on going to someones house that night. Later that evening, about 45 minutes till we were meeting for dinner, Jon called me and said that they changed their minds and were going to join us for dinner. He asked me if I wanted to ride with him to go pick up Jordan, but I wasn't quite ready, so I told him I would just meet him at Arris'. Jim, Susan, Greg and myself, go to Arris' and waited and waited for Jon and Jordan to show up. After several phone calls to Jon, we just figured they changed their minds about coming and decided to go to their friends house instead. We then headed over to Jim and Susan's house to watch a movie. We left Jon a voicemail, telling him where we would be. Later that evening, while watching the movie, my phone rang and it was Greg's mom, which was weird because we had never met, so I didn't know why she would be calling my phone. She asked if Greg was there, and I said yes and she wanted to talk to Greg. That's when we found out about the car accident. Jon had been fooling with the radio and going too fast on a curvy road, and over corrected when he noticed he was off the road, hit a tree, and landed in a creek. Jordan was beat up, but was okay. He got out of the car and was sitting on the top of the car, yelling at Jon, but they had the radio up so loud, he couldn't hear him. The wreck happened on a country road, and luckily there was a person out feeding their cats, when they heard the accident and called 911. They life flighted Jon to Columbia and the next day, they pronounced him brain dead.
This is a long story, but one that is near and dear to my heart. I had never lost anyone so close to me. It shook my world. There are many things I learned from this incident:
1. Life can be changed in a heart beat. How could I be riding bikes with Jon just a few hours before, and then next thing you know, he's dead? This blew my mind.
2. Take pictures all the time. I came so close to taking my camera with me the day we went out on our bikes, and I kick myself still, for not taking pictures that day.
3. Even though life might not make sense to us, especially when we are going through something so bad, God has a plan and we may never know His reasoning for doing what he does, but God is in charge and His will is best, not mine.
I know this is a LONG post, and I personally, don't care to read long post, but I wanted to share my stories/memories with my readers.

Face Lift

I have these letters that I have always had in Adriana's room. I have painted them several times to change with the themes of her room. It has been bothering me for a long, that her letters don't REALLY match her room. They went well in there, but still, the colors were a little off. When I went to visit my cousin last week, she had her girls names hanging on the wall, but they were so cute. She told me how she did them, so yesterday, I set out to change her letters.
Here is BEFORE:

And here is AFTER:

This was an inexpensive way to "jazz" up her room. What I did was paint the sides to match and then take scrapbook paper, trace the letters, cut them out and Modge Podge the paper on top of the letters. It was a really clever way to customize her letters!

Note: Annie, I will post a "how to" on how I do garage sales. I'm still collecting things, and will post something soon. Stay tuned....

Easter Weekend

This last weekend was BEAUTIFUL! It was such a great weekend filled with family and friends. On Saturday, we went down to Silver Dollar City, which we bought season passes for. We went with my parents and let Adriana ride rides for the first time, and she had a blast! (I will post pics of that adventure later.) We also did some light shopping while we were in Branson. It was a great day, perfect weather and very well behaved kids.
On Sunday we went to the late service at church. Ryan had to work security, and that's the service they needed him at. It was actually nice, not having to rush around to get ready. We had 3 hours to take our time, which helped get the day started off good. After church we went to my mom and dads house for an Easter egg hunt and yummy food. Mom made a ham, hash brown casserole, deviled eggs, and calico salad. It was wonderful. Later that day, we went over to our friends house, the Priebe's for dinner. Adriana is obsessed with their daughter Anna, so she had a blast over there. It's always fun being around them, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
It was a great weekend, we couldn't have asked for more. Here are some pictures I took as soon as we got to my parents house on Easter. I knew Paxton was a ticking time bomb, so I just made a quick photo shoot. Literally, all these shots were taken in less than 5 minutes.

Us...Lately

This is just a general post. Not really anything going on right now. Adriana is home sick today. She's running a high fever and just not feeling good, so she is vegging on the couch. My parents took Paxton today, to make sure he didn't get whatever she has. Hopefully, its just a 24 hour thing.
I've been working on the kids closets these last couple of weeks I have a HUGE "garage sale" pile in the garage. Can't wait to get rid of that and clear out the garage. I'm loving this weather. The last couple of nights we have slept with the windows open, I LOVE it! Since its been getting warmer, Paxton is loving being naked and laying around. Here is a picture of him, so you can see his summer ready figure, rolls and all.



Here's a random shot, I took at my parents house of Ryan reading to the kids. Thought is was a sweet moment.

Me and mom are trying our hands at maybe setting up a booth at a fall festival this year. We are going to make custom bowes, tutus, passy holders, taggie blankets and whatever we can drum up. We are in the early phases on working on things. My friend, Christy, from college, is doing some of the same things and gave me the inspiration to try my hand at it. Here is my first attempt making a tutu. It needs a little work, but Adriana LOVES it. She wears it while Dancing With The Stars is on, and her and Ryan do all the dances.

On Tuesday of this week, we made a last minute trip to Bolivar to see my "twin" cousin,Jessie. We were born 5 hours apart, on our Grandma's birthday, and we were the only grand daughters on that side of the family. We always celebrated it together, but as we got older, life took us separate ways. She now lives in bolivar which is about 50 minute drive. I got to see her and her girls and Adriana had a BLAST playing with them. I never got a great shot of the kids but here is them at the park that we took them to.

In order from left to right:

Aubrey, Adriana, Ashlyn and my cousin, Jessie.

Paxton just chillin' watching the girls swing.

The last set of pictures I took last night. My babies were being silly. And yes, they are standing on Ryan's chest.

After the first picture, it scared Paxton, and he

just screamed and screamed. Adriana thought

this was funny and wanted me to take another

picture. My poor baby boy!

Well that sums it up for us for now. Hope everyone has a good rest of the week and a great weekend!