Catching Up

Here are a few things to catch up on what we've been up to in my blogging absence, in no particular order!

Here are the little E's on Easter this year.

Their Easter baskets.

Emily collects Ever After High dolls and I found one she didn't have. Ethan's love language is pretty much sugar. His basket had a lot of goodies and he was super excited.

Here is the wreath I made for Easter, thank you Pinterest!

Emily had to get glasses.

Ethan played basketball this year. The practices nearly killed me. 8pm on Monday & Tuesday nights! Who does that? After 8pm I have no filter or patience. My bedtime is usually right after the kids. Theirs is 8:30, so this was a labor of love. But, they finished #1.

Ethan turned 12.

He started middle school this school year and he plays percussion in the band. That's him in the back looking away from the camera. He was playing the cowbell for this song. I told him he did great, but I could have used some more cowbell. #igotafever

If you have no clue what I just said about the cowbell, you have to google it. Trust me. Hilarity.

Mark's grandma turned 90 and we partied hardy.

For Halloween Emily was a crazy cat lady.

Speaking of cats, we still have Tazzycat.

She is really a good cat. In fact, we enjoy her so much that we were considering a second cat. I started looking around at different shelters and such.

But in December, our house was burglarized. Yeppers, that was fun. They smashed our back window with a cinder block, took the tv, laptops, ALL my jewelry, and used my pillowcases to hold it all. They also stole my camera, so all these pictures are from my tablet. And in true Grinch fashion, they took the presents under the tree.

So after that, and talking about added security measures, we thought maybe we needed a dog. One that when people come to the door would bark. I thought this would be another added thing to scare off potential or would be burglars.

But I didn't want a puppy with all the training they would need and I really didn't want one that would shed badly.

 Anyway, one day in January Mark came home with this little girl.

Haha! She was probably about 3 lbs! And she's full grown. We named her Poppie. And she has a fierce bite. Ask my husband! She was laying next to me and he was getting into bed. Jealousy ensued. Their friends now, so it's worked out.

Ok, I normally wouldn't blog about this, but it's my blog and I'm going to blog about it anyway.

This was me in June of last year.

I found out my thyroid wasn't working, started meds for that,  joined Weight Watchers and then just started eating better.

Here's a picture of my and my mom at Easter.

It's not a full body shot, but I'm 67 lbs lighter. I'm still not done. I have about 20 lbs left to go until I reach my first goal.

Lastly, I decided to get this dresser out of our closet and do something with it.

After doing some major research on what to do with it, I decided to use chalk paint and paint it, I spray painted the hardware a metallic silver and it has turned out beautifully.

Here's the after.

It's Friday, peeps! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Jennifer

What I'm Loving!

I thought it would be fun to show you a few things I'm currently loving...


#1.  This isn't anything new I'm loving, and it's no secret...

Man do I love a good Diet Coke, and the best is from McDonald's. I'm not sure why their Diet Coke is so good and strong, but it sure 'nuff is.

I saw these cookies  on Pinterest the other day. I may or may not be a little jealous I didn't think of these first.

And I also saw this shirt I think I need.

And my birthday is coming up. I think this cake has my name on it. For reals!

#2. Did you catch this mini series? I really enjoyed it. We DVR'd all the episodes. I was so moved by the final episode, I went back and watched it a second time. I loved the way it brought so much of the Bible history to life!

#3. Am I the last one to jump on the bubble necklace bandwagon?

I love this one! I think I need a trip to Sam Moon soon for a bubble necklace!

#4. I'm loving this ecard because I do this!

Ha! Mark hates that I do this and I know I shouldn't, but I always wait until after my light goes off before I get gas. I think I have it down how far I can go after the light goes off, and I've never run out of gas *yet*, but never say never! I just hate having to stop off and get gas, but it's a necessary evil. Can anyone else relate?

#5. In a previous post I proclaimed my love for Whataburger!

Yes sir, Whataburger is the bomb.com! Nom, nom, nom. Their Diet Coke isn't bad either.


#6. Last but not least, I'm loving this toothless grin.

Baby girl lost her first front tooth! I can't wait until the other one comes out and she'll have that big gap up front. I swear there is sugar in her cheeks! So sweet !

Open Letter To All My Appliances & Electronics

*Warning, what you are about to read is not my normal happy, smiley, sunshiny work of art it normally is. It's  true, down right childish complaining. If you like my normal syrupy writing, you might want to skip. If you want to hear me rant, well keep reading my friends.*

Dear All My Appliances & Electronics in my home,

What's up with ya'll? Do ya'll get together when we are not home and decide who's going to stop working next? Seriously. It's not funny anymore.

Last summer, when it was eleventy hundred degrees outside and when we were 100+ days without rain, the outside air conditioner unit quit. Yeah, that sucked. But so far this year, our water heater, both lawn mowers, microwave, DVD player and now that it's eleventy hundred degrees again, the inside AC unit is acting up.Oh, and my husbands computer died. Dead in the water, dead.

Life this past week has given me lemons. I'm tired. Thanks to my AC, I'm occasionally hot. My kids are using my laptop to watch movies, and I can't read all the status' of the people I went to high school with on Facebook. This is important. Even though we didn't talk in high school and if they saw me on the street we probably still wouldn't speak.

I slipped and fell at work the other day in the break room. Someone spilled water on the floor (and didn't wipe it up, lazy bafoons) and I stepped in it and fell right on by badonkadonk. The only good thing about this is no one saw me.


I found some cute chunky wedged shoe sandals on clearance at Target for $7.48. I thought you can't pass a deal like that up, so I purchased them. I showed them to my mom and she told me they looked uncomfortable instead of cute like I thought she would. I wore them to church today and I almost tripped again wearing said shoes coming in the door. *Sigh*. Said shoes also rubbed the top of my right foot (which is my bigger foot) and gave me a blister. *Sigh Again.*

My kids managed to truly tick my dad off to the point he lost his cool. And this man is usually the poster child for patience. Imagine my embarrassment.

The aforementioned being said, I would appreciate if you guys would give me a break for a while. We replaced the water heater, got a new lawnmower, microwave and computer. We're dealing with the DVD and on occasion, the AC when it acts up. I think my kids and my cute (I hate to say uncomfortable, but they really are) shoes are a lost cause. I say, nothing else breaks until at least next year. I don't think that's too much to ask.

I hope this next week gives me roses and sunshine. Or at least some sugar, water, a lemon juice squeezy thing, a spoon and a pitcher to go with the lemons it throws at me.

Until then, stay working and running!

Jennifer

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII..... Love a Parade!!!

I'll admit it. I'm not ashamed. I'll just announce it!

"I'm in love. I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!"
 Anybody guess what movie that's from?

I'm in love with nostalgia. I long for simpler times. I love small towns, parades, local carnivals, county fairs & farmers markets. I love the fact that my children are going to school with and are friends with children of people I went to school with. I love church potlucks, cookie exchanges, driving by our small town's "Yard of the Month" to check it out, etc., etc. You get the idea.

Well I should be happy as a lark today. My family visited a nearby town for their local parade, which by the way, Stinkbug was in! That makes two parades he's been in this year. Wowsa!!

So, if you can stand a little small town charm, here are some pictures.

Granny & Emily waiting for the parade.

Check out my dad's new hat! He loves that thing! He gets lots of compliments by the way.

Me & Ladybug. The sun was in our eyes.

Yes, we are from Texas. Here's a Texas steer to prove it! (Ahem, Hook 'Em Horns!!!)

He wasn't happy about riding in the train. He said it was for babies. I talked him into it.

What's that? A wave? Why Stinkbug, I think you're having fun!!

No explanation for this one.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I already have.

Gotta love these things. Emily wouldn't put her head in there. Buzzkill.

Just me

When I read other blogs, and believe me I read alot of other blogs, I enjoy when the blogger tells a little about themselves. I like getting to know the person as well as the family. I like to feel like I know the blogger. About their family, their likes & dislikes, their favorite foods, how they met their spouse, what they like to do in their spare time and their quirkiness. So, tonight I going to tell you a little about me.

I'm an only child. I was born and raised in Texas. I have never lived outside the great state of Texas. I'm proud to be Texan. I love to wear lipstick. I have like 50 tubes of lipstick in my bathroom but only wear like 5 of them. I crack my knuckles. And my writs, knees, neck, etc. It's my vice... mmkay?! I don't smoke or drink. I am a Christian. My husband is a preacher and is the pastor of our church. I open my mouth when I apply mascara. I don't know why and I'm aware I'm doing it and try to close my mouth, but it's weird. I automatically open my mouth as soon as the brush hits the lashes. I have dark brown hair. I tried to go red for a while, the hub didn't like it so needless to say, I have dark brown hair. I don't recycle. One of my pet peeves are people (and you know who you are) who don't change the toilet paper rolls. I have to erase messages off the machine quickly. I can't stand the blinking 1 or 2 or 3 on the machine. It taunts me with every blink. I have fought a weight battle all my life. Still do. I rarely sit down and watch t.v. Our television stays on Nickelodeon or the Disney channel. We recently (this past Christmas) got a second t.v and put it in our bedroom. I usually turn it on and watch Conan's opening monologue, then I'm out. I loath going to Wal-Mart in our neighboring town. It's always crowded and I always have to park way, way, way out and have you seen pictures of the people of Wal-Mart on the internet? Those pictures are very real and true, people. I've seen them first hand at the Wal-Mart I have to go to. Not pretty. We don't have a Wal-Mart in our town. I loath that, too. That's weird considering I loath Wal-Mart. The chore I dislike the most is sweeping and moping my kitchen floor. It shows. *Sigh* I don't get why the word "Epic" is so popular. I hear it everywhere. On t.v. "It's their most epic adventure." or from people at work, "That was an epic failure." I. Don't. Get. It. I want a new oven badly. I'm still cooking on the original 1979 harvest gold one that came with the house. I tell my husband daily. I'm sure he's tired of my griping. I'm pretty sure I sound like the teacher from the Peanuts cartoon when I talk to him. You know the "wha wha wha" teacher. I like the rain. I would like it even more if it rained here. We're 40+ days without rain here in central Texas. I don't count the 5 raindrops that landed on my car yesterday afternoon. 

All that being said, I love my family. I'm very lucky to have wonderful parents. I love my husband. I married him when I was 18 and we will be married 15 years this coming February. I grieve my two boys, Chandler & Max everyday. I'm so thankful for Ethan. He gave life back to me after the loss of my Chandler. Just thinking about my little Emily makes me smile. I love her little freckles that have come out across her cheeks. I would love my husband to make enough money for me to be a stay at home wife & mommy. Until then, I thank my God. You have truly blessed me.

Oh, yeah. One other thing I did for Emily's 5th birthday. I'm quite proud this actually came out OK since I don't know how to sew. I did learn a few pointers for next time, though.

Started with this.

Ended up with this.

See how the Emily slightly and ever so gradually slants down? Oh well. Yeah me!!!!