Happy Labor Day Weekend

and End of Summer!!!

Sorry if you have checked in lately and have not found anything new posted especially for Tot School, Preschool Corner, Wordless Wednesday or CVS Challenge. The last few weeks of summer have been getting the best of me along with some health issues so I am wiped out!

We are still having fun and learning lots of new things, I have just run out of time to write about them. Hopefully next week when the big guy starts school again, I will have some more free time.

I have been cooking a lot and trying lots of new Pioneer Woman recipes for my other blog which you can read here . \

and the boys are very excited to start their Flat Stanley project which I will be writing about real soon!!!!

I Am a Member....

I am so giddy with excitement!!!!!

Kristen from the awesome blog "We are THAT Family" just posted a little snippet about my blog and has officially inducted me into her "society"!!!

I am so happy you would think I won an Academy Award.

If you are ever in need of a good laugh, stop by Kristen's blog for some real honest family humor! Her blog always puts a smile on my face and I am proud to be a part of her clan!!!

100th Post - 100 Things About Me

In honor of my blog's 100th post and in keeping up with blogging tradition, here is a list of 100 things that you may or may not know about me:

10 Things That I Love -
1. My children
2. My husband
3. My family
4. Camping
5. The smell of a sweaty horse mixed with leather
6. Amish and Mennonite Communities, especially Farmer's Markets and Quilts
7. Photography
8. Sunrises
9. The sound of my children's laughter
10. The absolute delight on my children's face and the sound of the voice when they are excited, especially when they see something cool for the first time

10 Things That I Hate -
11. People who make rude and hurtful comments unknowingly. Such as my mom's friend who wanted to know why my hair was going so grey or the extended family member who told my friend that she was nervous that I brought my son to her house.
12. People who talk during movies (although I myself am guilty of this)
13. Traffic
14. Spiders and all bugs in general
15. Raising my voice to my kids
16. Rodents
17. The smell of anything menthol
18. The smell of licorice
19. Cleaning out my car
20. The end of a fun day

10 Favorite Foods -
21. Baked Macaroni & Cheese
22. Barbecued Brisket
23. Lobster
24. Sushi
25. Aunt Nina's Cheesecake
26. Pulled Pork Sandwiches
27. Baked Beans
28. Hot Dogs with Cole Slaw
29. Baked Ham
30. Christmas cookies

10 Favorite Movies -
(I know my favorites are a little eclectic)
31. Jaws
32. Gone With The Wind
33. Amityville Horror
34. The Omen
35. The Exorcist
36. Audrey Rose
37. Anything with Doris Day
38. It's A Wonderful Life
39. Roman Holiday
40. Silkwood

10 Favorite Songs/Bands -
(almost as eclectic as my movie favs)
41. Shameless - Garth Brooks
42. Original Sin - Elton John
43. Anything Metallica
44. Anything Led Zeppelin
45. Anything Christmas especially Bing Crosby
46. Anything Bee Gees
47. Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
48. Anything Tim Mc Graw
49. She Moved Through The Fair (An Irish song)
50. A Frog Went A Courtin' - Lauri Berkner (sing this one even without the kids being around)

10 Places I Have Been -
51. Hawaii
52. Florida
53. New Mexico
54. Texas
55. California
56. Italy
57. England
58. Ireland
59. Minnesota
60. Las Vegas

10 Places I Would Love To Go/Or Go Back -
61. Greece
62. Egypt
63. Tahiti
64. Hawaii
65. Ireland
66. Canada
67. Maine
68. Seattle
69. San Diego Zoo
70. Germany

10 Things I Would Like To Change About Me -
71. Have more patience
72. Be more forgiving
73. Not be so judgemental of myself
74. Lose 2 year old "baby weight"
75. Pay more attention to my own health
76. Not be afraid of heights
77. Be a better cook
78. Not be so obsessive over certain things
79. Show my emotions more
80. Not care what others think

10 People I Would Love To Meet -
81. Martha Stewart
82. Stephen King
83. Oprah Winfrey
84. Ellen DeGeneres
85. Carey Grant (I know he died but I would have love to have met him)
86. Audrey Hepburn (I know she is gone too)
87. Walt Disney (I have to get off the dead theme)
88. Paula Deen
89. Temple Grandin
90. Josh Holloway

10 Favorite Things Growing Up -
91. Reading Little Women
92. Watching Little House on The Prairie
93. Horses
94. The Smurfs
95. Reading Shel Silverstein's Where The Sidewalk Ends
96. Playing board games with friends, especially Monopoly and Pay Day
97. Riding my bike
98. Camping with my family
99. Saturday nights watching Dance Fever, Solid Gold and The Love Boat
100. Going with my Dad every Thursday night for ice-cream and stickers for my collection.

New Blog Header

I love my new blog header, do you? Thank you April for my adorable princess and her two little frogs!!!!

If you are interested in a new blog design or even a few little touches check out her site, April Showers Blog Design - she really does good work.

P.S. Grab my new button, it is on my sidebar now!

My Second Blog Award

I wanted to say thank you to Jenny at Our Nifty Notebook for nominating me for my second blog award. I love Jenny's blog and it is one that I frequent often.

Award Rules:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

Pass the award to 15 (or whatever number of) other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.

Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Here are some blogs that I have come across recently and enjoy ( I only chose to list 5 since the rules suggest listing newly discovered blogs and I haven't had the chance to look for many new ones):

1. Painting Pink Pajamas

2. Seeking Imperfection

3. Controlling My Chaos

4. Preschool Playbook

5. Bizzy Bee

Thanks again to Jenny at Our Nifty Notebook, please check her blog out too!

Memorial Day!!!

As I sit here this morning finalizing our family's plans for the holiday weekend. I wanted to wish my family, friends and e-buddies a safe and happy holiday.

Remember to take a moment to remember and be thankful for all the men and women who fought and those who are still fighting for the things we have!

LIVESTRONG Challenge - For Jonathan

Awhile back I posted about my "blog" friend Jonathan White and how I thought he was truly an inspirational young man. Well, I am giving Jonathan another "shout out" tonight.

Jonathan and his friend Gena are taking part in the Lance Armstrong Foundations, LiveStrong Challenge. Here is something that Jonathan recently posted on his blog:

"While fighting cancer there is a lot of things I can't do, my abilities are limited. But one that I can do is to Raise money to help with the fight against cancer. With this Challenge I will be able to cross two things off of my list. To raise at least $20,000 in finding a cure for cancer and to meet Lance Armstrong. I posted in a previous blog a picture of Lance Armstrong's Autograph that was sent to me and I cannot wait until October when I can write a blog about my experience and share the photo of me riding with Lance!So now I am asking for your help. Whether you have $5, $20, or any amount to donate every little bit helps. So please support me and others fighting cancer by helping Gena and myself reach our goal for the Livestrong Challenge. By donating what you can and by telling your friends, we can all make an impact on the fight against cancer. Please pass on this post and more importantly the URL to Our Livestrong Challenge Site."

http://austin09.livestrong.org/rltt

I know that times are tough for everyone now but according to the American Cancer Society's new statistics the new numbers are 1 in 3 people will be diagnosed with some kind of cancer in their lifetime. That is very scary odds when I think that my husband, myself and children are 4!

Be it $5, $10, $50, $100, think about it, please!!! It is a great way to support or remember a loved one or family member.

"8 Is Enough" Tag Game

I got tagged this morning by Jenny for Our Nifty Notebook to play "8 is Enough" with her so here you go:

8 Things That I Am Looking Forward To:

1. Planting flowers and veggies in the garden
2. Summer and all that goes along with it
3. Memorial Day at the lake
4. Old Age (not that I am old now, I just pray everyday that I make it there)
5. Taking my boys to Disney World (no plans yet but still look forward to it nonetheless)
6. Going camping
7. Halloween (a favorite time of the year)
8. Christmas (my most favorite time of the year)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Took my son to preschool
2. Cleaned out the back of my car (I know one person who is reading this and laughing knowing exactly how long it took me.
3. Took a nap with my boys
4. Painted pictures with my boys
5. Took my son to Karate
6. Spent 2 hours making favors for my son's birthday (I will post more about that later but I am still recovering)
7. Clipped coupons
8. Realized at 11:00 p.m. that I had no pull-ups/diapers in the house (nor the garage, nor the car, plus my husband was working so there was no way to run out and get any - I get the "Bad Mommy Award" for that one)

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Sing better
2. Play the guitar like Laurie Berkner (my kids would love that)
3. Sew better
4. Cook better
5. Travel abroad
6. Blink, and my house would be clean - Jeannie in the bottle style!
7. Find new patio furniture under $1,000 including the umbrella that doesn't look like it or feel like it is made by soldering tin cans.
8. Go to the bathroom without company or having to yell "what are you doing"

8 Shows I Watch:

1. Lost
2. Rescue Me
3. Beverly Hills 90210 (I will grow up someday but that will have to wait because Donna Martin is back)
4. Privileged
5. The Big Bang Theory
6. Cupid
7. Big Brother (when it is on of course, I know - there are support groups for people like me)
8. Anything on the food channel

8 People I Tag To Play Along:

1. Because Babies Grow Up
2. Explorations in Learning
3. Play, Explore and Learn
4. Jenny and the Princess Peonies
5. Orchard View Cottage
6. Letters, Numbers and Books, Oh My!
7. This Is My Life
8. A Listmaker's Life

If you have the time, please play along and pass this on to 8 more. Sometimes it can be fun to just sit back and write down somethings that make us smile. I am still laughing at the fact that I cleaned the back of my car yesterday! You had to see it to believe it.

My First Blog Award - Thanks Amber!!!

I am so excited, I could scream!!! I received my first blog award this weekend.


I was nominated by Amber over at http://becausebabiesgrowup.com/. If you have never had the chance to look around Amber's blog, please do. She has some great ideas including her Music Mondays which I absolutely love. It is through Amber's Music Monday posts that I had contacted her, I was on a search for a blog post that I recently saw but could not remember where I saw it. I had contacted Amber because I thought that it was possibly on her blog, well it was not but Amber took the time to help me find it - she is a great blogger friend!! I wish I could send this award right back to her but I am going to pass it along to some blogs that have never received this award and honor them too. Thanks again, Amber!!

The rules of the award are as follows:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog.

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4) Add links to those blogs on your blog.

5) Add links to those blogs on your blog.

Here are my nominees:

1) Our Nifty Notebook (http://ourniftynotebook.blogspot.com/)

2) Manic Mother (http://manicmother.com/)

3) Jenny & The Princess Peonies (http://conversationswithacraftingfool.blogspot.com/)

4) If I Only Had Super Powers (http://ifionlyhadsuperpowers.blogspot.com/)

5) Life's Little Journey (http://orchardviewcottage.blogspot.com/)

6) Nathan White Family - Livestrong (http://nathanwhitefamily.blogspot.com/)

7) Puking Pastilles (http://pukingpastilles.com)

There's A Party Going On Right Here....

A celebration to last throughtout the year. So bring your good times and your laughter too. Okay, now that will be stuck in my head all night. If you haven't already joined the 2009 ULTIMATE BLOG PARTY hosted by 5 MINUTES for Mom.com, you really should. It is a great way to meet new bloggers and win some fabulous prizes.

My three top prize choices to win would be:
#19 -$50.00 gift card to Target (provided by Shoot-me-now.com)
#89 -$100.00 gift card to Home Goods
#91 - $25.00 gift card to Target (provided by Mummydeals.org)

Go check it out yourself, just use the link on my sidebar!

The Organized Blog

I have recently realized that alot of people out there have themed days to keep themselves and their thoughts organized. Since I am always looking for something to organize, I hearby set forth the following schedule:

Monday: Muffin Monday OR Make Something Monday

Tuesday: Teaching Tuesday

Wednesday: Workbook Wednesday

Thursday: Thoughtful Thursday (tips, thoughts, etc)

Friday: Fun Finds Friday

Since I will be joining the Blog Party over at "5 Minutes for Mom" this week, checking out some blogs I have never seen before (always looking for a good one) and taking advantage of all those great give-aways, I figured some new readers may stumble on my end of the universe and realize that this blog is fairly new but that they may want to stick around to see me fill in my weekly posts.

MY GOAL FOR THIS WEEK- Stick to new blog schedule