I cannot believe that my daughter could play this song so well after only having a piano for a month and teaching herself. I shot this video with Kaley's awesome new camera. Now that the holidays are over, I have to get the piano tuned and sign her up for lessons...just had to share this! I promise now that I have figured her new camcorder future videos will be better. :)
Chris is celebrating today, so I had to send a shout out to my blogger sis. We've been friends since we were 14, so I thought we (and all of you) might enjoy a little walk down memory lane via photos. Happy Birthday Chris from all of us, we love you!!!!!
1987 (yikes!)...High School Graduation
At a Rick concert in Hotlanta (I think about 7 years ago)
Chris with Linds and my girls last year...
Chris and I at another Rick Springfield concert on 6/29/07!
Hi bloggers! Sorry I've been MIA for a bit, but I was busy getting ready for the holidays. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Although we don't know each other in person, you are all thought of often and are highly regarded...so I hope you all enjoyed the holiday with your families as much as I did with mine. Kaley and Caroline are officially spoiled now (as if there was ever any doubt) and are both very happy with everything Santa brought them. I am home with them for the rest of the week on vacation, so we are doing some fun girlie things while Dad is at work. Here are some photos (rest assured more will appear in a later post too) from Christmas morning at our house:
This is what the girls found when they woke us up at 6:30 to let us know that Santa came...
Here they are showing off their new "K" and "C" stockings filled with goodies!
Kaley got some cute sweater and shoes and plenty of gift card to shop with (her fave)!
Caroline finally got the Chia Pet that she has been begging us for since we can remember. :)
Kaley got an awesome digital camcorder, she is a budding movie producer. :)
Caroline got an acoustic guitar so her Dad can teach her how to play, can't wait until she can serenade me with her sister on piano! We are signing them both up for lessons soon.
This is one of my favorite photos from the day: the girls giving Cheyenne her Christmas stocking with a huge bone for her. Kaley also made homemade cheese and bacon dog biscuits for all of the pooches in the extended family for the holidays too.
Hope you all enjoyed these, there's more where they came from so stay tuned...
Mom got this gingerbread house kit at Publix and we put it together today...cute, right?!
We just HAD to taste it, so we'll be getting another one to make for Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma's. :) Mom says to please ignore the ugly cookie sheet we put it on. We had a Christmas movie marathon with our cousins today and were couch potatoes.
Hope you all had a good weekend too...Santa's almost here!
Kaley & Caroline
Well blogger pals, it was a busy weekend here. Friday night a co-worker, Kaley and I headed to the mall for dinner and shopping and had lots of fun. We were on mission "Secret Santa" for our work party and Kaley for her sis. Saturday I worked (I logged over 60 hours this week, ugh) and then took Caroline out to get her prezzie for Kaley. I really enjoyed the one on one time with my girls. :) Sunday we went to Grandma's for a girlie pizza party. The Grandkids all decorated Mom and Dad's tree and baked holiday cookies. Last night I had a huge wrap fest, so everything is ready to go...whew! Here are a couple of photos from yesterday at Grandma's:
I have to send a Birthday Shout Out to my friend Missy whose celebrating today...Happy Birthday Girl! Missy survived her "Rick Indoctrination" at her first show with me and the girls last June...the telltale sign of BFF material, LOL!
I know it's cheesy and all, but here's my little attempt at a poetic tribute to the BDay Girl:
M-arvelous "Mother of the Century"
I-ntelligent and inexplicably cute no matter what she's doing
S-uper sport, takes daily stress in stride
S-kinny (I hate you) and both serious and silly when need be
Y-ou are an awesome person I'm proud to call Friend~
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
XOXO MUAH (as R would say) :)
Grandma had the best early Christmas present ever delivered on the sly Saturday afternoon for Kaley...check it out:
"What's going on Grammy"? OH MY GOSH...it's a PIANO!!!
Grandma and Kaley both cried (OK, I teared up too)...how sweet!
Look at the smile on that face while she checks out her new toy. :)
TA DAH!
And here it is all cleaned up and decked out for Christmas...isn't it beautiful?! Kaley has been wanting a piano ever since she was little, she has taught herself to play a bit and is always playing on Grandma's when she visits. We got her an awesome keyboard for her last birthday, but it's just not the same. This was such a wonderful thing...we are so happy for Kaley and can't wait to find her a piano teacher! Thank you sooooo much Grandma and Poppy!
OK Blogger pals, I know how creative you all are so am calling on you to help me with suggestions and ideas for inexpensive but thoughtful holiday gifts for the kids teachers. I say inexpensive since Kaley has 6 teachers this year and Caroline has 2, so I have to buy/make 8 of whatever we come up with. The challenge is to not repeat something that's been done a million times, but give something that will be appreciated.
So what are you all giving the teachers, day care staff, etc in your lives this year?
Katie- what do you appreciate most as a teacher gift?
There is only 2 more week of school here, so I have to be able to put these together in that time frame too. If it helps, all of the teachers are female also. I would sure love any ideas you all might have... :)
I have to comment about the shopping experience that I had this year on Black Friday because it was actually pretty positive, more so than any other year I've done it. Overall, the people were more friendly and not rude (didn't see any pushing or grabbing) and everything I got up early for was there for me to buy, nothing was sold out, yippee! I left the house at 4 a.m., hit 3 busy stores and was home at 7 a.m., not bad at all. I couldn't sleep and ended up being up all night, but it was worth it as I'm pretty much done shopping for my kids already. :) * NOTE* if you are a die hard bargain hunter and Black Friday shopper, I found out that rather than sleeping you can now head to the mall on Turkey Day as it opens at midnight. I met some ladies who cleaned up their Thanksgiving Feasts, tucked their kids and husbands in bed and headed out at 10:30!
What really made a good impression on me was what happened at Old Navy. I'm sure you've all seen the commercials that if you spend $20 you get a free mp3 player, right? They opened at 5:00 a.m., but when I got there at 4:15 there were already about 40 people in line. By the time the store opened, there were over 100 people in line. So rather than a mad rush at the front door, the store manager came out and passed out wristbands and thanked everyone for coming.
I was already impressed! Then he said that we could redeem our wristbands and get the mp3 player anytime that day, so if we had other bargains to hunt we could come back anytime before they closed and our mp3 player would be reserved for us...wow! Very smart on their part since we now could take our time shopping and probably ended up spending more $ there. The staff was all decked out in red too, so it was easy to spot them if you needed help and they had plenty of people on registers so we didn't have to wait forever to check out either. I must admit that I don't normally shop at Old Navy regularly, but they sure did make a great impression on me!
Anyone have any other cool Black Friday stories or shout outs? Let me hear from ya...
This year our family Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful! We (or should I say my Mom) decided that we all didn't need to go "all out" with the fancy side dishes and dressed up outfits and that we should be more casual and relaxed. It was sooooo much better and less stressful...as they say, Mom is always right! I only have pictures of my family and my folks as everyone else was shy. but here goes:
Kaley and Caroline pour Dad some spiced cider...yummy! Their tradition is to make the place cards every year, this year Caroline added a sign for over the table that read, "Thanksgiving Feast"...cute! She has called it that ever since she could talk. :)
Hubby and I getting ready to dig in!
The two things in this world that we are most thankful for...Kaley & Caroline!
This Thanksgiving wasn't just Turkey Day for us, it was also my parents 45th Wedding Anniversary...wow! That's just amazing to me and my siblings, what an accomplishment!
We are all going to a dinner show as a family to celebrate this coming weekend, but we also read them a sweet poem/toast at dinner, gave them a family tree with all of our pictures and various other silly gifts and a cake. Here is what they looked like 45 years ago on their special day:
And here's what they looked like 45 years later, adorable! Congrats Mom and Dad!!!
This is the cake my brother brought for one of the many desserts. Can you believe that after the huge meal we had, everyone still managed to find room for some cake?! :)
Our family is extremely thankful for everything that we have and everyone that touches our lives this year and always...that includes you blogger pals. Hope you all had a wonderful day too!
These are some snaps from last weekend when we checked out the Festival of Trees. I should warn you now that there are lots of pictures as I love Christmas and decorating, so this show was right up my alley!
What made it even more special was that we hosted my BFF since 4th grade Renata that weekend who was visiting from up North. We had a great time and the kids now know why I love her so...we miss you already Ree! She's a very talented photographer and was sweet enough to take all of these photos for us, so pull up a chair and enjoy:
Starting off with a self portrait R took of herself and my girls...I love this one! :)
Here's Liney showing off the "nature tree", she was drawn to the red cardinals on it...
Kaley and Caroline standing in front of the "love tree"...isn't it pretty?
Here's Doug's fave of course, the "sports tree" (who saw that one coming?) The only thing that could make this tree better would be if it was covered entirely with Dallas Cowboys gear!
On to Kaley's fave, the "Disney Princess Tree", this one was all pink and fru fru shee shee and very girlie. You could actually buy tickets to win it in a drawing (we did) and it had $400 of gift cards on it...
I liked this tree with it's unusual color palette of magenta and "grinch" green, it's pretty whimsical just like Caroline!
If you look closely, you can see that this tree is covered with plush animals, making it Caroline's fave (go figure). I liked the shape of the tree (alpine, tall and skinny) myself.
This is my favorite tree since it would match my house perfectly and I adored the cream and amber tones, it was soooo pretty!
The girls show off the pretty "winter wonderland tree" with it's blue, white and silver theme...
The self portrait tradition continues...how cute are we?!
We all liked the "music tree" as we are a bit inclined in that area...cool, right?!
This "believe tree" was stunning with feathers and crystals...love it we did.
The sign above Kaley's head says it all in this one, tee hee...any girlie girl would love to have this tree for sure.
If you're still with me thanks! To end, here is a photo of my best friend and my daughters in front of the "florida tree" (see the palm frons). I love this one! We had such a great visit with "Auntie Renata" and hope we get to do it again soon...
Just wanted to take a moment and wish all of my blogger pals a wonderful and safe holiday...I'm so thankful for all of you!
It's been a busy week again, but I promise to get some pics posted from Festival of the Trees last week and today's festivities over the long weekend.
I also want to send a special shout out to my awesome parents who happen to be celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary today too...we love you Mom and Dad!
More soon...
Katie at Cuppa Joe tagged me to list 7 things that I am grateful for since it's near Turkey Day and all. Everyone that reads this blog and/or knows me knows that I practice gratitude every single day. I am extremely thankful for my family of four, my parents and siblings and the dear friends that have blessed my life over the years. I thank God for them every day and frequently tell them how much they mean to me (overly sentimental I guess). Now with that said, I chose to make this list a bit more lighthearted and silly...so these are 7 little things that I am thankful for:
1) Pampered Chef Coffee- the blend of vanilla, hazelnut and cinnamon not only smells heavenly but can wake me up on my most tired of mornings...love this stuff.
2)My iPod- This makes a walk a pleasure and I can listen to my 80's tunes whenever I want without disturbing anyone else! If it's a bad day, I take it to work to help me ignore my co-workers too, LOL!
3) Girls Nights Out- I love getting together with friends and my sister (who is my best friend) to hang out and chat. I've been known to host a Skip Bo tournament or two for Girls Nights too, tee hee!
4) Sugar Free Russell Stover Jellybeans- love these soooo much! Think Jelly Belly without the sugar, I have and always will be a jelly bean fan. Cool beans!
5) People magazine- There is nothing I like better than getting home on a Friday with a fresh new People to read. Let me tell you too, I don't just flip through...I read the entire thing cover to cover. It's my "me" time after a long week and I look forward to getting the scoop and chilling.
6) Technology- I just know I'd die without my cell phone in my possession at all times, and owning a lap top and digital camera. Anyone else with me on that?!
7) Last but not least, I am so grateful for the spontaneous fun and silly times we have around here. I love to laugh, joke and play pranks and I have totally rubbed off on the rest of the gang!
So, my list ended up looking like the things I couldn't live without I guess (other than the humans I couldn't survive without listed above). This was fun Katie, thanks! OK, now everyone on my blogroll...consider yourself tagged, you're it!
This is our Liney's 4th Grade school photo. It was taken in October, she's 9 and a half now. She's not my "girlie girl", but she asked me to curl her hair that morning...the poor kid is cursed with her Mom's stubbornly straight hair that won't hold a curl (she hates hair spray too).
I think she looks cute and she was happy with the blue background since it's her favorite color! Just wanted to share since I posted Kaley's school pic a while back...
Meet my new mice, Butterscotch and Patches! Patches is the one with the brown and white spots and the brown patch on her eye. Butterscotch is the one with the white stripe on her face. Aren't they adorable? My Mom and my Sister surprised me with the cute pair on Saturday while I was at a sleepover. Here's some pics of my new mice and me too:
I'm so happy to have mice back in the family, can you tell?! :)
Just wanted to apologize for falling off the map in Blogger Land this week. It's been busy with more home improvements, recovering from Cody's departure, a cold on my part, long week at work and sleepovers last night with marshmallows roasted in the fireplace for the girls and their BFF's.
I'm thrilled that I got my blogroll and other assorted extras back up on this page, woohoo. Please check out my new poll (to the right of this post) and vote cause I'm curious. :) I added a couple of new blogs to my blogroll that are Blogs of Note, check out A Girl and Her Netflix Account for movie reviews and I'm an Organizing Junkie for some great tips on how to make our lives less cluttered and more sane and manageable.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
OK bloggers, this weekend was the 2nd yard work marathon for us. But this time something very interesting happened...while we were all outside this adorable little dog comes running up to greet us all. We loved on him figuring his owner would come walking by calling for him in a minute. Nope! We put him on a leash after about an hour as we live on a busy street where drivers do not obey the speed limit for fear he'd be hit (he's pretty little). So...we kept him outside with us while we worked until sundown asking every walker & biker that came by if they were missing a dog or knew anyone who was. We called our friends & family in the neighborhood too and no one recognized this little guy. We ended up bringing him inside when it got dark, went and got him some food at the store and he has been with us since 2:00 yesterday. He's wearing a collar but has no tags. He is getting along well with our beloved Cheyenne and we are all getting attached, but I know someone is missing him. I keep telling the girls that if our dog got out and we couldn't find him we would want someone to care for her until we found her and that is what we are doing with this little guy, but that he does not belong to us. My research indicates that he is a Papilon (an expensive toy breed) and as he is so well behaved and groomed I know he's just an indoor pooch that escaped somehow. I have placed an ad already in the local paper, am calling the local Human Society to leave our name and number when they open later today and we are on our way out now to put flyers up on the telephone poles along our street. Anyone have any experience with this? Should I be doing something else? What do we do if no one claims him?
Here's a snap of the adorable little visitor:
Kaley and the puppy
Caroline takes a turn too
So is this photo pulling at anyone else's heartstrings?! He is truly a sweetheart!
Bloggers, you're comments, suggestions, and ideas are welcome at this point and I will keep you posted on any developments in this "doggy drama". Hope everyone is having a good weekend!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! How cool is it that Halloween is our 100th post?! I even changed the blog template to celebrate. :) (I will get my blogroll up again soon)
We had an unusual holiday here since Caroline's tonsilitis came back and she had a 101 temp today, so we stayed home. She had to sit out the trick or treating with the family this year, but her generous sister and cousins loaded her up with candy. She and I got to chill at home and pass out candy instead...it was actually a nice change of pace I thought.
Here's Kaley in her rocker chick costume again posing at Grandma's before they head out:
And here's how Caroline got festive to help hand out candy at home. :)
This is Caroline's pumpkin that she and her Dad carved last night...they have strobe lights inside, man are they cool!
And here is Kaley's...
That's about it for me tonight bloggers, off to bed. Hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween!
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