Here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya when we get back, with lots of pictures and stories!

And the winner is......

Casey! Seriously. That's what Beth drew.

But, since she can give herself a new blog makeover any time, the REAL winner is
Lindsey at "The World Should be Moisturized"!

Congrats! I'll email you with Casey's contact info to get you rolling on a fabulous new background and header.

For those who didn't win, check out Blue Star Blogs. I'm sure Casey will give you a great deal on any fancy blog things you "need".

Look what I found

For those who don't think my kids look alike.....

Now, for those who don't think they look like their daddy

Isn't it something?! I found this polaroid of Kevin, polaroid being the only indication to Kevin that it wasn't a current picture of Jacob.

Just for reference, here's one of me about the same age

Honesty

Casey, my sister, tagged me for this "award". Hey, why not!

The rules are as follows:

1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.

2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.



And the 10 things you always wanted to know are...

1. I procrastinate a lot. Like right now, I should be doing chores and laudry, preparing for our trip, but I'm here. Yup.

2. I enjoy math. Go ahead and say it, I am a nerd. When I was in elementary/middle school, I would make up math tests to take. When I took my teaching exam, I was bored and falling asleep until I got to the math part. Woohoo!

3. We're finally going to church again as a family. I love it! I'm cautious to say how much I enjoy going, just in case something happens to change that.

4. I'm not happy that Obama is our President. I think he was elected because of his race more than his merit. I hate the hype around him. I really hate that things like Ike recovery has been ignored in place of stupid stories about Obama. Do we really care that he's getting his kids a puppy? Does it have to make front page news? He wasn't even elected yet, and there was a children's book out. Ok, I'm going to stop as this could take the entire post. I think you get the idea. I will pray for wisdom and guidance for President Obama. God is still in control!


5. Naptime and bedtime are my favorite times of day, when all is quiet.

6. I want to lose about 10 pounds. I want a smokin hot body. But, I really like eating and I don't like exercise. I guess my chocolate stash isn't helping this process.

7. I was a VERY sheltered child. It used to bother me. Now, as a parent, I totally understand why Mom said "no" to so many things (and yes, I say "no" to many of the same things for the same reasons). My husand can't believe some of the things I wasn't allowed to do. Let's see, rated R movies at 17, and even then it was questionable. I wasn't allowed to read Judy Blume books. Tv shows, oh man, no Full House, Punky Brewster, Simpsons, Smurfs... I started public school in 8th grade and was humilated MANY times because I wore dresses and anything else kids can possibly make fun of. I was only allowed to listen to Christian music and Oldies (like 50s and 60s). I didn't have a tv in my room until I was out of high school, and I had to buy it from my dad. And Casey thinks she had it bad- hah!

8. I'm proud of my parents. They've been married almost 33 years. They still love each other and enjoy each other. I have never seen them argue. They are a great example for me. They are fabulous grandparents and love to get down to play with my kids.

9. I love my sister, though I want to smack her upside the head most of the time. The older she gets, the more I like her. I bet when she eventually has kids, we'll even be friends.

10. I want to be a better wife and mother. I want to find the joy in every moment of my life, even the trying ones. I want to create a fun home, full of creativity and life. But, I want it to be clean too.

I tag:
A blog I spent 4 hours reading last night, through tears and laughter, leaving me inspired- NieNie
People I want to be like and be IRL friends with- Brittney
People I want to know better- Kheli
People who's answers I look forward to reading- Erica, Lindsey
People who need to update- Bryan, Pam

100th post giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe I've hit the 100th post! I thought I would give this blogging a try, and I love it! My family, IRL friends and internet friends get to hear the stories and see the pictures of our lives. What fun!

So, here it is. For the winner of the drawing, my sister, Casey, has agreed to make a custom header and background for your blog! She'll make other parts too, but you can pay her for those :) You can choose a free digital scrapbook kit, or purchase one to use for the design, with or without pictures. Check out some of her examples here- Blue Star Blogs. Of course, she also made mine :)

Here's how to enter. You get one entry for each task
- leave a comment
- add me to you blog list
- become a follower of my blog
- link to me in a post on your blog
Make sure to leave a comment letting me know what you've done :)
Entries will end Thursday at midnight. I'll draw a name Friday and get you in contact with Casey to work out details.

Good luck!

Help, there's a kid in my bed!

Almost every night for the last couple weeks, Beth has ended up in our bed. I don't mind once in a while, but seriously, this is getting old. I've been woken up by her dream chatter/yelling. I've been kicked repeatedly in the back. I've endured the coughing and sniffling of the latest cold. I had an elbow in my ear this morning. And, it's a good thing I can sleep on my side on the very edge of the bed, otherwise I wouldn't get space on the bed at all. She claims she's having bad dreams. Sometimes, okay. But this morning, when I got up with Jacob, all the upstairs lights were on, indicating she woke up WAY too early, started playing and realized she shouldn't be up yet.

Ok, as I ramble from not getting a good night sleep, here's my purpose. How the heck do I get her to stay in her bed?! I am sleeping when she comes in our room, and I wake up later to find her there.

**Update- Last night, she stayed in her bed all night! After story, I talked to her about staying in there. If she has a bad dream and wakes up, she should think "It was just a dream. I'm safe. Mommy and Daddy are downstairs and won't let anything happen to me." I guess our chat worked, at least for now.

I love you

OH, this is just the bestest thing ever! It melts my heart every time!
**Pause the music player on the side first**

Here are a couple of "still" shots of Jacob signing "I love you". He'll stand on the couch and holler "Lu ooo" to Kevin in the kitchen. Most of the time he says and signs it back to Beth, if he's not too busy.

I'm so grateful to Signing Time for helping me teach my kiddos how to communicate easier! Today, I got a "sale" email from them. As soon as Jacob saw the logo, he started saying and signing the theme song from Baby Signing Time. How precious!

We aren't addicted, I swear

Monday night, while I took Beth (and Jacob) to dance class, Kevin spent some time with Guitar Hero. He was so proud he took a picture!

I've been on the verge myself for about a week. Finally, I got it! Different song, but hey, I got it!

Jacob and Mommy day

Kevin had meetings in Houston, so he took Beth to hang with his family for the day. So, I got to hang out with just Jacob. What a treat, for both of us!

We started the morning watching Elmo, hanging out in our jommies. Jacob was ok as long as I didn't move away.

Later, we played and played and played! We read books, played "pupples", stacked things, drove cars... I think we played with every toy!

While on a trip to his room, he found some pacis that escaped from his bed onto the floor. He wanted to play with those for a while. And he wasn't happy when I took them all away. I needed cuter pictures!

Of course, we ended the day his favorite way- a bath and a story before bed.


I really enjoyed getting to spend one on one time with him, hearing his laugh, listening to him chatter (understanding most of it), and snuggling tight. He did ask for "Be" quite a few times but eventually answered himself "Gaga, Pa, Maw".

Like father, like son (Wordless Wednesday)

Testing

Casey made me a cute signature, so I have to try it out

Check out her stuff at Blue Star Blogs!

Remember, coming soon, a free header giveaway!

Thanks!

My sister has been playing with Photoshop and decided to make me my very own custom header. Of course, I also requested she help my background coordinate. Thanks Casey! Then emails to critique my color choices and a phone call to help fix it all purty.

Now, here's the fun part. Coming VERY soon, for my 100th post, I get to give away a custom photo header from my sister. Lucky you. Details will be coming in a few posts.

Girls vs Boys

Today, Beth and I got to enjoy a marvelous few hours of just girl time, and it didn't involve the grocery store. Kevin suggested we get pedicures and go to a movie, just the two of us. OKAY! What a treasure to spend that time with her. She sat in my lap as we soaked our feet. We snuggled and chatted about everything and nothing. We both got "pink toes".

We bought snacks at Target, sodas at the movie. We sat in the theater, just the two of us, talking about the movie without worrying about disturbing other people. She'll be heading to kindergarten in the fall, and this time is so precious. I get all teary eyed just thinking about it. It was a good day. No, it was a great day!

Meanwhile, back at home, the boys were being boys. Jacob napped, Kevin worked. Then they played and played and played. In other boy news, Kevin will be starting a new job Monday with Wesco International. No, I really don't know what he'll be doing. I do know that he'll be officed at home (oh joy), got a new truck and will be traveling more (I'm hoping to tag along on some international trips).

Once we got home, we headed outside to enjoy the crazy 80* winter day. Jackson, a neighbor and buddy, came over to jump too.

Where's your button? (Wordless Wednesday)

Have you seen these?

I caught up on LOTS of blogging today. I finally got a turn on the computer long enough to do it! Just click each title to link to the post
We love wii
Texas winter
A rare day
My new toy
A trip to the duck pond

A trip to the duck pond

Our neighborhood has a great pond/lake with a couple ducks and a noisy goose. We took a walk/ride to go feed them a little bread when it was warm last week. Beth rode her scooter about 1/10th of the trip. Jacob loves the wagon. I got to practice with my new camera.

There she goes

I really want some bread, Mommy

Feeding the ducks

Feeding Jacob :)

My good looking guys

My gorgeous girl

My new toy

Yes, even I got something fabulous for Christmas- a new snazzy camera. I researched and debated then finally settled on a Nikon D60. I have so much to learn, but I am REALLY enjoying playing with it. The zoom lens (55-200) is amazing! I love the quick shutter speed too, to capture those busy kiddos. Here's some recent camera fun







One of my goals/resolutions for this year is to take photography classes so I can become a better photograher.

A rare day

Since we had an amazing January Saturday of temps in the 80s, we took advantage and went to the zoo. Beth and I used our zoo passes from Popi and Yaya (thank you!). Apparently, everyone else in Fort Worth also took advantage of the nice weather. It was packed! Still, we had a great time as a family- kids in decent moods, no worries about school for Kevin, me enjoying my fabulous new camera. and zoom lens.

Monkeys, um, I mean we were looking at the monkeys :)

Snack time

Can you guess who took this picture?

Fun with my zoom lens- the elephant was having fun playing in the water

Waiting for the zoo train

Worn out and ready to go home