I have four words for you...

Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha....

Mmmmmm.....

Sometimes, it's just a Starbucks kind of day.

This little cup of yummy cost me more than a gallon of gas (and if I think about it too much, I'll feel incredibly guilty) ~~ but sometimes a girl just needs to splurge a little -- know what I mean???

If you haven't splurged on yourself lately, remember that it's a crazy busy time of year and you need to pamper yourself a little now and then.

Enjoy the weekend as we enter the final month of 2007! Can you even believe it??

Oprah Trucks & E.T. Cheese

This post is so completely random, but as I was going through some photos from this past month this morning, I found some from a UT football game that we went to with the two older kids.

(If you look real close you can see the extremely cute "pennants" my daughter made for us to use at the game!)

Look at the photo of my son standing next to me. Can you tell how big he is?? For goodness sake the boy is only eight years old and he is nearly my height!! Not that I'm tall, but still -- my eight year old will be looking me straight in the eye in no time and it completely blows my mind sometimes. In just the past year, he has really outgrown his little boy features. Sometimes, it makes me sad. Where does the time go??

It also makes me think about one of my favorite things about my kids as they grow. I absolutely love when they come up with a particular name for something, or when they mispronounce something and then we all end up using the "new" word in our vocabulary.

For a long time we called dinosaurs "see-saurs" because that is what my oldest son Ryan would say when he was little. When my daughter Rachel was little, we called her "Rachie" and she started to call herself "Chi Chi". So of course Chi Chi is what we all started to say ("Cheech" for short) and to this day, "Cheech" is what we call her most of the time. Nicholas calls pots and pans "cook cooks" -- now the rest of us do it as well. It sounds so stupid, but somehow we all pick up on these things and they stick. Some days I think a person might need an interpreter if they were to come to our home and listen to our conversations.

Last week, we turned on Oprah's annual "Favorite Things" show. (Gosh that woman is generous!!) Anyway, she had traveled to Georgia for the show and used Fed Ex to deliver all the presents. My daughter has since been calling every Fed Ex truck we see an "Oprah truck" and I am quite sure we will be calling them this for a while. We also call American cheese slices "E.T. cheese" because when Ryan was little, they had a picture of E.T. on the package one time and he began calling it that. Here we are six years later -- still calling it E.T. cheese.

Other fun words from our personal dictionary -- "basket hounds" instead of bassett, "wobspur" instead of lobster, "arts and craps" instead of arts & crafts, "BombBob" instead of Spongebob -- I am sure there are a million more, but these are the ones that come to mind.

So if you didn't already think I was a bit off my rocker, I'm sure you are now convinced! Ha! I'm hoping some of you will tell me you do the same thing at your house, so I don't feel quite so weird.

Happy Thursday!

Did Ya Miss Me???

If not, don't tell me.... ;)

I have missed YOU because I feel like it has been AGES since I've checked in on your blogs or emailed. I hope all is well. I will do my best to catch up over the next couple of weeks.

My mom has been visiting for the past two weeks. It had been almost a year and a half since the last time I saw her. She left to go back home today. I'm feeling pretty sad, as are my children. Especially my little guy, who got a lot of time with his Nana all by himself (while his siblings were at school). He will have some big time withdrawal for a couple of days I think. This picture says it all. Nick was his Nana's sidekick for two weeks and she got quite a few hugs, kisses and snuggles.

I absolutely love to watch my children enjoying time with their Nana. She and my in-laws are pretty opposite when it comes to how they spend time with the kids. Both ways are fine and the kids enjoy both, but my in-laws like to cram a lot of "adventures" into a visit -- going here and there, lots of commotion. My mom prefers to play with them at home -- board games, art projects, reading, puzzles. We did go to a few places -- the zoo (yes, I took a zillion animal pictures!) shopping, the park, a museum, out to dinner once -- but mostly they played at home and had a wonderful time. Personally -- I prefer it that way. I like for the kids to realize that you don't have to be out and away from home to have a really good time. It's a struggle at our house sometimes because my husband and I are similar to our parents -- he tends to need to be on the go to think something is fun. I am a homebody.

I think in general there is too much of a need to be entertained. Maybe not for everyone, but for a lot of people. They need to be busy, busy, busy -- plugged in to this or that -- and they forget how to make their own fun -- how to use a little creativity and imagination to enjoy their time with their family. It's really pretty sad in my opinion. And I want my children to be able to create their own fun -- and not EXPECT to be entertained at all times.

And now, before I really get going on my little soapbox -- I need to run. I have lots of things to do this afternoon and this afternoon is quickly turning into this evening!

I have missed you all -- I'll be back to post again soon!

So Thankful...

Good Monday Morning Everyone! In a couple of days my mom is coming to visit for a couple of weeks (woo hoo!), so at this point I'm not sure how often I'll be posting. If you don't see me around -- you'll know why.

It's November -- Thanksgiving is just around the corner -- and although I'm a firm believer in constantly trying to remember ALL the things I have to be thankful for, I'm glad for this upcoming holiday and what it stands for. It's nice to have a day when we are all meant to reflect on the goodness and blessings in our lives. Today, I want to share just one thing I am extremely grateful for.

I am SO extremely grateful for my online scrapbooking friends.

There was a time when I would have never considered making friends through the internet. And even now, I would be hesitant to join some of the various sites out there. But through scrapbooking and a couple of scrapping message boards, I have gotten to know some really wonderful people -- who I truly consider close friends. And for that, I am thankful.

The talent of these friends is inspiring, but the kindness is even more amazing. From these thoughtful friends I have received various handmade cards and gifts, CDs, packages of scrapping goodies and emails just to say hello. Without even knowing it, these friends have brightened my day on many occasions.

Around my birthday last year, I will never forget, my husband commented that my scrapping friends were nicer to me than he is....LOL! Hmmmm....

I would love to name each of you personally here -- but chances are I would forget someone and I don't want to do that. I think you all know who you are -- I hope you do.

I have had the pleasure of meeting a handful of you in person and I hope someday I will have the good fortune to meet more of you. In the meantime, please know how much I appreciate each and every one of you. I feel very lucky to have you as my friends. Love you guys!!!

Thanks for stopping by -- have a great week!!!

Thank Goodness I'm a Dog Person...

Look at my furbaby Apollo -- isn't she the prettiest dog ever? I just love my pup! The poor girl is slowing down more and more each day, but she's hanging in there. Aside from very obvious trouble with arthritis (it's almost painful to watch her get up and down sometimes) -- she seems to be okay. We have been bracing ourselves for several months now that the end may be near -- the vet thinks she has liver disease or a tumor of some sort. But so far, she's hanging on and we just keep hoping she'll be with us for as long as possible. I have no idea how the older kids will handle it when something does happen. Not to mention me....I will most certainly be a mess! As crazy as it may sound, Apollo has been a huge comfort to me during some of my worst moments (like my miscarriage) -- and I can't imagine life without her around.

Anyway -- the real reason I am writing about dogs today is because of a neighbor who lives up the street and behind us. I don't know these neighbors, but they have a pen with dogs that bark pretty much ALL the time. And sometimes, it doesn't sound too good. It sounds like the dogs are fighting -- or in pain -- or just neglected. And I keep thinking I need to go snoop around and see if the dogs appear to be in bad shape. But I haven't done it -- because I also wonder if maybe I've seen one too many episodes of Animal Cops and am just imagining things. I hate to stick my nose where it doesn't belong -- but I also hate the thought of animals being mistreated or not cared for. I also am SURE the noisy dogs must be bothering some people in our neighborhood. Not everyone enjoys constant barking. I can usually tune it out -- but there are times when it's pretty annoying. Would you go check it out if you were me? I'm not quite sure how to do it without trespassing.

And since I'm rambling about dogs....can someone please explain to me the concept of having an "outside dog". I really don't get it. If you have a pet -- why would you keep it outside all the time? I guess if you live on a farm or in the country maybe. But I really cannot imagine having a dog and keeping it outside all the time. It doesn't make sense to me. So -- I am not being judgmental -- I am truly wondering if someone can explain it to me! LOL

Okay -- I am on my way to the vet right now with my dog, so it's time for me to quit rambling about them!

Have a great day and enjoy the weekend!

Love Notes and Loud Mouths....

I don't know if this will crack you up as much as it did me, but last night, I took my son to Cub Scouts and when I got home, my daughter had written me a nice little "love" note on a napkin. Can you read what it says??

I like pigs. I love U Mommy. (LOL!)

I am not sure whether or not I should be offended. What thought process made her think of pigs -- and me -- all at the same time?? Hmmmm.....better not think about it for too long! Actually, she is in kindergarten and enjoying learning to sound out and spell new words all the time. I think she was very excited to sound out and spell the word "pig" all on her own, so she included it in my note. Is that the funniest thing or what?

Today, the kids are home from school and it has been one of those days when I almost wish they were at school. They are bickering, moody and then when they were playing nicely together, they made up a game that Ryan named "battle of the loudmouths" -- which sadly, was quite accurate. All three of the kids were making as much noise as possible to see who could be the loudest. And guess what? In my book, they ALL won. I considered making them stop, but they were having fun and it was better than the bickering. I then took them to the grocery store which was not awful, but not pleasant. I think when my husband gets home, I may run screaming from the house.

(Okay, it's not THAT bad, but really -- I have had that "Calgon take me away" feeling quite a bit today!)

Alright...I guess I should go before all heck breaks loose again. Hope you're enjoying your day. Sorry I missed my RAK prompt this week -- I'll do one again soon.

Happy Tuesday!

Words of Advice....and another tag!

What do you think of my jack-o-lanterns??? Let me give you some very important advice. Don't ever say to your children -- at 2pm -- on the actual DAY of Halloween -- "Hey, do you want Mommy to make shapes in your pumpkins???" That's exactly what I did. Why? Who the heck knows? I certainly don't know what possessed me, but luckily, I talked my daughter into choosing an easy pattern (the bat) and my oldest chose the goblin, which was a little harder, but not too bad. But there I was -- from about 2:45pm until close to 5pm (off and on) -- carving pumpkins. My little guy has the cutest little skinny pumpkin which I wanted to carve a face in, but I never got around to it.

Now our house is downloaded with way more candy than any child should eat in one lifetime. We have entered the new candy cycle -- you moms know what I mean. It starts with Halloween, then you just get rid of all the Halloween candy and people start giving your kids treats for Christmas. You use up the Christmas treats and -- Wow! -- It's time for Valentine candy! You finally get rid of that and you guessed it -- it's Easter!!! Candy, candy and more candy.

Moving on to my new tag -- from the lovely Paula -- I've never seen this one before.

1. If you could have £100 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose? Hmmm....I am somewhat addicted to pretty scrapbook paper, so if I had nothing I would choose paper. But seeing as I already have quite a ridiculous stash of paper -- I will say embellishments!

2. If you had to choose between using only stamps or rubons, which would you choose? Rub-ons, only because my stamping skills are not very good at this point.

3. If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts but could only do one for a whole year...which would you do? Layouts

4. Would you rather own a scrapbooking store or have your own scrapping room at home?(can't have both!) Scrap room at home -- owning a scrapbook store might mean too many headaches!

5. And last but not least, what is your CURRENT cardmaking or scrapping style? I would have to say simple. I like clean lines and also like to journal (usually), so my pages are pretty simple.

I will not tag anyone in particular, but if any of you other scrappers would like to play along -- feel free!!!

One final note -- if any of you have some extra creative mojo -- will you please, PLEASE send it my way?? Mine has been gone for quite some time and I miss it! I have no idea what's up with that.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween and I wish you a fantastic day!