"I See God!"

The past few weeks, when we're up early in the morning and it's not too cloudy to see the sun rise, my little guy will run to the window and see the sun rising and exclaim, "I see God!"

I have no idea where he got this -- we have never prompted him to say it and honestly, he doesn't even talk much. So why he proclaims such a thing I really can't say. But I have to agree with him -- seeing a beautiful sunrise surely is a sign of God in my book and every time he says it, I smile and get a little lump in my throat. It is truly one of the sweetest things ever!

Enjoy your weekend!

Meme challenge -- Tagged by Jen

Today I am finally getting around to doing this tag by Jen. It took me a while -- I've been blogging for two years now and it's hard to remember which posts were some of my favorites.

The rules go like this. You link to five of your favorite posts (from your own blog) but they have to have the following criteria:

1. Must be about FAMILY: I chose Life is Short about my cousin with cancer. This post in September of 2006 talks about her passing -- Enough

2. Must be about FRIENDS: A recent post about how thankful I am for my wonderful online friends -- So Thankful

3. Must be about YOURSELF: My Own Little Angel is about a very difficult miscarriage I had several years ago

4. Must be SOMETHING YOU LOVE: Siblings is about my children (the thing I love most in this world) and watching their sibling bond

5: Can be anything you choose: What's With the Name? -- my very first post, explaining the name of my blog.

It's no secret I'm an emotional girl. And I'm feeling quite emotional today for one reason or another. Part of it is some struggles we're having with my oldest son -- sometimes I feel like such a failure as a mother I tell you -- and part of it is that I just finished the most amazing book that touched my heart in a big way. I have cried at least four times as I finished it this morning. (It's called The Kite Runner -- I know some of you have read it. ) Anyway -- a couple of the posts I've chosen are a bit emotional as well -- a reflection of my mood today.

I won't tag anyone in particular, but if any of you choose to do this -- let me know so I can read your choices! It's really kind of a nice way to go back and reflect on some things you've written in the past.

Hope you're having a good Wednesday -- chat with you soon! And thank you for stopping by!

Which Disney Princess Are You???

A quick post tonight -- I just saw this quiz on my friend Alice's blog and had to take it.

Here's what I got:


You Are Belle!

Intelligent and kind. Your beauty goes much further than your apperance. Also, you make judgements of people based on their personality and not their looks. Attaining all the knowledge that you can is one of your major goals in life, but you are also a person who can make things happen.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Not sure if this is too accurate for me, but it was fun nonetheless!

So which princess are you??

Have a great evening!

Do You Ever Have Days...

where you feel like this??? This face my little guy is making just cracks me up every time I look at it. Poor thing -- he was so bored and kind of mad in this photo. I have so many pictures of him making various moody and silly faces. And while I try not to laugh "at him" so to speak -- it is so hard not to laugh when he's got a look like this one.

Speaking of my youngest -- I finally drew names for my 80s Music Trivia game -- and Jen, I hate to tell you -- I put your name in four times, because you guessed four of them first, but somehow -- even with those odds -- your name was not drawn. I was shocked! You definitely know your music trivia! :)

I decided to let each of my children draw a name -- so we have THREE -- yes THREE winners!!!

(Can I get a drum roll please??)

My oldest drew ----- Dawn

My middle child drew ----- LoriAnn

And my youngest tried his hardest to let EACH of you win -- he wanted to pull out every piece of paper -- but the first name he drew was ----- Alice

Thank you all for playing along!!! I will have some sort of semi-fabulous prize (depending of course, on your definition of fabulous!) headed your way.

Have a great week!

I'd like to buy a vowel...and a few consonants...

My daughter is in kindergarten and this means, learning to read and write and sound things out. This is a learning process for me as well because as she does these things, I realize there are many words she does not pronounce correctly. Words I never really noticed her saying the wrong way until she now tries to sound them out and spell them.

At Christmas time, she brought a lovely picture home from school of a Christmas tree surrounded by presents. She had written the words "We have a Crismas chey." I very innocently asked, "What is a chey??" She looks at me and says slowly and loudly -- "Ch-ch-ch-eeeey!!" "Oh you mean tree -- with a t"-- I tell her nicely. And then she gave me the look I am seeing quite often these days -- the look of struggling between accepting that Mommy knows how to spell things and her simply wanting to be right -- without my help!

For Valentine's Day I got a lovely homemade card wishing me a happy "Vauiltim's" day -- not sure how she got that one, but I had already noticed she always says "Valen-time's".

One day, she was making a birthday card for a friend and asked me how to spell birthday. I wrote it on a piece of paper for her so she could copy it. Within a few seconds she was standing in front of me -- feet firmly planted, arms crossed, frowning -- uh oh, what had I done now?

"Mom -- this is wrong. I asked how to spell BERT-day -- you know -- happy BERTday!"

"No honey -- it's birTTTTTHHHHday."

She was not happy. She did not like that "th" sound in that word and would not accept it as the truth. I resorted to pulling out the birthday hat they gave her at school on her own birthday with the words "happy birthday" on it so she could see that I was in fact, telling the truth. She was still angry. So angry, that she went and sat in the corner of her room pouting for a bit. (sigh) Then she insisted she was going to write it her own way because it sounded better, to which I replied, "Okay, but you'll be doing it incorrectly and the person you're giving this to will know it's wrong!" (Was that mean of me?) She refused to finish the card for a while -- but when she did, she used the correct spelling. And I was not allowed to say a thing about it. LOL

This happened at least a month ago and she will STILL bring it up on occasion -- "Mom, I really think BERTday sounds better." (Wendy, if you're reading this, she insists Kyle agrees with her!)

Guess I can't send this girl to be a contestant on "Wheel of Fortune" -- poor Pat Sajak wouldn't know what hit him! Can't you imagine -- "No Pat, that's NOT how you spell it -- I'm right, I win!"

Ahh children -- at least she sticks to her guns when she believes in something, eh? Gotta love that kind of conviction.

On another note -- Jen tagged me on her blog with something really cool. It requires me to choose some of my favorite posts from my blog. But this will take some time, so I will have to do it in a few days -- when I have a little time to really think about it.

I am getting ready to make my list of all of you who played along in my crazy 80s music trivia game. I'll post a winner tomorrow!

Happy Thursday!

Margaritaville

A little blog quiz I took today -- You Are a Strawberry Margarita

You're so sweet it's a little overwhelming, and people are a little afraid of corrupting you... It's a little difficult to imagine you with a margarita. And you're truly a different person after you've kicked back a couple!

What Flavor Margarita Are You?

These blog quizzes are so funny -- aren't they? I saw that Dawn had this on her blog a while ago and thought I would see what I came up with. Let me just say -- it is not difficult to imagine me with a margarita! LOL

So this will be my final post for the 80s music game and I guess I went back in time a bit again -- I believe the song that is the title of this post is from the 70s and I am quite certain everyone under the sun can name the artist! :) I will draw from the names by Friday and let you know who is my winner!!!

And Jen -- you were right once again with the group Europe.

I was going to post some more, but I will save it for tomorrow. And am I the only one who is now craving a margarita???

The Final Countdown...

Yes, this title is also an 80s tune -- can you remember who sang it? And it signifies the final countdown to my little trivia game. I'll plan on ending it on Friday. Jayne was correct with my last post -- the song "Easy" is by the Commodores. And the band who sang the song "Someday" was Glass Tiger. I didn't get a correct answer for that one.

And speaking of Jayne -- I neglected to do a tag that she tagged me with ages ago -- shame on me! I had every intention of doing it -- I just plain forgot!

So here goes. The tag works like this --

1.Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2.Open the book to page 123.
3.Find the fifth sentence.
4.Post the next three sentences.
5.Tag five people.

Mine reads as follows: They argued for an hour. It was my first session with them, and I suddenly understood how Baggy collected so many differing opinions about so many issues. Though I tried not to show it, I was deeply concerned that my long and generous stories about Miss Callie would somehow come back to haunt her.

It is from the book "The Last Juror" by John Grisham which I just finished reading last week.

Now I will tag -- Alice (please don't hate me), LoriAnn, Dawn, Carolyn and Amber.

That's all I've got for today. My kids are home (plus one friend) and I need to run.

Hope you've had a good Monday!

Easy {Like Sunday Morning}

I believe I have stumped everyone with my last post title...I know a couple of you who probably know the answer, so I am going to wait before I give it away.

The title for today's post is actually a 70s song I think -- but I bet you know who sings it.

And now let me tell you -- there is NOTHING easy about Sunday morning at this house. I don't know what it is -- but it is almost always a nightmare. No matter how early I start getting myself or the kids ready -- we always seem to have troubles on Sunday as we get ready for church.

I won't give you all the details -- it actually is a source of great frustration for me. But sometimes, some of the things that happen do make me laugh. Not at the time -- but much later in the day.

For example -- today, my youngest was a bit of a pill in church. A little tempermental, a bit loud off and on. The highlight had to be when he belted out "All hail Plankton!" during a somewhat quiet moment. For those of you who don't know, Plankton is a character (kind of the bad guy) in SpongeBob. In one SpongeBob movie he tries to brainwash the sea creatures into becoming his followers and they are all chanting "All hail Plankton!". Apparently, the brainwashing worked on my three-year old and he was looking to recruit some followers at church. Now, normally I wouldn't say this -- but today, I was thankful that my son is a bit behind on his speech and is hard to understand. I do not think anyone who heard him (and believe me -- plenty of people heard him!) understood what he said. But my family did and we had to really work not to laugh.

Sunday mornings are always a struggle with my daughter and what she will wear. I like her to wear dresses, but we don't always see eye to eye on which dress she wants to put on. She never used to be so particular about her outfits. But on Sundays, she is full of attitude.

And my oldest -- (sigh) -- I would not even know where to begin with him. He is usually my biggest struggle on Sunday mornings.

By the time we leave for church I am so aggravated that I wonder how I will get anything out of the service at all. Somehow I manage -- but by the time we get home a nap sounds really, really good!

So to whomever wrote those darn lyrics about being easy "like Sunday morning" -- try spending a Sunday morning at my house!

Someday...

This song is by an 80s group I have mentioned in a previous post (or two?). I'm hoping since it is such a generic name that there is only one song from the 80s with this title and I will not confuse everyone!

My post is titled "someday" -- because Valentine's Day made me realize how I hope to be organized again -- someday!

Yesterday, some of the kids' friends that they ride to school with gave them candy and our next door neighbors made us cupcakes and had their little girl give each of my kids little valentine cards. Guess what I did for them? Not a darn thing. And it made me sad.

I like to think that I am the type of person who remembers to do little things for people. But the truth is, I used to do that type of thing a lot more. I also used to be a lot more organized. Very organized. Now I give myself a B- for organization. I stay on top of what I need to for the most part, but I could be doing much better.

I feel like if I was better organized, I would spend more time and effort thinking about little things I should be doing for others -- things I like to do for others. I don't send birthday cards like I used to -- I am so bad about keeping in touch with certain friends -- I could probably come up with quite a list of "here's what I should be doing" -- and I'm wondering if I'm just plain lazy or what has happened to me.

In my heart and in my head, I know that time is short and we should not neglect those things that are truly important. And to me -- letting others know what they mean to you and that you appreciate them in your life is very important. But sometimes I sure feel like I do a poor job of it. I need to work on that. Constantly.

So let me end my post by reminding each of you that I appreciate the time you take to read my ramblings -- to post a comment. I appreciate your friendship. And should you ever feel I am neglecting you -- just know, I am working on changing that!

And since I mentioned my hubby and his dislike for Valentine's Day yesterday, I feel the need to mention that I did in fact get a present yesterday -- which I have to say, was shocking! LOL It's a gift card to a new scrapbook store here that I love. He said it was from the kids so he didn't have to admit to buying something on the day that he hates. But that's fine with me -- I'll take it! :)

Have a great weekend!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Yeah, I know -- this song title is easy, easy, easy. Who will be first to post the answer??? Hmmm...

Thank you all for your well wishes in my last post. I am fine really -- just have a very stuffy head which makes me tired. I feel like I'm moving in slooooow motion. And my throat is sore, sore, sore. Ah well -- tis the season.

I am not sure why I chose these pictures of my daughter for today's post, but the girl just cracks me up and I had to illustrate how very silly she is. They have a "treasure box" in their classroom at school and when they have a good behavior week they get to pick a "prize" from the box. I always have visions of the other little girls picking out bracelets or rings or other girly items -- my daughter chooses the purple vampire teeth and the googly eye glasses! (Is that google eye picture not the scariest thing ever?? It kinda freaks me out! LOL) Those silly eye glasses look equally as hilarious on my three-year old.

I started this post a few days ago (on the 12th I think) so it will probably post with that date. But I am actually finishing it on the 14th, which of course we know is Valentine's Day -- a day that my husband loves to complain and complain and complain about. So while I do not expect a gift myself, I look forward to giving my little ones some little gifts later today. And I even got a little something for Mr. Grumpy Pants (yes, that is my hubby). LOL I hope you all get a little bit spoiled by your loved ones and that it's a happy, fun-filled day!

I know I had more to blog about today, but my youngest is not being very patient with me, so I must go. I think I will soon be picking a winner for my 80s music titles game. Maybe two or three more posts with song titles -- it's actually kind of fun for me -- I hope you enjoy it too!

Bonus 80s Music Game Question

I am trying to blog, but it's not really working today. I think the kids' colds have caught up to me and I have a sore throat and my head is aching. I'm hoping it doesn't escalate and hopefully tomorrow I will have something to blog about!

In the meantime -- whoever is the first person to name the song and artist from which I got the title of my blog will be entered in my prize drawing. So far I have four of you in the drawing I believe -- Valeri, Jen, LoriAnn and Alice.

I am also playing catch up once again with all of your blogs -- but I haven't forgotten about you!

Have a great week!

Escapade

First off -- 4578525910050000000000000 -- these numbers are courtesy of my three-year old who decided he needed to type you all a message when I got up for a minute. He is also the reason I chose the title "escapade" for today's blog post. He is without a doubt FULL of escapades! The child keeps me on my toes -- and possibly headed for a padded cell. So he's lucky he's so darn lovable and cute. :)

Do you know which 80s artist sang the song "Escapade"?? I bet you do! And Thompson Twins was the correct answer for my previous post (they have the best hair! hee hee!) -- so Alice -- you are in the drawing. I have not yet determined when I will draw a name.

Speaking of escapades, have I ever mentioned "feeding time at the zoo" on my blog? I'm quite certain I must have at some point. Feeding time at the zoo is what I call the hours of 4-7pm at my house. The kids almost always go wild at this time -- and the phone starts ringing -- and the dog barks to go out -- and I'm attempting to cook -- and something breaks or spills -- or there is bickering -- seriously, almost every day it seems -- there is some sort of chaos at my house between these hours. Another reason I may be needing that padded cell.

Perhaps it is obvious I am really, really needing a break these days. I don't get out much, nor do I get much "quiet" time -- and boy, do I treasure quiet time. The other day my son had an assignment at school to draw his dream room. His included a swimming pool, a wide screen above his bed to watch movies, a video game system and a shelf full of games and oh yes -- his own kitchen! LOL My hubby then began pondering his dream room -- it included surround sound. While they were both going on about their rooms all I could think was -- "I would just LOVE a room that was completely silent. One where I could hear myself think." Aahhhh -- that would be wonderful.

I know I'm a broken record. I've posted about my love for quiet before. But quiet is not something I get much of -- so if you could -- have a quiet moment for me today, okay??

Happy Thursday!

King For a Day

Okay 80s music fans -- I think I've come up with a tough one today -- even though with Google at your fingertips, I suppose nothing is TOO tough. But before you resort to Google -- do you think you remember who is the 80s artist responsible for today's post title??? Kind of obscure -- but an 80s band, nonetheless!

(And Jen -- you are the first to name Duran Duran from yesterday, so into the drawing you go!)

Today (since I've decided I'm King for a Day -- ha ha) I am paying it forward. Again, sweet Carolyn tagged me with an excellent blog award and I must now award it to ten other blogs. The "official rules" state: By accepting this Excellent Blog Award, you have to award it to 10 more people whose blogs you find Excellent Award worthy. You can give it to as many people as you want-even those that have received it already, but please award at least 10 people.

Now as I have always said with these awards, it's hard for me to limit to just ten, because I love all of your blogs and visiting with each of you. But for today I will choose:

1. Alice -- because I KNOW she loves a good blog award and this one comes with an icon! LOL Plus she makes me laugh and has no problem saying exactly what's on her mind - which I admire, because I am not always like that!

2. Christi -- because she inspires me with her work and is just an all around wonderful person. Plus it's awfully fun to see pictures of that darling little baby girl of hers!

3. Linda -- because she really is an amazing artist and I love to see what she is up to!

4. Carolyn -- I have to award it right back at Carolyn because she is a special friend and I love to keep up with her through her blog. And she too, creates some really great things!

5. Dawn -- because anyone with a blog named Lime Scraparita has to be cool, right? I know if we lived closer to each other, we would surely be sharing the occasional pitcher of margaritas! ;)

6. Amber -- this girl makes the best cards on the planet and she's lots of fun. Plus she has two of the sweetest pups ever and I'm a sucker for cute animal photos!

7. Beth -- the most organized scrapper I know and incredibly talented at that -- always an inspiration! (And today is her birthday -- so happy, happy birthday to you Miss Beth!)

8. Suzanna -- another awesome scrapbooker & friend -- love to see her work and to read about what her darling little boys are doing to keep Suzanna on her toes! ;)

9. Jayne -- a sweet friend and someone who has the ability to find the wackiest, craziest things on the internet! LOL I always know I will find something to smile about on her blog!

10. Mary Jo -- another sweetie who has two darling little kiddos -- I especially love when she shares art by her son (you will find some if you visit her today!) :)



If I had more time I would add many more of you! And for those of you I did list, if you don't want to pass on the tag -- I will understand! I know tagging is not everyone's favorite thing! LOL



Okay -- my kids are home today, so I guess I should get my behind out of this computer chair, eh?



Happy Tuesday!

New Moon on Monday

Okay -- the "new moon" part of my title has nothing to do with my post, but it is MONDAY -- and I'm too tired to be very clever. And since I promised 80s music titles, I used a song from one of my very favorite 80s bands as my title.

(Valeri, you were the first to guess correctly last time -- "Girl Can't Help It" is indeed by Journey -- and I love that song! And Alice, thanks for the suggestion to watch the video on YouTube -- what a hoot! LOL)

This little card I'm sharing is an ATC (artist trading card) that I made for a swap I'm in. (It's not a great scan.) I'm considering making some actual Valentine cards with this design as well. (Provided I actually make Valentine cards this year!) I have not been making too many scrapbook pages lately, but it's kind of fun to do these little cards just to have some sort of creative outlet.

I had high hopes of accomplishing a lot today, but my daughter is home sick from school and my youngest is sick as well. Hubby too, has a bad cold and left for work late so my day is already out of whack. With the little guy being sick, we had a long night and what I would REALLY like to do today is nap -- that's all -- just nap! I think I could fall asleep sitting right here typing if Dora the Explorer wasn't singing to me in the background!

My dear friend Carolyn tagged me with a fun little game -- here are the rules --

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.

2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don’t have a middle name, use your maiden name).

3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.

4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

My middle name is Marie, so here's what I can tell you using these letters --

M - I am a MOMMY.

A - I AVOID Wal-Mart like the plague. (ha ha!)

R - I was born in ROCKFORD, Illinois

I - I'm a bit of an INTROVERT.

E - I could EAT Mexican food every day (with a margarita, please! hee hee).

(Carolyn used just one word for each letter, so I hope the way I did mine is not cheating!)

Since I have five letters in my middle name, I must tag five of you -- and this time I choose -- Dawn, Jayne, Nancy, Jeanne and Valeri.

Carolyn also tagged me with a very sweet Excellent blog award, and I will pay it forward in my next post.

Enjoy your day -- be back soon!

{The} Girl Can't Help It

Yes, it's true -- the girl (meaning me) cannot help but play some ridiculous games on her blog. I'll get to that in a second.

Wow -- how did an entire week get away from me...no blogging, hardly any blog visiting. I am anxious to find time to visit each of you and catch up with what you are up to!

So are you ready for my aforementioned games?? As you may or may not have noticed, the title of this post is a song from the 80s (I'm pretty sure -- it could be early 90s, but it's close enough!). I plan to use titles from 80s songs for each of my upcoming blog posts. I'll do it until I get tired of myself and my game (ha!) and whoever is the FIRST person to post a comment giving me the correct band/artist each time will be entered in a drawing for a semi-fabulous prize package to be determined! I hope you play along!

I have much I could ramble about, but it's Saturday which is usually not a good blogging day for me. The family calls and I need to run -- but I promise to be back soon!

Enjoy the weekend!