Another Giveaway! And a good one

Okay - I had decided to not enter any more giveaways. I had won, and that was enough.
But there wasn't a disclaimer about previous wins and I just could not give this up.
A blog I follow - that I have written about before is having another giveaway



And this time, this fabulous blog is giving away a Baby Bjorn Carrier!!!!!!!!


See why I had to try
And you should try, too - those things are pricey. So go here and good luck!

I heart magnetic tape

For the past several weeks, I have gotten gobs of inspiration concerning lesson plans for the little one from different blogs I read - the most notable being Oopsey Daisey, Moo Moo's & Tutus and Nurture Mama. Because of the holidays, however many of these incredible, awesome, (some which offer complete lesson downloads - the best ever!) inspiring sites have been taking a break. Completely understandable. So I was kind of on my own when it came to something for December.

So I had the merry fortune of discovering the first school website again. Last night my deep love for magnetic tape resurfaced again as I completed a number of projects. This one from first school, which I love - I am not sure what Benjamin thinks, but I think the older kids started playing with as I saw some of the magnets had been moved. You can't see it, but the title says "Dress the Snowman"
Now this next one was not just for Benjamin, nor did I find it on First School. I got the link for this advent calendar from the Sugardoodle website. I couldn't tell you exactly where now. In the past, I have bought individual chocolate advent calendars for the kids. I looked and looked this year to no avail. So I decided to make this advent calendar, which included scriptures (of course so much better than just chocolate) and not to completely deny my children, I decided I would have a small treat for them each night. I started to make fudge and they all asked me what it was for - I told them it was a surprise. As soon as they ascertained that they fudge was indeed for them and not someone else, they got excited. When we sat down with the calendar, the scriptures and I explained the situation - Peter was disappointed - when he was excited about the fudge not 15 minutes prior! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. But too bad, Peter - that is just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
We talked about being grateful after that.

And then finally, last night, I made another kind of advent - alas there is no magnetic tape involved but I totally stole this idea from Oopsey Daisy I even completely plagiarized her poem. Well, I am giving her credit, so that makes it okay, right?
But it is a little poem about Santa's bare beard, and Benjamin gets to glue a cotton ball each day to make a big fluffy beard. He totally doesn't get the count down thing, but that is okay.

I can't believe I was so crafty all in one night - Yes I know many others who can craft circles (many perfect concentric circles all in coordinating colors) around me, but this is big for me.
Yay for magnetic tape! And Card Stock! And my paper cutter - fun stuff when Benjamin is still awake

Christmas Party

It's that time again! Our branch Christmas party was tonight. And all of the kids actually sat on Santa's lap this year. Well, kind ofGabrielle went with a smile, of course
And Peter, my most heated contender last year also went with a smile - which he rarely does in front of a camera so this was a super double bonus
Tre went with a reason - that being Benjamin
All things were better for the Benjamin once the candy was secured

And even the new baby got its first picture with Santa. I LOVE Benjamin's look here. And Gabrielle did a perfect job of making sure she didn't catch my head. And no, that is not sarcastic - I would have photoshopped it out if she hadn't,

New Camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I missed Gabrielle's birthday, and I really didn't take any pictures of Peter's. I do have pics of Gabrielle's birthday, but they are all on the old camera, and I am having problems transferring them to a computer that is not ancient.

But thank you Black Friday! We got a new camera and its little memory card slides right in just like the previous camera - bought at last year's black friday that bit the dust in my purse.

Yesterday we went driving and ended up at Lake West Point. They had a little stop off the side of the road and the boys climbed down this steep ledge to get to the water

I love this picture of her - mostly because she is not scowling

Yeah, don't ask, you don't want to know. But he is really cute

I do have pictures of Benjamin out in the park, but this one was just so much better (minus the clutter on the couch and floor - sorry Gabrielle- I am not counting you as clutter, you just happen to be sitting blissfully amongst it). And, no, I did not take this picture - one of the boys did.
Yay for the new camera!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Won, I Won, I Won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week - a blog I follow, A Little Tispy, had a WHOLE BUNCH of giveaways. One of them was two burp cloths and a custom made changing pad made by Rebecca from:

She makes burp cloths and changing pads and baby bags(really, really cool baby bags), clutches, hand bags and other accessories. She also "donates 10% of every purchase to low income entrepreneurs in developing countries - which is why we are called "Better Life Bags... making lives better one purse at a time!""
Isn't that cool?
And I won this particular giveaway! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And talk about making lemonade out of lemons - her most recent post was about her car being broken into and how she collected the broken shards of glass and crafted with them

She has super cool patterns to choose from.

I cannot wait to get my new goodies! Thank you so much, Rebecca, from Better Life Bags. And a big thanks to Michelle from A Little Tipsy for the giveaway! Yay!

The Feeling of Service

Last week, there was a National Gifted Conference held here in Atlanta

As a member of our locally established gifted advocacy group, we raised money for our teachers to go.
When the time came for one of our gifted teachers to sign up, he wasn't sure if he would go because of a lack of funding for substitutes. So, as a registered substitute and licensed teacher, I volunteered my services.
I volunteered to teach for three days in a middle school.
And it wasn't bad - at all. But I was so tired. Being 5 months pregnant probably doesn't help much either. And I felt horrible - by the third day, I was questioning myself as to why I was doing this.
Let me reiterate - It was not bad - certainly not as bad as it could have been. The kids were good. I had videos for all three days. I was just
so
tired.
So
Tired.
But then last night, I realized why I did it. Our gifted teacher came to our locally established gifted advocacy group quarterly meeting last night and shared with us what he had learned.
He was so excited. He learned a lot and really, really enjoyed it. He said several times that it was one of the best conferences he has ever been to.
Then, it was so worth it.
Had I been asked if I would do this again, I would have probably said no. But through his gratitude and just the fact that he gained so much, yes, I do think I would volunteer again.
Probably not pregnant, though

Happiest Baby on the Block

One of the blogs I follow, A Little Tipsy,

featured a video today called "The Happiest Baby on the Block". Very interesting stuff. It apparently is based on the 5 S's: Swaddle, Side, Swing, Shh, Suck. I of course haven't tried any of these things yet, being almost 23 weeks. I have been exceedingly blessed to have never really experienced what I can remember as a baby cursed with colic, but I am sure this can't hurt.
So I went on my library catalog and found not only the video, but a book as well. And I continued to scroll down and lo and behold I found this:

Benjamin has been kind of whiny lately - nap or no nap. Maybe this will help as well. Maybe I will luck out and it might have some potty training advice. We will see! Can I just say how much I love the library?

Happy Birthday Tre!

Today is Tre's (gulp) 13th birthday! And to celebrate, instead of cake, I thought I would make cake pops as seen on Bakerella
and they turned out horribly wrong. So when I woke him up.....Instead of greeting him with cake pops - I made some very-easy-almost-fail-proof-pull-out-of-the-swirly-cardboard-tube cinnamon rolls.

Thank you Pillsbury! I had one cake pop that kind of came out, so I let him eat it. Yesterday, I realized things were going horribly wrong quite early, so I had lots of cake balls left for today.
So I tried again. First, I am not sure I got the consistency of the cake balls right. I think they were slightly too mushy. Also, yesterday, the red candy melts were NOT melting. They were clumping. I even tried to add butter, which made them seize even more.

So today, I set aside the red glop and decided to break out the dark mint melts to see if they would melt better. Better, but not perfect, so when I put the stick into a cake ball and the skewered ball into the chocolate, the stick came out naked with cake ball still submerged in the chocolate. However, the chocolate was still pliable enough for me to stir the chocolate over the ball and spoon them out.
Then I tried the red one more time with some yellow candy melts added because so much of my red seized and I threw it out. I did put some paraffin in and it seemed to help a bit. I got two to stay on the sticks up right.
And then after he came home, it was time to go to the Boy scout camping trip and I shoved foods down their faces and forced them to hurry until we left and so no more pictures were taken. But oh how I love my boy! Happy Birthday Tre!!!!!!!

First Checkup!

Yesterday, I went to my first prenatal appointment! It feels like I have been waiting forever! I am going back to Dr. Nelson - this will be the first time I have delivered two babies at the same hospital by the same ob group. I never thought I moved that much, but I guess I have.

I weighed 143 (not sure that is wise posting my weight, but I am anyway). I can't remember my blood pressure and the baby's heartbeat was about 150. My friend C. went with me and Benjamin actually stayed with her while I was being examined - except for the part when we heard the heartbeat - I had the nurse go and get them. Benjamin said "heartbeat" but really wasn't sure he like seeing me lie on the examination table like that. Thank goodness C. was there. My ultrasound is in 3 weeks and I can't wait. I have moved the checkup days to Monday, so that I can bring Gabrielle. She really likes visiting. Too bad she will have to miss the ultrasound.

It's a Bump!

The very best thing about photoshop is that I can crop out the most embarrassing things about a photo. This instance it being my face. My camera's LCD screen is busted. So I can't see what we just took a photo of until I download it. I sure do love photoshop as I seriously looked drugged in the part of this picture you CAN'T see.

Whew! Thank goodness for technology! My week mark is on a Tuesday, but my kids don't have school on Mondays, so all of my pictures will probably be taken on Monday and will be one day short of that next week. (Yes, for some reason, the baby ticker is slightly off) Here is 12 weeks and 6 days, taken on August 30.

My New Blog!

Not that anyone is particularly interested, but I am chronicling the ups and downs of my inevitable morning sickness and other woes that come along with pregnancy. So, if you are brave, head on over to My Icky Yucky Horrible but Wonderful Pregnancy. I have a link in the side bar as well. Proceed with caution: those with weak stomachs might want to think twice.

Well, the time has come

To make a big announcement!
Can you believe I found baby clip art in a neutral color?

Oh yeah, and I'm pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The due date is March 8, 2010. Baby ticker and maybe pictures of my baby bump that I have ALREADY are to come soon.
My first doctor's appointment is September 15th.
And No, We are not going to find out. Still. Sorry for all those who are waiting for us to change our minds on that decision.

I am 11 weeks and almost on the mend - it is past noon and I still haven't thrown up. I can cook and wake up before noon.
The sickness is thankfully waning. Thankfully!!!!!

Ohh! Sparkly!

Have you ever wondered if sparklers could be caught on camera?
Wonder no more!

Why Yes!, Yes they can! And everyone can join on in! Benjamin.....


Peter.....

Tre.....
Of course Gabrielle.......
And my nephew Sam
I really like this one. I think he has a great pose


And of course this one with lots and lots of sparkly action going on


Here they are together, in all their sparkly glory
What can I say? Happy 4th!

catching up

Lots and lots and LOTS of catching up to do. I have finally taken the time to download and reduce the pictures (I now have such an awesome camera that I have to reduce the size of my images - yes, each and every one- before I can post them)
First, there was Easter

My friend and her son B. came over for Easter - we had a great time!
There they are - divvying up their booty

Then we got puppies - Midnight and Shadow
You have to guess which one is which

I have a really great video of Benjamin and the puppies, but you have to watch it in the post below. Posting a large number of pictures (especially in a certain sequence) can be a real pain. Throwing in a video in the middle is just about impossible.

Then, Benjamin turned two. His favorite thing to watch is Blue's Clues (even more so now. He walks around with little notepads and a crayon and will flip pages, make a few circles and then flip some more pages and make more circles - he really gets into it when Steve is writing in his notebook as well. Benjamin can even say "notebook" now and that is really big for our ever silent Benjamin). So I made him a Blue cake.

And he really liked the glo doodle he got.

Then, just days after his 2nd birthday, on my first day off from work, I took him to the doctor for his well check up. We were completely ready to go; I had even made the follow up appointment and then he trips and bangs his head on an interior doorway inside the pediatrician's office and cuts his head to the point where he needed staples. Of course, they didn't have those at the doctor's so we had to go to the hospital. It was one glorious waiting room filled day


Then, one of our puppies died. It was a horrible heart wrenching experience for our family. You can't see it in the photo, but Tre wrote "Shadow Our Dog" on this rock that we have always thought looks like a heart.


The next day we went camping with the cub scouts. This a picture of the cubs with a local taxidermist. He brought a trailer full of animals. It sounds grim (especially just after losing a puppy), but it was actually rather neat

Then, after school was over, my mother came to visit for a week with the express intent of showing me how to sew. She and I didn't get as much done as she wanted, but she did show Gabrielle how to make a little doll. That Gabrielle of course gave to Benjamin. My mother made a matching one for a little girl from our Branch who turned two that week

And finally, we got another puppy. When we got Shadow and Midnight, we got them from our neighbors who had found a whole litter left in the ditch next to the street. In Early April, when we first got them, Larry decided it would be better to get two, so that the one wouldn't be lonely. At the time, our neighbors actually had three puppies. Peter really really wanted to get all three and not break up their little band. He was so upset he had to walk home before the rest of us did. After Shadow died, we talked about getting another one. We knew that Midnight was just so lonely. We finally talked to the neighbor again, who still had the last puppy and we got her - last week in fact. Her name is April. She and Midnight are very happy to be together again.

It took several tries for me to get this picture. She wanted to jump up on me and she just wouldn't be still.