Guess Where...

Hey guys! Long time no see!

Mommy and Daddy took us out the other day. I was really sneaky and got some pictures to share with you. I know my Mommy has been slacking lately, but don't worry. I'll take care of you!

Before I share the pictures of my sister Curly and I, you have to play a game with me. I like games, it will be fun. You have to guess where they took us. Okay?

Okay. Here we go...

Ferns are my big sister's FAVORITE plant. She can easily pick them out everywhere we go, so they make her feel smart.

Anybody know yet? Ha! Outside is right, but you still don't have it yet. I knew none of you would get it from those. I tricked ya!

Here are some that might give you a better hint...

How about now? Do you have a guess? You're getting close.

Here are some EVEN more obvious hints....

What do you mean a 1 year old wouldn't say the word obvious!?! You adults! You're always discounting my intelligence just because I can't talk. You're the people who can't guess the right answer from my game. Who's laughing now!?!

Okay fine. You guys are taking too long. I don't have the attention span for this. (And no, that has nothing to do with my intellect.) You had better be able to get it after these.

Finally. I practically had to spell it out for you. Goodness you people are slow to catch on. I had it after the first picture.

...and yes, the beaches here are surrounded by- this:


Now you are going to have to wait until tomorrow for those pictures of my sister and I. That is if I can sneak to the computer when Mom isn't looking.

I Fell Some-fing

Aunt Artsy is here staying with us for a couple of nights and reminded me of a conversation with Curly that I have never posted. I thought I would quickly share it with you...

We were in the grocery store quite awhile back checking out after shopping. Curly was in my arms while Handsome was working through the debit card portion of check out.

Curly started sniffing the air like she was trying to figure out a smell.

Curly: Sniff, sniff..."I fell some-fing Mama." (That was before she said smell properly)


ME: "It's fine dear. Don't worry about the smells, there are smells everywhere we go." I was a little nervous about what exactly she smelled and how embarrassing this smell might be if conversation continued...

Curly: SNIIIIIFFFF, sniff, sniffity sniff- she was breathing in deeper now with voilent lifting of her head as if she were a stench seeking missile, "BUT! But I fell some-fing Mom!"

ME: Trying to just cease the talk of this smell I finally asked quietly, "What do you smell?" My voice clearly stating that I was not wanting to really know, but was just wanting to get it over with.

Curly: "It fells like...." sniff, sniff, sniff, "it fells like....air."


Even the checker laughed at that one!

A Party for Smiles

Now, isn't Smiles the cutest birthday boy you've seen in quite some time? I just love his little self. Check out his adorable curls under that Elmo hat!

You'll notice these pictures have a few things in common.

#1- They are all in the general vicinity of Papa's lap. Papa has magnetic powers with small children. No one knows why. It just is...and we don't mess with it.

#2- The activities are rather similar. Reality people- a one year old doesn't do all that much throughout their day. For all you know these photos could have been taken at the beginning, middle, and end of the party. (Well, other than the lack of cupcake on his face...)

#3- Smiles is "melt your face off" cute. Do I really need to explain that one? He is clearly cute, this is no party favor, he is always that adorable!

Some variety for you. Activity #1- move around a lot so Mom can't take clear pictures inside.

Activity #2- play with crumpled napkin. It's cool cause it's with Papa.

Activity #3- play coy with Mom while holding onto Papa's leg.

Activity #4- look pathetically into Papa's eyes and see how quickly you can get him to pick you up. (It's a matter of milliseconds.)

Gloat and get photographic proof of your control over the adults. One day you will need to prove that you are in charge.

NEXT- presents.

Smiles actually did quite well. He likes having toys that don't belong to his sister. (He is very good at sharing.)

Finally, cake.

Blow out your candle with Mom's help.

Make a HUGE mess. That's what first birthdays are really all about!

(It might look like egg here, but it really is cupcake.)


Smiles had a wonderful birthday. It was simple and sweet, just like we like them. Happy first birthday my little one.

Curly Do's

Curly: "Mama, will you put this in my hair?"

She runs to me with a barrette... or two....or three...

They keep coming until THIS is the finished product. Every bit of this "do" is done with the clips you see. She had a crazy puff of hair before in fact. (That's what happens when you have curly hair- PUFFY!)


...Birthday pictures to come for Smiles soon.

Taking a Break

I love you guys. I do. I love all the ways that I have connected with some of you and how fun it has been to blog.

It's just that I am so busy right now and God has just opened another door for me that is going to take more of my time and I know that it might prevent me from blogging for a little while as well.

So, I am just giving you a heads up that this time of sparse blogging will probably continue for awhile. I will update with things related to the adoption and I will have more of that once we actually get a little farther in the process...like when we travel. If you don't have the benefit of the option of "following" (which I love because it can even be anonymous, but you still don't have to check...you just go to each blog and read it as it comes up on your dashboard...and that's nice for the people I like that post like once a month), then I would say checking once a week should be good.

...and I do promise to post something for Smiles on his birthday which is next Sunday. It would just be wrong not to (And Gramps might get angry with me =).


So, for the next month or perhaps two- don't say I didn't warn you that things might be slow around here.

It's About Time I Did a Raffle!

It's a well known fact 'round these parts that I like to make cards. My mother-in-law got me into it when she first started scrapbooking and took some card classes. She was oh so wonderful enough to bring the tools and paper to do the cards she made each month so that I could copy the ones from her class. And so my love of card making began.

The thing I love about cards is that they are done quickly and you don't have to figure out so much stuff. I mean, a card is such a small space compared to a 12x12 piece of paper! It's something I can do in an evening and I don't have to have pictures on hand (printed of course...I always have PLENTY of photos on the hard drive).

My mother-in-law has also been so sweet as to surprise me with little goodies here and there (actually much more than she should have sometimes), so I have been able to try a variety of things and really figure out my favorites. And guess what?!? She donated one of my FAVORITE stamp sets for a raffle! I am so excited. I use this stamp set all the time. I think my most favorite is the little lady bug, but I do love them all.

So...here is what you can win with this raffle:

The Stampin' Up! stamp set- Garden Whimsy shown below (retails for $32.95)

...AND a birtday pack of 5 handmade cards, designed by me. I had some help putting some of them together =). Each card is 4 inches square.

Yes, I did think of Lu when making the one below. How could I not do a Poppy when raising money for Ana when she is the reason that I even found Reece's Rainbow?

Now, how do you win these items? You can click on the side bar on the "chip in" button. For every $5 that you donate, you will be entered in a drawing to win them. Please pass the word on so that we can raise as much as possible, of course =). Please leave a note in the chip in with your e-mail so that I can contact you if you win.

If you don't win the stamp set and cards, but would like some of the cards shown here I have 14 more sets available to buy. They are $6.25 for each set, plus shipping. If you live nearby I will just give them to you to skip that step.

Every last cent goes toward Anastasia's adoption process. (I'm sure that comes as no surprise to you though...)

Thank you for all of your support as always friends, and thanks for spreading the word!

Dancing for Dough

So, I started this new thing with Curly to try and help with positive reinforcement. I have been having a hard time keeping grips on the frustration bug now that she is three and we are in the throws of trying to do an adoption. It's just a lot to handle and my fuse hasn't been as long as I would like it to be. So, we brought out a cleaned out peanut butter jar (glass) and some decorative stones.

When she does certain chores, she gets a stone (which she likes to call "chips"...but I am not helping my story here by comparing her to a gambling queen). If she does well on a car ride with no whining, she gets a stone. Good attitude = stone. Bad attitude = take a stone away. She has a list of things that she can earn toward and how many stones it is worth so that she can cash in later.

She can earn staying up half an hour late, a trip to the playground, going to the grocery store with just Mommy, a dollar and a trip to the dollar store to spend it. You get the point. Each special thing is worth different amounts of stones so that she can practice saving up for things and decisions about spending now, or saving for something she really wants.

So... fast forward to this afternoon. We got home from a really fun trip to Nana's house where she enjoyed a very full day. She earned a lot of stones and we put them into her jar when we got home. I let her have the chance to earn a few extra stones by picking up her brother's dirty clothes and putting the family's shoes in the closet where they belong and she was happy to do it. It seems to be working well.

...but then....

.......then my little girl starts dancing around the house and looks over at me. She stops mid move busting and says to me with a smirk that tells me she just came up with a crazy awesome plan, "If I do this dance- THEN I get a DOLLAR and go to the store!" Her little face glistening with a gleeful smile because she was inventing a new "job" for herself.

Yeah...umm.... sorry Charlie, but that isn't going to happen for OH so many reasons. The most important of which for your knowledge right now is- you don't get to pick your jobs. And let's hope by the time you do that your parents have taught you well enough that you don't get dollars for dancing.

I do love how children can say such inappropriate things and still remain innocent about them. I just hope she never comes up with that one again.

Curly's at it Again

Sunday morning on our way out the door to church, without Handsome since he had to work, Curly was standing next to me while I put Smiles into the car. She walked around the back of the car and I told her to come back next to Mama. She knows the rules are that when we are getting into the car she has to stay next to me or touch the side of the car while I put Smiles in first.

Knowing that I was getting after her, she quickly replied: "MOM! I am being hayve!"

(In case you didn't catch what she meant there...I apparently always tell her to BE-HAVE.)