New Specs and Other Random Stuff...

Well it finally happened, I had to get new specs. I've needed them for a while, but making it to the doctor was something I was putting off. I HATE to get my eyes dialated, and knew I was due, so I'd been avoiding it. Then, Connor stepped on my glasses while we were skiing and they broke right in the middle. I had to super glue them, yes I realize how tacky that is, but I had to see! Luckily I was able to get in with the optomotrist that day and get some new glasses ordered. The bad part was that my prescription had changed significantly since the last pair so I am having a little trouble adjusting to the new ones. They are great though.

Excuse the mad photography skills here. I wanted to show them to you, and Lon is at his flag football game.
They are tortoise shell and blue on the inside. LOVE THEM! My others were black, so I wanted something a little different.

Con-Man had a bad fall yesterday. He was running through the office and slipped on a rug. He hit his head on the corner of a storage cube and cut it. I thought we were gonna have to go to the ER, but once I got the bleeding to stop I realized the cut was not quite as bad as I feared. So we did not go to the ER. (I'm putting this picture up for my parents to see that he really is ok. It drives them crazy not being around the corner.) Poor guy's having a hard weekend though. Last night he got his first stomach bug, courtesy of big brother. He was scared to death. This is pretty much what his day has consisted of...
On a positive note, I wanted to show you a few things I got at Peebles this week. I don't know if this store is a chain, but it is a department store kind of like a Belk's and we have one here. They also have them in TN. Anyway, I got a few things to tassel with there today. They are having a HUGE sale. These birds were like $2 each and the acorns were $1.60 each. They are beautiful, and about 4 inches long. I can't wait to get started on those. They had some other great stuff, but I was trying to keep it cheap. I may have to go back and get a huge shadowbox frame. It was 50% off, but still more than I wanted to spend. We'll see if I can live without it or not. I may have to make another trip and pick that up. Well duty calls and Con is up from his nap. I hope your weekend is fantastic!

Honk Honk!

Not to toot my own horn or anything, (HONK HONK) but I finally purged the toys in the family room today. Nana came over to get a haircut and somehow got wrangled into helping me for a couple hours. It was really unfair seeing as how she came baring gifts (she got me some beautiful ribbon to tassel with) but there is no better sucker than an unsuspecting one! Just joking, but we seriously did get a lot done and I have no doubt that helping me probably put her behind, but what are good mother-in-laws for? We ended up getting rid of 4 riding toys and 5 garbage bags full of goodies. Here is the proof. I moved those bags out to the garage and later this week I will have Lonnie take them to a Hispanic community we have here. Last time Sandy and I took them ourselves and it was rather sketchy, but they did seem glad to get them. I try to do this a couple times a year. It is amazing how fast toys and stuff can pile up. It was obviously overdue this time, and the influx of Christmas presents and Con's bday made it imperative.

As you can see no horses were sacrified in today's efforts to downsize. Nor were any dinosaurs, cars, balls, trains, animal figurines, the list could go on and on, but I am proud of my undercover abilities. It was a sneak attack. Nana distracted while I bagged. Poor kids never saw it coming.

After working so hard on the family room, I decided I needed to craft. Yes I said needed. I have been going through craft withdrawals since Christmas, but I have had so much other stuff to do, and have not really had a reason/person to craft for. Well today I had a reason, my new ribbon! I dragged out a bunch of stuff...

And in the end 3 tassels were born. They are beautiful, and useless, but I love them anyway. I used my new ribbons in this one, but they were too wide to run through the eyelet at the top so I have to get another ribbon for that at the store.
This little bird tassel is beautiful, but did not photograph too well. I still need to add an eyelit to her. I'm gonna have to get out the drill later to put it in.
I hope you had a wonderful and productive day too!

Chia Pets and Stomach Bugs...

Today was a sick day at our house. Walker has caught some sort of stomach bug, and was up most of the night, so I was dragging. It is days like this that I literally say "Hello Love" when I stagger here... This machine has forever changed my life and the coffee I drink. Right now I am on a Pumpkin Spice kick, but I drink several of their flavors and having it delivered right to my door is fantastic.
Okay, back to the subject at hand, since Walker was so sick, we went no where and the boys were in their jammies the whole day. What better time to do the Chia pets they got for Christmas?
I never had a Chia pet growing up, but when Santa saw a dinosaur Chia pet he knew Walker would love it. Santa was right. While the process of getting the seeds on them was a little messy, it was really simple and a great project for the boys. Now they are just driving me crazy wanting to know when they are gonna grow "hair".
I'll keep you posted on the Chia's progress. Walker is feeling much better now, and if everyone else can steer clear of the bug we will be very lucky. I feel like I am floating in a cloud of Lysol, but if it keeps the virus at bay a headache is a small price to pay.

Sugar Mountain 2009

Here is a quick rundown of our Ski Trip this weekend for those who are interested. When we got there on Friday it had snowed about 5 inches and was beautiful. The boys played in it and loved it for the first time.

Saturday was a lot warmer and most of the snow melted. We played outside anyway though, and then relaxed a lot and played board games.

Sunday we rented the boys skis and they tried it out. I was so proud of Walker for even putting on the skis. As you can see by the pics, he did not like it very much, but we will try again next year. Con liked it at first, but it was bitter cold and he was ready to go in too.

Enjoy the slide show!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Mandi Method BEGINS!!

If you missed my post on the Mandi Method (here is the whole post), in an nutshell it goes likes this. Instead of overwhelming myself in January with all the things I'd like to change in 2009 (this NEVER works for me), I am gonna break it down into 12 small changes and do one every 30 days. THEN, by the end of the year I will have formed 12 new habits.

Today is the first day of the changes, and change #1 is that I am starting on Weight Watchers. I am very excited about this because I have had success with Weight Watchers in the past. I am gonna put the Weight Watchers Wednesday button on my sidebar, and I will post my progress every Wed. What better way to be held accountable?

I got this button from the Mojito Maven, and she posts her progress every Wed. I love her blog and the progress she has made is great. If you click here, you can read her story and get some great weight watchers tips she follow. Now, she wants to get back to a size 3/4 or something. That is just not in my genes, and I am very realistic. I just want to be healthier, and beach ready in the summer.

Here is a pic of me with my Mom and the boys at a park a few weeks ago. Not a flattering picture, I know, but it shows why I am doing WW again. I'm sure you've noticed my pics always have one of the boys standing in front of me. That would be using my children as photo props. Strategic placement so that this or that does not show. NO MORE! Here I am in all my glory.
The hardest part of this, for me atleast, has always been planning my meals. That is a goal this time around. I am gonna plan 3 meals, 2 snacks, and points for everyday when I go grocery shopping.

As promised, I am gonna list my 12 goals for 2009. Some of these may seem silly to you, and they are in no particular order, but they are changes I think are necessary. I am gonna reserve the right to tweek this list as needed, but here they are:

1. Start Weight Watchers
2. Exercise (intentionally, not just playing with the boys) at least 4 times a week.
3. Be more active in our church.
4. Take a REAL sewing class.
5. Do my daily devotional DAILY, as it was intended.
6. Get up one hour early before the boys to do the devotional mentioned before.
7. Actually DO what the Flylady suggests by getting my morning routine in order.
8. Get my Evening routine done before bed, not the next morning! (I will expand on this when make the change and post about it.)
9. Cook atleast 5 dinners a week. We eat out WAY TOO MUCH!
10. Commit more money to our savings.
11. De-clutter and organize one room at a time.
12. Serve. I want to see out more ways to serve others in our community and teach the boys how important that it is.

There you have it. I will tackle a new goal on the 13th of every month. For now I am off to make some oatmeal and get my Weight Watchers Journal going for the day.

Haircut Anyone?

For those of you who don't know me personally, I am a licensed cosmetologist. I don't work in a salon right now because I am staying home with the boys, but I always end up cutting hair when I go anywhere with friends or family, and this weekend will be no different. I wanted to show you just how bad Con's hair is getting...
This is after his nap today. He is having a little snack in the kitchen.

I deal with this hair EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. He is gonna be one awesome rocker dude someday.

You know that old saying about how the shoemaker's kids have no shoes, well God blessed me with Con and his Crazy hair. I hope to work miracles on this little head while Nonnie is around to distract him as I whack some of this off.

We are heading to the ski slopes this weekend in NC for our annual trip to the mountains. We started going on this trip with Lon's Mom when we were in college and have gone every year since. It is so relaxing and a lot of fun. We rent a cabin slopeside, and kick back. We laugh at all the bad skiiers, marvel at the really good ones, and just hang out. While the skiiers do their thing, the rest of us play board/card games in the cabin. Walker says he wants to learn to ski this weekend. I wish he would, but Mr. Cautious is not a big fan of anything new. Plus he is only 3, so I really don't know what all they will let him do in one of those little classes. Lon is a great skiier, and is really excited about the prospect of teaching him. Chances are we'll be doing good to get him dressed and out the door (since he is not a big fan of jackets, or layered clothing, or boots, or hats, are you getting the picture?)

I hope your weekend plans are full of fun, family, and friends. I'll keep you posted on how ours turns out!

Fun Times on the Coaster...

Just wanted to share about the best purchase Santa has made to date. The roller coaster was a hit, and is one of the few toys that has constantly held the boys interest since they got it. I guarantee that poor coaster has had atleast 400 rides a day, and I am not exaggerating! We set it up in the family room, and it runs into the huge bean bags so they can get thrown off at the end and not get hurt. We have still not taken it outside, and it doesn't look like that will be happening any time soon. Here are a few pictures that will clearly prove my point...

Since Pop and Daddy were watching the boys on Saturday, they decided to make it a little more extreme by adding a block wall to crash through. It was a hit!

Walker bumped his head on one of the blocks, so decided a helmet would be a good idea. I think this is HILARIOUS!

The daredevil !

Pop also showed Connor that going down on his motorcycle could be fun. BAD IDEA POP! As you would expect Connor has tried this on his own and it was not such a smooth ride.

Binky and all, still smiling and hair flying!
Even Fluffy got to ride it. Poor girl. She did not have quite as smooth of a landing riding by herself... S0 Walker decided maybe if he rode with her it would not be so scary...
Here they are coasting to the bean bag...
She definitely earned this carrot!