Blog Changes

Well, I am heading up on some changes in my blog. I will, of course, have to wait on my husband to come home to help me, but it is time. You may have noticed my blog list on the right side has changed slightly. I took one off that seems to always have a virus attached to it lately. Its too weird. I will add it back on when I know it is safe and clear. I also added two more new ones, so I am happy with that. I am going to try for a new background layout though, but I don't want to mess up my blog, hence the asking for help. LOL!!

On a school note: It was TOO darn early to start back, so we are holding off a bit more. Her friends are all still out and playing all the time and Anna wanted to join them and I am not going to hold her back because they will all be back in school soon, so we are holding off. The idea was great to start early, but not practical and it didn't work for our family. LOL! Here we will wait till August with the others.

On the topic of Webkinz: I am so loving the learning aspect of the game. The learn adding, counting, life skills, letters, spelling, etc, etc. The life skills are good for them. Right now we are saving our Kinz Cash to buy a bath tub. Pretty bad when your pet wants a bath and you don't even have a bath tub, huh? I think we have enough now, but want to make sure we can still buy daily essential like food, so saving a little more. Anna really likes to get on and play this game, but some of it still over her head. We sit down together sometimes to play. I like how quick you earn Kinz Cash. They make it relatively easy to do that, so it is a definite plus. Not to mention the fact that I play WAY more than Anna on her new little horse friends site. I may have to get my own so she can play hers and I play mine at a different time, I think I have taken over her site. LOL!! I will have to look and see what I want to get. (Sorry, not an advertisement, just a new toy that we love and I thought I would share.)

Ok, time to get a move on things. Have a great day all and God Bless.

Hair Cut

Well, I did it. I finally went out and had 4 inches cut off my hair. I wish I could get brave and cut off more, but I just don't like the way I look in REALLY short hair. In any case, I was becoming a pony tail everyday please with my hair just to keep it decent. It was frizzed out to now end and I couldn't do anything with it, so off to the hair dressers I went. Here is a before and after picture. Both were taken yesterday.

Before:

After:

Ok, so you can't really tell much of a difference in the two pictures. Forgive the weird face on the after, this was taken WAY after. After work and everything. I was tired late last night. LOL. The biggest difference is in the length in the back, but that is not really noticeable in these pictures. Never thought about taking a picture of the back of my hair until now. LOL!! In any case, I had her take off just over 4 inches, so it is shorter. Maybe one day I will get brave and actually cut it REALLY short again. My look at it is this....I can't do another pony tail for a while.

Anna 's Pictures

Apparently Anna was bored the other night, because when I looked at the pictures on my camera, there were about 25 pictures she had taken. Most of them are of her Daddy, but come on now, she is only six, so there is a lot of randomness in there. Here is an example of my little budding photographer's works. LOL!!

Pictures of Daddy (this is what most were):

Better picture of Daddy:

The fan (Isn't it lovely?):

Our computer:

Lastly, a picture of her and Daddy:

You can see in that last one that she has her arms held out holding the camera for a picture. I guess after all this we need to give her back her digital camera so she doesn't overload ours with junk. Time to buy some batteries and dig it out of the bag. She already has one, but it is slow and so we never let her use it. It is in brand new shape because of that. Anyhow, I will give it back to her today.

I did think it was funny though and as soon as I saw the pictures, I knew who had taken them. Hope you enjoyed my 6 year old's pictures. I am pretty sure there are many more to come. :-)

Ducks Afloat

One little duck went out to play,

in our bath tub one day.

He had such enormous fun,

that he called for another little duck to come.




Two little ducks went out to play,

in our bath tub one day.

They had such enormous fun,

that they called for another little duck to come.



Three little ducks went out to play,

in our bath tub one day.

They had such enormous fun,

that they called for the mother duck to come.

As you can see, we have been invaded by ducks. Anna bought these ducks with her tooth-fairy money from her last tooth that fell out.

We have gone from:

1. Bath only with lots of toys please.

to

2. Bath with no toys...I'm too big.

to

3. I need a shower. I am all grown up.

to

4. I want a bath please.

to

5. I want a bath with toys please.

LOL!! As you can see we have come around full circle on the bath thing in about 4 years. I wonder how long the toys stage will last this time. I am sure we will find out. Stay tuned.

Lack of Sleep

UGH! I am so tired right now. It stinks!! I had a serious lack of sleep last night. I kept waking up thinking about the stupid mice. Are there more? Is there one in my room? Did I just hear Anna crying about them? UGH! Seriously, this is enough. I even slept with my shoes on so I knew that I had something good covering my feet if I so decided to step out of bed before the crack of dawn and there be one running around. This is seriously wrong. I did put down the D'Con, but now I am scared to go see if they are eating it. If they are, I have more mice and need to get some more. There is also a good chance that we will have to get rid of dead mice. Second, if there is one eating it right that second I am libel to flip right out. This is driving me insane. I did get what was recommended most though. Everyone here swears by D'Con. I sure hope it works or we are moving again!! Ok, I am going to go. I know two days talking about mice is not everyone's cup of tea, but it is what is going on in our life. We need to get ready for school, so I better go. Take care all.

Mice, Blech!!!!

I have never in all my life had such a problem with mice as I do right now! YUCK!!! I don't care what anyone says about mice being cleaner than bugs, I would rather have some of those bugs any day!!!! If you hadn't guessed by now, for some strange unknown reason, we have had a few mice in our house. Talk about grossing me out and making me cringe!! Anna saw the first one on Friday morning/ I never saw and never let it get to me. She said it was a little grey one with a long tail. No big deal. We never saw it or heard it, so I let it go. BIG MISTAKE!! Sunday morning Jeremy screams and says I just saw the mouse. We flipped over furniture and moved around a ton of things int he direction it headed, but it was lost. About 15 minutes later he spots the dang blasted thing again. He flipped over our candle making cart(which by the way is full of glass) and the stupid thing zips into our storage closet. YUCK, yuck, and double yuck!! I, thinking quickly, give Jeremy a box and start beating into the closet with our broom. LOL, I know really brilliant, huh?! Well, to this Jeremy replies, what are you trying to do, make it come out and get me? LOL!! I was so grossed out by this thought that I gave him the broom and went and put my feet onto a chair to watch. LOL! Yes, I was having nothing to do with this mouse. Jeremy continues to poke into the closet (isn't that what I was doing already) and the mouse comes scurrying out and right into our waiting box....stupid creature. Jeremy flips the box up and say I got it, I got it!! He takes it outside and says, "Awe, he's just a cute little field mouse, want to see?" What the heck. I freaked already that there was a mouse in my house and now he wants me to look at the furry little creature. Not no, but definitely no way in my life am I looking at that little mouse. We taped the box shut and disposed of him in the dumpster. (Should have killed him when we had the chance!!!) Anyhow, we thought that was it, as we have not seen anything else. That was the wrong thought.

Tonight at work I receive a call from my lovely husband. "We have another mouse." he states. I said, "You're kidding right?" He says, no! And then proceeds to tell me where the darn thing is hiding out!! OK! I get it. We have a mouse problem!! I am so nervous, grossed out and freaked right now that its not funny. He call me back about 15-20 minutes later and says its gone and that he got rid of it. Nice, but I am still freaked. I feel violated in a way. Mice are NOT my friends!! I don't care how often we watch Ratatouille!! I do not like to even think about mice!!! So, I admit it. We have a mouse issue. I went out tonight and stocked up on rat poison. I sure as heck hope it works!! I never want to hear about another one. NEVER, EVER, EVER!!! I will move, period!! I can not tolerate this thought anymore. I bought some D-Con (or however you spell it) tonight. I was told that this is the best stuff. I hope and pray that this stuff works and fast!! I am a nervous wreck!! I want to move like yesterday!!

Oh yeah and in the process, we need a new broom. Ours got broke tonight. Go figure!!

Ok, vent over. Pray this passes quickly!! At least I don't cry when a bug comes in. Everytime I think about a mouse, I am in tears. Let that be all. I want this to be over with!!!

I'm Not Lost

I promise, I am not lost! I have been busy and I do have some fun posts with pictures to do, but it will have to wait. We have a big, I mean BIG sale over at the store I work at today, so tonight will be a late night. I am about to go over and get all my things so I don't have to worry about it later tonight. I want to be early though. Then, we are heading home for a long time. I start work at 1pm, so I plan on staying home till 12:10pm. Take Anna to my mom's and then head in to the craziness.

On the school note, I think we are starting on Monday. We have everything, or we will after today, and we are ready. Anna asked me to start back "right now" yesterday. I was working on lesson plans and we had all her new books out. She is excited as she can read her reading books, or at least the beginning ones. She is really smart like that. Anyhow, so the plan is to get started on Monday, I think. I may want to wait till next Monday, LOL!! That's the freedom we get.

Anyhow, I better get going. I want to be there early as I don't really want to hang around in line. Hope all is well with everyone. Take care.

Rent Help Question

Where do I go to try and keep my mom in her rental apt? I have used up all my resources and of course her complex wants their rent. Who would have thought, huh? Anyhow, if anyone has any resources on rental help, please let me know. We are of course still waiting on a court date for her disability hearing, but that could be December before we actually get one. UGH! Any help and please let me know. We are even willing to relocate her to another cheaper location, but still need help as she is in a lease with this complex. Heck, at this point I would move her in with someone, if I could afford the rent. Thanks.

Family Reunion

Well, for the first time ever, we went to a family reunion. It was great. I have never personally gone to one, as it was never that vital or important to our family I guess. In any case, we went to one this weekend. It was my dad's wife's family. LOL!! Complicated, I know. They are all family though. On Saturday night we went for dinner and swimming. Well, Anna swam like a fish, and we ate. She refused to eat until we made her get out of the pool and dry off and get dressed. In that very instant, she was hungry. LOL! Good thing I had already fixed her a plate.

On Sunday, we all went to church wearing our matching shirts. The kids all have their ages on the back. Here is a picture of our immediate family in the green shirts.



The whole group of us took up two looooooong pews at the church. We were a big sea of green. LOL!!

Here is a fun picture they do every year with all the great grandkids for the family. The picture is fun, but with so many kids in there, it is hard to make them all do the same thing.

The little boy turning around has a 2 on his shirt. LOL! We tried, really we did.

Here is a picture of all the kids, plus the ones that were missing. We had the others hold their shirts.

As you can see, it is completely not visible as there are so many. We ended up zooming in and taking the pictures in sections....we will just have to combine all the sections to make one long picture. LOL!!

Anyhow, it was fun and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The reunion was actually for the whole week, but I didn't know about it till Tuesday, so we made it to what we could. We did follow Sundays lunch with swimming time at my brother's house. Anna and I had a great time. I forgot sunscreen again, so I am sun-burned....go figure! Anyhow, it was fun and we hope to do it again with them.

4th of July

Well, I know its the 7th, but I am behind on posting pictures. We had a family reunion thingy to do. More on that tomorrow. Anyhow, we went to the parade with just Anna, then had a relaxing afternoon at home and then on to the fireworks at night....they were really way too late, but that's a different story!! We did take Avery with us to the fireworks. Here are some pictures from the days events.

Listening for the parade:

On the shuttle bus to the fireworks

(Avery said she had never been on a bus):

At the fireworks:

(I love how this picture captures Avery tagging Anna):

Best friends and cousins:

Here are some fireworks pictures:




As for it being way too late, the fireworks did not start till almost 11pm. The kids were bored and over tired by then. They both half-way slept on the ride home. I was so exhausted for work the next morning that I felt sick and fluish. It stunk. Anyhow, it was fun none-the-less and we had some good family time.

We've Gone Digital!!

Well, seeing as our government issued coupons expired in 5 days, and I did not want to pay full price for any of those digital converter boxes, we have gone digital, effective last night. We have the RCA digital converter box from Wal-Mart. It was only $49.87, which with our coupons became $9.87. Thank you for the coupons Government people. We did get both there and after setting them up, we are really enjoying. The picture is so much clearer. There are no more fuzzy lines and no more adjusting the antenna to see a certain channel and readjusting it for another. It is great. We did lose two channels that are local and have not gone digital yet, but I think we will get them back eventually. For the time being we will go without. Even PBS has gone digital. Its great for the morning to Anna. PBS is our morning show line up!! Anyhow, we are really enjoying the new converter boxes and can not wait for our last two channels to go digital. If you have any hesitation, I think that you should give it a try. Anyhow, this was not an endorsement for Wal-Mart or RCA, they just have the cheapest product. LOL!! I didn't want to pay $20 or more for each box and we are on VERY limited funds this week. This was money I had earned outside of work time. I was just really excited about it. LOL!! I better get moving. We have a busy day ahead of us. Take care.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

I just wanted to tell my mom Happy Birthday!! I love you very much!! For other who want to know, my mom is 29 and hold and has been since she actually was 29. LOL!! I am 31, so you do the math. :-) She is 29 forever. Here is a great picture of my mom with all 5 of her grandkids:

It was taken at my brother wedding, that's why they are all dressed up. Anyhow, I better get moving for the day.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Vacation Slide Show!!

Here are the pictures you all, okay, well some of you have been waiting for! I LOVE when Jeremy makes a slide show of all our pictures. Hope you enjoys them!!

========Vacation Part 1==========


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
=================================

=========Vacation Part 2=========


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
=================================

=========Vacation Part 3=========


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
=================================

Our Trip, Day Three, Build-A-Bear

On day three, of course we came home, but we also went to the mall, got to get our Disney fix somewhere!! Then we went to Build-A-Bear workshop as a surprise for Anna and let her build a new stuffed animal. These are the ones that we keep for her, along with a few specified others. She absolutely loves to make animals there. She got there and was really hoping to make a horse, but they do not have that right now, so she ended up making a pink cat. Here are some pictures of her making her new kitty.

Picking out just the right one:

A Pink Cat, Perfect:

Stuffing it with fluff:

Washing it:

Finding the right clothes:

Dressing it:

This is a hard task, Dad has to help dress the kitty:

Mom helps with the shoes:

At the checkout with our new princess, Princess Kitty:

The Build-A-Bear Promise:

We are done shopping:

Time to go home, doesn't she look happy:

We must have been bored on the way home, cause she slept:

As you can see we had a fun time. The trip was terrific and fun, we just wish it was longer. It is expensive to stay in a hotel for a few nights and pay for gas, food, drinks, etc while out though, so our trip was what it could be. We had a great time and we hope to something again next year, but our question is where do we go next year? Need a new location and a new venue for ALL of us. We want something fun for all of us and exciting, but not too expensive. Let me know your ideas for a cheap fun vacation for all. Stay tuned tomorrow for a posting of all the pictures in slide show from our trip. I have only posted a handful of them. Thanks for reading and God Bless.