The Kids Made the Snow Fun!

The kids played snowball baseball the other day in the snow. They had a blast! Then they went over to the playground behind our house and made snow forts under the slides and stuff.

I'm glad they had fun! We're suppose to have another snow storm next week. Ugh!!! I still want spring to hurry up and get here!!

Will Winter Ever End?

It's snowing again today. We're suppose to have over 8 inches by the time it's done and then ice on top of that. You can see there are dead branches everywhere and the only sign of life is the footprints in the hill of snow. Winter when will you end? It feels like you've been here forever this year.

I'm the Queen of Procrastination!

Yes, I'm the Queen of Procrastination! (I'll post a picture of my crown later!) No matter how much I know I need to do something I will put it off until the last minute. I have decided that I do this to set myself up for failure. Why you ask? I don't know, but I wish I did. I am going to try really hard to get better about it though because it's really frustrating and embarrassing. I feel overwhelmed like this lady looks.

Do you procrastinate?

Grandkids, Grandkids and My Mallory

Here is a picture taken yesterday of the newest grandbaby, Chad, Jr.

I can't wait to see him in person!!

This is a recent picture of Austin who was born in November.

I think he is about the same size at 2 1/2 months as Chad, Jr. was at birth!

My oldest grand daughter, Sabrina, went to her first semi-formal dance last weekend.

I can't believe how fast she has grown up!

This is Anthony. He's 18 months and he's the one I babysit during the week.

Mallory fried eggs for her and Jace all by herself.
She loves to cook!

I just wanted to share some pics with you of some of the family. Have a wonderful day today.

I have to finish crocheting a baby blanket for a friend.

Looking for a Fun Swap? Check These 2 Out!!

My friend Missy is hosting 2 Fairy Swaps. One is for grown-up's and the other one is for kids. You still have a week or so to go to Missy's blog and sign-up for some fairy fun! We're each going to make a fairy and a wand to send to our partner. Check it out for some magical fun!

Missy's "Luck of the Fae" Fairy Swap

Pixie Children's Wand Swap
Also I just signed up for an Easter Swap, it's called Viv's Easter Egg Hunt Swap. It is easy and sounds like so much fun! All you have to do is to make 2 Easter Eggs out of any medium and send them to Viv. After she receives all of them she will mix them up and send everyone back 2 eggs from 2 different people. Then we have to blog hop and hunt for who's eggs we received. If you'd like to check it out go to Viv's blog.

My New Grandson is Finally Here!

Chad Wescott Kirker, Jr.

was born today, Jan. 20, 2009

at 12:35 pm

He weighs 9lbs. 15oz. and is 20 inches long.

What a wonderful day today is,

it's a wonderful New Beginning for all of us!!

One World One Heart

My Giveaway has closed. Thanks for all who entered and left such nice comments!!

Lisa "oceandreamer" Swifka is hosting One World One Heart again this year. Many thanks to Lisa for giving us all the opportunity to participate in such a fun event again!! The event runs from Jan.19-Feb.11 and prizes will be announced on the Feb. 12.

According to Lisa, "The whole idea behind doing this and trying to get as many as possible to join in, was and is to meet new and wonderful people........... Sometimes we may live on separate continents or at either end of the same country or even discover you hail from the same general area. By paying attention, by connecting with others, we are creating a circle of amazing individuals who can literally enhance our lives and we can enhance theirs."

I participated for the first time last year and I had so much fun and came away with the most amazing feeling. I developed friendships and found some amazing blogs. So far there are over 200 participants so get out there and meet some new people and sign up for some giveaways!

I will be giving away this tote bag that I made. It is springy looking and I am trying to think spring thoughts because it is freezing here!!!

and to another person

I will be giving away one of these hats that I crochet.

I make them out of 100% cotton crochet thread.

You can participate and not be doing a giveaway yourself. That's fine!!! I will also ship my giveaways internationally. So have fun and enjoy OWOH.

Please leave a comment on this post for the giveaway

If I Only Had a Brain!

Remember the other day when I ironed the tote bag and the lining shrunk up on me and got holes in it? Okay, I put new lining in the bag and it turned out fine. I went to make a second matching bag and all's good, I'm almost done and then............I most of lost my brains somewhere!

The handles on the second bag are twisted. I am so mad at myself!! I really think I need a new brain! I don't know what my problem is?!?!? I can't even rip them out and start over again without taking the whole bag and lining apart.
So please, if anyone knows where my brain is please let me know

and while your at it I'll take my old body back too!!

Look, no double chin and no belly!

(This is me when I turned 30. I had just worked very hard and lost 40lbs. after I had my daughter Lexi.)

Melissa is Having A Valentines Giveaway

Melissa is having a Valentines Giveaway.

This is one side of the cute pennant

and this is the other side
Check out her blog to see more of her really cute Valentines she has for sale.

The other day my sweet friend Awtemnymf gave me this award.

Meaning of the Award:
‘This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes for self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propogated. Please give more attention to these writers!’
I honestly never know who to pass awards on to. I really enjoy everyone's blogs and it's so hard to choose a few people. I'm going to give the award though to some of my closest blogging friends that hopefully haven't already received this award from someone else. I know several you that I would list already have the award, Missy, Lindsay-Ann, etc.......

1. Angela is such a sweetie and so talented. Actually, I just read in her blog that she was surprised to be flipping through Somerset Magazine (here's the link to order a copy) yesterday and realized that her work was in the magazine not only once, but twice. Congratulations to Angela!!! Be sure and check out Angela's Etsy Shop, she has the prettiest things in there!
2. Melinda has been a wonderful friend and she is an amazing artist. I am always absolutely blown away with her artwork. Melinda is also being published in the February issue of an Apronology magazine that I think Stampington has. I'm not sure which one but I will definitely let you know when it comes out!
3. Twyla has also been a wonderful friend to me. She is such a great friend and encourager to me. Twyla and Lindsey sell some wonderful vintage things and Lindsey's artwork in their Etsy Shop along with Twyla's crocheted crocheted slippers, scarves and dish clothes.
4. Mary Ann is one of the nicest and funniest people and one of my first blogger friends. Mary Ann is very generous and has made my day many times with surprises at my door. Mary Ann has two Etsy Shops, one with things she finds and the other with some really neat things she makes and her packaging is really nice!! Thanks Mary Ann for bringing a smile to my face so many times!
5. Jean is also a wonderful person. Jean is always there to listen and give advice when needed. She is an amazing woman and is always encouraging us to support other woman by buying from their Etsy Shops. Jean does quilting and she is raising 3 of her grand kids along with work and everything else she does. Jean is an amazing person!
6. Dianne is another sweet friend and she is so talented in her artwork and photography. Dianne has some gorgeous photos on her blog. I want to be a photographer like her when I grow up!
7. Cathy is another not only friend but one of the best sisters anyone could ask for! Cathy was the only one who read my blog for the first several months and she always encourages me. Cathy has a wonderful way of looking at life and is very knowledgeable. Cathy "unschools" her kids and has a blog about unschooling. If you want to get some positive vibes going you definitely need to read Cathy's blog!
8. Lisa always is sweet and makes some of the most incredible things out of polymer clay. She does a lot of other artwork too, but I love her polymer clay stuff. Lisa is involved in Bottles of Hope. She made a beautiful bottle called "Healing Wings" in honor of her daughter who has Juv. Diabetes and is in the top 25 of the Staedtler Fimo clay Bottles of Hope challenge. Congratulations to Lisa!!

Thank you Awtemnymf for the award! You are always such a sweet friend!

Then Super Sweet Sara gave me this award the other day too.

It's a Mom of the Year Award.

I think that all of you moms out there deserve this award!!!!

Well, no baby yet for Chad & Jenn.

The little guy wants a BD of his own I guess!
Jace had a great BD. He liked it he said.

Lexie stopped by and gave him some presents.

Daddy and Jace made cheese and roni pizza

and all of the kids got 3 candles in their pizza to blow out.and Jace got to blow out his candles on his cake.

He had so much fun!

I hope everyone has a great day! It snowed hear again last night, not a lot, but it's still winter.

I'm off to eat a piece of leftover pizza. MMMMmmm!

Today is a Special Day!

Today is not only one of my son's birthdays, but two of them. Chad turns 29 today and Jace turns 3. Wow! I was only 18 when I had Chad and he was my second child. I don't remember it being a big deal at the time, but now I think, wow, 18 and two kids. I was 44 when I had Jace and I remember thinking, wow, how did this happen?!?

Anyway, today was special day 3 years ago and 29 years ago. Happy Birthday to two of the most wonderful boys a mom could ask for!!

Chad holding Jace after he was born

I remember when the Dr. was scheduling my C-Section he said I could schedule it for Jan. 17 or Jan. 26. Of course, by that time I wanted Jace to born ASAP and the 26 didn't really work out for us anyway (one of the nice things about having C-Sections is scheduling the birth!). I called Chad and asked him if it would bother him if I had Jace on his birthday and he said, "Momma, I would be honored to share my birthday with my little brother." Chad is such a sweetie!

Jace and Mallory this morning.

For Jace's Birthday he wants pizza, presents, cupcakes, candles and a song.

Oh Yeah!

and Chad may get his first child,

Chad, Jr.

born today!

Jenn has been dilated to 4cm for the last few days

so keep your fingers crossed!

I'm Really Enjoying Cooking Again!

I absolutely hated cooking at our old place and Earl usually did all of the cooking. Actually, my younger kids thought that I didn't know how to cook. Anyway, at the new house I have cooked all but about 3 nights out of almost a month. It's been so much fun and then Earl bought us a dining room table and it's even more fun now because we can all sit and eat together as a family. At the old house we just ate in the living room in front of the TV. Good parenting, I know! We started saying a prayer before dinner since we are now eating at a table and last night Mallory went and got a prayer book and picked out a prayer to read before dinner. They are enjoying the whole change in our eating routine and so am I. I love this house!!!

This is some chicken fried steak I made the other night.

I haven't made that in years. We had mashed potatoes and corn with it.

Yum!! It was good!

Earl bought a really nice griddle several years ago and I think we only used it a couple of times. I've been cooking on it quite a bit lately and it is really nice!

Last night I made bacon, homemade hash browns and omelets.

This morning I got up and used my griddle again and made Earl an omelet and hash browns for breakfast and sent him some for lunch. The guys at work have been teasing him because I've not only been packing him a lunch, but sending him with so much food. It's about time I took care of Earl a little bit! He always does so much for me!

I also made pancakes for the kids this morning before school.

They were pretty happy with that!

Anyway, have a great day and enjoy whatever it is your doing!

And try to stay warm in this Artic Blast!!!

I'm Old, BUT I'm Not Dead!

I know I'm getting older and I love Earl very much, but there are some people that are just very appealing to the eye. Here's a few men that I think are pretty darn appealing!

This is Handy Manny from his show on the Disney Channel. Handy Manny is a very sweet repair man who's tools talk to him and help him with his daily jobs. BUT, have you seen the man behind Handy Manny??

Handy Manny's voice is done by Wilmer Valderrama.

Wow! Besides having a really nice voice he is so cute!!!!

Then Simon Baker who plays Patrick Jane on CBS's The Mentalist has the cutest smile I have ever seen! I love the show and his smile just makes me happy!

I can't do a post of "appealing" guys though without a picture

of my all time favorite movie star

Johnny Depp!

He has the nicest eyes and of course, he has a great smile too!

Okay, I have to get busy now. I have sewing and housework to do and I have to spend time with Jace, one of my favorite little guys!

Have You Ever Had One of Those Days?

Yesterday I was sewing some tote bags for one of my sisters and I ran out of black thread. I did as much as I could without the black and decided I would have to finish them up when Earl could get to Wal-Mart to buy more thread. Okay, so far no big deal, just an inconvenience. Then I decided to iron the top of the bag so it would be ready for top stitching. I set my iron on the usual setting and placed it on the tan fabric, which is kind of like a jean fabric. The steam part on my iron broke a week or so before Christmas and it just doesn't iron the same any more.

Anyway, I started to iron the bag and something just didn't feel right. I take the bag off and look inside and look what happened to the lining!! It melted and got a hole in it. This would be one of the only times my mom would have sworn when we were kids and I did not neglect to follow in her foot steps. Damn! I had the whole bag done except for top stitching. Now I have to rip out the lining and redo that whole part.

I had to have Earl go to Wal-Mart this morning and buy me some more black fabric. I told him to get cotton or a cotton blend and the sales lady kept telling him, "NO, I'm sure she wants the nylonor a nylon/poly blend for lining." Earl stuck to his guns and got me the cotton. I'm not taking my chances on it melting again! Well, today I'll try to finish the tote bags and hopefully they'll turn out right this time! Wish me luck!

Our Belated Family Christmas Dinner

With moving and the weather we just had all 8 of the kids and their families over for a Christmas dinner on Saturday. It was so nice! There were just a few presents, mainly for the little kids, but that didn't even seem to matter to anyone. Earl had a great time talking to my boys. This is Jesse and Jeremy. I made the boys favorite Broccoli Soup with garlic bread from when they were little and Earl made the younger kids favorite Chicken Noodle Soup. Then we had all kinds of other things to eat too, but the soups were the big hit.

My two oldest granddaughters, Sabrina and Vivianna, are growing into beautiful young girls and my DIL looks so cute with her little baby belly. She is due May 31st with a boy!!! Vivianna had gotten an iPod for Christmas so I spent some time with her uploading songs. It was fun spending the time with her. I learned that she likes Demi Lavota and The Jonas Brothers.

When I was moving I found the boys old sports cards. Chad was so excited and couldn't wait to go through them. He gave Ezie a couple, but he wanted to take them home and really go through all of them. I also had found and washed the boys stuffed animals from when they were little. I couldn't believe how excited they were to see there old stuffed friends. Jeremy gave his first Teddy Bear to his son Austin, Jesse took his Smurf Bunny to give to Jesse, Jr. when he is born in May or June, and Daniel took some of his for Jordan and T.J. It was fun seeing the smile on the boys faces and talking about the memories they had.

The twins and Jace had a great time in the pac-n-play. The twins didn't want to stay off the stairs so this was the answer and they didn't seem to mind. Mallory felt so pretty in her new dress that I got the night before at Wal-Mart for $4.00.

This is Daniel.

I had found this blanket that my sister, Cathy, had made for Jesse when he was born. Cathy was only 12 or so and she embroidered all of the Sesame Street characters on the blocks and stitched the quilt together. Jesse was really excited to see it and took it home for his new son.
Here is a picture of my daughter Lexie and me. I don't know where that extra chin came from on me?? Damn!
All in all it was a wonderful night. My DIL Jenn is due next Tuesday with their first baby and she is so cute (and uncomfortable) being pregnant. My new grandson Austin got passed around and enjoyed by all. The little kids all had fun playing and the older kids all had fun going through their memories I had stored away for them. I'm so glad I kept some of their things from when they were little. It made a great night for all! I'm so lucky to have such a great family!!!

A Giveaway At Quilting Ranny

Jean at Quilting Ranny is having a couple of giveaways. Make sure you visit her blog before Jan. 15 to enter. One giveaway is for a cute little granny sitting in a rocking chair and a copy of the book “Getting’ Old Ain’t For Whimps”
http://quiltingranny.blogspot.com/2008/12/janaury-1-15th-giveaway-2-over-hill.html
The other giveaway is for 3 glass orbs/paperweights. They are really pretty!
http://quiltingranny.blogspot.com/2008/12/janaury-1-15th-giveaway-2-over-hill.html

Make sure and visit Jean, she is a wonderful person and blog friend!

An Expensive Lesson

Most of us learn that mom's have eyes in the back of their heads at an early age. As children we can usually not quite figure out how moms know so much. As we get older our moms get incredibly stupid, but that's another story.

Anyway, my cutie pie, newly turned 10 year old son decided to get curious Wed. and check out sites he isn't allowed to check out. Guess what? Mom found out because all kinds of "System Security" stuff started appearing all over the computer, the computer that we just got connected to the Internet the day before. We questioned the kids to see who had been on the computer and a very guilty and scared little boy admitted to it. Slowly over about a 10 minute time period my cutie pie confessed to pulling up sites he shouldn't have been on. We talked to him and I said I would fix it but next time he would be grounded from the computer if he went on sites he knew he wasn't allowed to go on. We reminded him that mom has ways of finding out where they've been on the computer.

Quite confident in my computer knowledge I thought something bad had entered the computer so I ran a virus scan and was going to get rid of whatever it was. Wow! Was I ever wrong! The problem just kept getting worse. The "System Security" turned out to be a virus that my cutie pie authorized to enter our computer by simply clicking "YES" to a pop up and by telling our real security system that it was okay for it to enter. To make a long story short, we lost all connection to the Internet and my virus scanner couldn't pick up the virus. It cost us $9.75 to talk to a person from McAfee to get the number to priority technical support. It cost us another $89.95 to talk to and turn complete control of our computer over to a very nice lady from McAfee who fixed our computer in about a 1/2 hours time. I can't believe how expensive it was to fix the computer and with money that we didn't have! There is no way I could have fixed it myself though and so we paid the price.


Lessons Learned:

1. Inform kids NOT to push yes to anything on the computer without asking mom first.


2. Check into parental controls for the computer.


3. and the hardest lesson for me is to NOT think my baby is as Innocent as I thought he was. I'm not ready for prepuberity to start. I've gone through it with 4 boys and 1 girl already and I AM NOT READY FOR IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN, not yet anyway!!!!


4. and the lesson for the kids is to NEVER, EVER forget that mom does have eyes in the back of her head and you will get caught at what you do. Maybe not right away, but eventually, you will get caught!