Giveaway

To celebrate back to school, I am giving away a small lunch tote from Thirty-One.  All you have to do is look at the new catalog and pick something you love.  Leave a comment to let me know your favorite thing and you will be entered in the drawing.  Who knows I may be giving away something you love too:).

Tip:  The last few pages of the catalog show all of the products.  You don't have to look through the whole thing.  Just skip to the end.

Visiting Artists

Talan and Pacee came over today.  Eric and I worked on adding stepping stones (cheaper than concrete) to cover up the mud hole area by the windows. which will help with my sanity (translation- muddy dogs driving me nuts).  Pacee helped a lot.  We then cleaned the windows.  The kids broke out the window markers and crayons and had a lot of fun decorating them.  I love these markers and crayons.  Not only does it get their creativity going, it would also be a great way to keep a child entertained on a long trip.  The car window next to a child would be beautiful at the end of the journey.  

 This is Talan with his drawing of Sweetheart the Tortoise.

This is Hattie's drawing of Sweetheart.

Here is Hattie explaining her drawing to me.  It is two dogs in love, but the girl is a wolf (left) and has been captured.   The one on the right is Sheldon.  Also, this was drawn at 4:00.  Hattie was still wearing her pjs.  All of the other children had gone outside many times to play with Sweetheart.  Hattie opted to stay in the air conditioning, which to her gave her a pass on getting dressed.

I have other pictures, but blogger has changed its format, and I am having trouble adding more.  I'll try again later.

Extreme Make-Believe

Emogene and Hattie love horses. They love to pretend to ride them and play with them. The names of the horses are usually Black Beauty, Pie, Blueberry, and Flicka. I was at a Thirty-One party last weekend and came home to find Eric bubbling with excitement to tell me a story from his day.

Here was his story:

As Eric was grilling in the driveway, Emogene and Hattie were playing in the front yard. They had been "riding" horses. Eric walked in to grab something and when he returned, Hattie was crying hysterically. He ran towards her asking what was wrong. Hattie was running in a large circle, crying. She said, "Emma's horse won't stop. I've told it to stop, but it won't." She kept running while hysterically crying. "Please Emma, tell it to stop." Emogene then said, "Stop Flicka." Hattie slowed down and pulled on the reigns. Whew! She was safe.

I also found out that Emogene's horse threw her. She fell back and to the side.

I think the imagination is going a little overboard. Eric didn't help the next morning. The girls wanted to take the horses with us to church so they could ride them at Nannie and Paw Paw's house.

Eric backed into the yard.

He lowered the hitch.

Emogene rode Flicka around to the trailer.

While Eric held the trailer gate open, Hattie walked Pie into the trailer.

They made sure the door was closed and the horses were happy.

We also made sure nobody at church ran into the trailer while they walked near our van.

Growing Too Quickly

I took Emogene out for a photo shoot today. I didn't order her pictures from school so I had to make my own. We missed picture ordering time while we were in China. I didn't like them too much anyway.

She was a little reluctant, but gave me some pretty smiles.

Emogene is getting concerned that she doesn't have a front tooth. I reassured her that it is up there and will arrive soon. I'm glad I got to take these pictures to remember that missing tooth. She is growing too quickly. At this age, she still wants to please us. She wants to marry her friend Jake and talks about how that will happen and her concerns about him living in South Africa. She wants us to move to South Africa and help orphans. Her favorite channel is Anim*l Pl*net and can tell you some interesting animal facts. She is always concerned about animals and wants to help them. Right now she worries about the oil spill and its effect on the dolphins and whales. She wants to read all the time and as read several chapter books this summer. She is excited about the third grade and looks forward to turning nine. She also can't wait to have her own bedroom so she can sleep alone (Hattie climbs into her bed every night.). She doesn't get emotional about sad things, but she told me the other day she gets teary-eyed when she thinks about living on a farm. This is her dream. I would love to find a farm and stay for a few days for her to help out and live out her dream if just for a little while. She talks about wanting a horse one day. We watch horse movies very often. She and Hattie gallop around the house, store, driveway, and school pretending that they are riding a horse. Eric and I do want to get some land one day and have some farm animals. Emogene would be living her dream. I hope we can do it before she is 18. Our Emogene is such a precious and caring freckle-faced girl and we are blessed by her love and smile every day.

To read other Sunday Snapshot blog entries click on the camera.

I'm Organized!

I have a new friend that just knows me so well. Her name is Laura. She was a student's mom, and she recently had a Thirty-One party for me. While I was talking to a client about Thirty-One, Laura said something that described me to a tee. "I can just see your house being so organized. You probably have labels on everything."

Oh, Laura, you know me so well. You may be my favorite person. Here are some pictures of my organized, labeled house.

Beautiful Babies

"To us, a boa giving birth is nasty, but to a boa, it is the most beautiful thing."

-Emogene

Mommy, My Arms Hurt

Hattie's Day

On July 8, 2004, Eric and I bought our house. Before heading back to my parents, we stopped at our new house. While using our bathroom I lost something. I won't go into detail about that part. I stayed up most of that night and into the early morning of July 9, 2004. I sat at my dad's computer playing cards and keeping track of contractions. I tried many times to go to bed. After waking up many times in pain, I decided to tell Eric that I thought I was in labor. Eric let me know that it wasn't a good day for him. He had a lot of work to do and needed me to wait one more day. As usual, I ignored him. I took my time getting ready. I bathed Emogene. I went to wake up my mom to tell her we were going to the hospital and that she and Emogene could come when they got ready. My mom was kind enough to let me know that I was going a day early. You see, I was supposed to be induced on July 10th. I told my mom that I thought I was in labor and we were going now. Eric and I stopped to get some breakfast before heading to the hospital. I didn't want to labor all day and be hungry. We had called Aunt Boofer (my sister Brittany) to meet us there. She was going to film everything. She had worked all night and informed us that this BETTER be the real deal, because she was tired. My contractions were about 1 and 1/2 minutes apart, and I was at 4 cm when they checked. They decided to admit me at about 7:00am. The rest of the family started arriving. Even though I was doing okay on my own, they gave me pitocin anyway. That stuff is evil. I requested no filming or photography until an epidural was in effect. I was NOT in a good mood. My sister Risti arrived with her stack of magazines and kids in a stroller. She was ready for a long labor day. After the epidural was in place and my water was broken, they checked me again. I was doing well, but not quite there. Before the nurses had finished writing down everything and fixing machines and whatever else they did, I told them that I felt a little different. The nurse decided to go ahead and check me one more time before leaving the room. I was 10 cm! I was so excited. The doctor had told me earlier in the morning that I was racing a mother of about to be four children. I wanted to win. Eric and Brittany came in and we waited and waited. I laughed and laughed because Eric is so funny. Brittany was a little nervous with all the laughing, because she didn't want to deliver the baby. Our cell phones rang and rang and rang. The family members in the waiting room were getting very aggravated that we didn't answer. Brittany decided to ask about my nurse. We were told she went to lunch. You heard that right. After determining that I was 10 cm, she went to eat lunch for an hour. We were not happy. When she returned, slightly aware that we were perturbed, she had me practice pushing. One push and she was hollering for the doctor and telling me to NOT push again. She tried to justify her lunch break by telling us the baby was really high when she left. I guess all the laughing caused the baby to start making its way down. I pushed three times. We saw a GIGANTIC hand on the cheek of a precious baby and immediately guessed that it was a boy. We were very surprised to hear, "It's a girl!" We all cried. Eric cut the cord and we announced our babies name, "Hattie Jane." She was born right after lunch. Hattie began nursing right away and didn't want to stop. The rest of the family came in to meet Hattie. Emogene was such an excited sister. She wanted to hold her and give her kisses. Risti was shocked that I didn't labor for 16 hours, and I beat the lady that had twice as many kids. July 9th, 2004 was the day my precious, spunky, beautiful, and never-a-dull-moment Hattie was born. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.

Today we celebrated her sixth birthday.

We said goodbye to her long hair.

She wanted her hair cut for her birthday. She was so excited.

She had kept us informed on how many days until her birthday. Every time I brushed her hair, I would remind her how many more hair fixings we would do before she cut her hair off. We then went to have her party. We had it at the bowling alley.

She had lots of fun bowling and got some spares and a strike.

Lydda was a happy spectator until...

I let her bowl one time. She thought it was great and giggled as she watched her ball.

It all went down hill after that. She wasn't happy unless she was bowling. She started screaming as soon as the ball started down the lane. She wanted to bowl, but didn't want the ball to go away. I think she also got mad at me a lot because I was helping her throw it. Little miss independent wanted to do it herself. She took off down the lane one time. I am glad I didn't bust it while getting her.

Nannie got some Lydda love time. Lydda wasn't always happy about it.

She was pretty much okay with Nannie until I started letting her bowl. Then, she wasn't happy with anyone.

Hattie had great technique. She would run at full speed and then chuck her ball down the lane. I was expecting the floor to break. We were also waiting for her to go flying down the lane with it.

Emogene had her eye on something. She had a lot of fun too.

Talan was the winner on his lane.

Aidan was Mr. Cool.

Galen had his eye on the score.

Grady stopped to see if he knocked anything down.

Saren gave me a pretty smile while she waited for her turn.

Jake (Emogene's future husband) was bummed that we only played one game.

I think he had fun with new friends. I am going to miss him when he moves to South Africa. That is going to be sooome long distance relationship.

Bella, oh Bella. She spent some time in the car while we bowled. Lydda bowled for her. She came back in a much better mood. I wanted to take a picture of her new shoes when she was leaving. She kept telling me over and over again, "Bad mood, bad mood." I didn't get a good shoe picture. She took her time while bowling.

Six candles on a chocolate cupcake with caramel icing awaited the birthday girl.

She got them all on her first try. Hattie had such a good time at her birthday party. She loved all of her gifts. Her arms were actually in pain today after putting on all her silly bracelets. I had given her two packs for her birthday. She got very excited, grabbed one pack and ran to Emogene. Without hesitation, she gave them to Emogene. It was so sweet. Last May, Hattie was talking about her birthday and told me she wanted two packs of silly bracelets, one for her and one for Emogene. She loves to make Emogene happy. My mom couldn't stand it and got them back from Emogene. My mom had already bought some for Emogene and didn't want Hattie to feel like she needed to share her birthday gift. Emogene and Hattie had both arms full after we got home.

I am in the process of cleaning out the girls toys and found something of Hattie's to sell. She told me it was okay. After thinking about it for a day she said, "Mommy, I think you should sell it for $30 and get something for you with the money, not something for me and Emma." What a sweetie! She is so precious and caring. She is the first to run to an injured sister and hug them. She still loves for me to hold her and snuggle. She likes to surprise me with a forehead kiss and tell me she loves me. I love her!

The Movies

We went to the movies for Hattie's birthday four days early. Eric is working on her birthday, so we opted to go on a day he had off. We saw T*y St*ry 3 and really enjoyed it. Eric was hoping for a more destructive ending to end the sequels, but I think they are done anyway.

Here are three pieces of my heart walking towards the theatre.

They watched gleefully as Daddy bought the tickets (You would think they were gold).

These two love each other so much. They look forward to this part of the birthday celebration.

Man, I considered keeping these awesome shades. Hattie announced that hers smelled horrible. I decided against sniffing them. We had a great day together. We RUSHED back to Lydda as soon as the movie was over. She was happy to see us. I wonder what we will see on Emogene's birthday. We only have 3 months to wait for our next movie.

Linda's Guests

Mrs. Gloria, my mom, and Mrs. Kay

My mom had a couple of house guests this past week. She was so excited to have them stay. Mrs. Kay has been a family friend for like, ever, and Mrs. Gloria is a new friend that we are so glad to have met. They are such sweet women that share God with everyone they meet. My mom started preparing for their stay a month ago.

I have to tell you about one thing that happened while they stayed at my mom's house. The day I came to visit, my mom had mentioned that she woke Mrs. Kay up at 4:30 am for the day. I looked at Mrs. Kay and gave her a look. I think my look said, "Why did you want to get up that early?" She said, "I had actually been joking when I told her to wake me up at 4:00."

Well, I think we have all learned a lesson. You need to bring an alarm clock with you when staying with my mom, because she is such a good hostess, that she will wake you up before the sun, even if you were joking.

We will miss Mrs. Kay and Mrs. Gloria. I loved visiting with them.

Wild Olive Tees

I wanted to share my love of a Christian t-shirt company with you guys. It is called Wild Olive Tees. They have such uniques shirts that I want. They are having a give away right now. I would love to win. I have some friends that I want to wear those shirts. If I win, I am going to give them away. Stop by the Wild Olive website by clicking on the button on the side of my blog. You will love them.

Come on Over and Sit a Spell

We would love to welcome you into our home. Come, sit and watch a movie with us. What? What is that? You can't get to the couch or see the tv if you were sitting on the couch? Huh, what could have happened to my living room? Oh I know, THEY happened to my living room.

Emogene and Hattie are the living room destroyers.

This is my living room last night and today. It wasn't this big when I got home from a Thirty-One party last night, but I overheard Eric telling them it should be bigger and that they could use anything they wanted to continue creating. They worked on it some more today. Ahhhhh! I really feel completely discombobulated because this is in my house. I will not be inviting anyone over to the house until this is all fixed. In fact, I usually tell, okay holler, at any guest that attempts to enter my bedroom. Right now my bedroom looks great, but now you can't get to it. Maybe one day I'll have every room clean at one time. Wouldn't that be blissful?

This is part of Emogene's "room." Hattie calls it the "livery."

This is Hattie's "livery."

I was thinking maybe that is where they ate liver. Emogene had to explain. You see it is where the mail goes. It is actually "DElivery." Hattie just leaves off the beginning. I will be using that word a lot. In fact, I'm expecting a livery soon from Thirty-One. I need to make a couple of liveries to the post office. I got a livery the other day. I won't ever get tired of livery... but you might.