Just a Little Wave

Brielle has been on me for the past couple of weeks about getting another perm (it’s been about 3 or 4 years). Her perfectly straight hair seems to bug the heck out of her. Even though we all love it, everyone always seems to want what they don’t have. For instance, I’d give anything for Brie’s hair.

Her hair was super long over the summer, so right before school we cut it (about 3″ off). (They started school the end of July.) And we’ve even trimmed it once since then. It has grown rapidly and once again she is left with quite a bit of length and I guess in her own mind, was ready for some change.

So, yesterday morning she left the house for school with her hair looking like this:

I picked her up early from school and took her to the salon to my hairdresser, and while we know her hair is super hard to perm, hard to work with and probably won’t last too long, she now looks like this:

It looked a lot better when she left for school this morning because we used some curl enhancer and gel and these pictures were taken with absolutely no product and completely air dried. I’m happy for her that she loves it so much and honestly, she pulls it off well. It makes her look older. (oh and she’s 10.5)

I cannot wait to scrapbook all the pictures I took at the salon yesterday. When we did this several years back we got some cute ones and she loves looking at those pages in the scrapbook!

A Mommy Meme

1. How long have you been a Mom? Wow. 15 1/2 years!

2. How many children call you Mommy? Well, five all together (maybe even six – yeah, no. Not pregnant.) Two are my biological children.

3. Girl? Boy? or both?: 4 girls (5 if you include the extra) and 1 boy. Biologically I was blessed with 1 boy, 1 girl.

4. Did you know what you were having? Yes, both times. I always swore if I ever did it again, I wouldn’t find out because I have my boy and my girl. That’s not happening now. LOL

5. How old were you when you became a Mom? 21 and 25

6. How long were you in labor? The first time was about 8-10 hours which resulted in a completely natural birth (against my wishes!) and the second time was only like an hour or so plus epidural – wonderful!

7. What’s your favorite thing about being a Mom? Wow. I’m not even sure I can answer a favorite thing. I guess its just having them in my life. Knowing I am someones mother. Hearing them call me mom and tell me I’m the best mom ever. Those things combined. I always wanted to be a mom, and even on my worst days (or theirs) I try to remember that I am living my dream.

8. What’s your least favorite thing? Teenagers. That about sums it up. LOL

9. Do you want more kids? Nope, I’m all done. And perfectly content.

10. Do you plan on having more soon? No.

11. How many times have you been pee’d on? I have actually never been pee’d on, but B & R’s father has! LOL Too many times to list.

12. Barfed on? Gosh I couldn’t even answer this. I guess an estimated 15-20 times but that’s counting spit up barf from little babies.

13. Is your child named after anyone? Ryan is not. Brielle’s middle name is Marie and it was after my great grandmother, so I guess yes.

14. How did you come up with their name? Ryan’s father named him – it was the only boy name he really had any experience with (the only kid he’d ever met was named Ryan @@) Brielle was named by me, and the name was given to me by a friend who knew I wanted my daughter named something unique that would work with Brie (Brianna and Brianne had been done too much). I fell in love with the name and told NOBODY what I was naming her until I put it on the birth certificate. I’m so glad I did. She’s such a Brielle.

15. When your child gets in trouble, who is the bad guy? Well, that would be me. Mike likes to be their comedy entertainment almost 24-7. Of course he also works nights and sleeps days so he doesn’t really experience the bad stuff.

16. What is the longest you have been away from your children? A whole summer – six weeks. They had to go visit their father. I hated it, they hated it. It hasn’t repeated itself since.

17. Bedtime routine?

9:00pm They are sent to their rooms to get ready and read, and lights are out at 9:45pm for the middle schoolers.
The older ones are sent back at 9:00 also, but I don’t limit what time they go to bed. They know they have to get up at 6am so they make really good choices and only occasionally does one stay up “late”.

18. Are your toes painted?

Not right now, no.

19. Last movie you saw in the theater? Wow. I cannot even actually remember. We have an extensive DVD collection and mostly buy them and watch them when they come out on DVD. I think it might have been New Moon.

20. One thing you will not give up just because you’re a mom? My “me” time. I love reading, writing, scrapbooking, hanging out with my girlfriends, etc. I’m lucky now because my kids are older – it was a lot harder when they were younger!

21. One thing you did give up now that you’re a mom: Late nights, the bar scene,

22. Best Mom perk: Always having someone to laugh with, hang out with and have fun with!

23. Snack, you sneak bites from your child? Probably ice cream. LOL oooooh or chocolate!

24. When the kid is napping, you are: My kiddo’s are FAR away from the napping stage so we can go with while they are outside playing or watching a favorite TV program – I use that time usually to prepare meals, get some cleaning and organizing done, scrapbooking and writing – almost always writing.

25. Where is your child(ren) now? All five (and six) are at school.

26. Favorite place to buy maternity clothes? Well, back when I was buying maternity clothes, I really liked Motherhood and JCPenney.

27. If I could do it over… I wouldn’t change a single thing that has gotten me to this point. God is with me and helping me grow and learn from every mistake I’ve ever made.

28. Did it turn out the way you expected? Sort of. I always dreamed of a huge family, I just thought I was going to have them all on my own. LOL I got the big family and didn’t have to do the birthing stuff – but still get to raise them, love them and grow with them!

If you do this, leave me a comment so I can check it out!

Wanna Be Scared?

Have you heard of Hotel 626? I hadn’t either until about a week ago. And it’s only open from 6pm to 6am so you only have a certain window of opportunity to take advantage of it. You can leave your email address though and they will email you to remind you that your “reservation is ready”, which just means you get to sign on and start playing.
It is a game that has been created by Goodby and B-Reel for Doritos in conjunction with their release of the Taco and 4 Cheese flavored Doritos release. Well, that and I’m pretty sure because of Halloween.

The game is not exactly easy and takes some thinking time to get through it. It is also recommended that you have a web cam as one “level” requires the use of it, and a microphone is another thing that is helpful (but if your webcam has a microphone you’re fine) because another “level” requires you to utilize it. I believe the game works without one, but you would need to skip those levels. (oh and you can get a pretty cheap webcam for about $20 at Target – or simply borrow one).

If you decide to check into Hotel 626, come back and tell me about it. We did it twice last night and tonight and my kids were all into it. Oh, and don’t freak out about leaving your phone number for them – they do call you and to my knowledge is the only way to get through that level.

Happy 75th Birthday Ed!

It was actually yesterday, but we went to his 75th surprise party last night at a wonderful restaurant. In fact, as a writer, the restaurant was inspirational for me. I got some ideas just walking around – it’s so old and fits into the mold of the story I plan to write next month for National Novel Writing Month.

Unfortunately a lot of the night was outside on the patio so pictures really did not turn out heavenly. However, I got these three pretty decent shots of everyone.

My Five Babies!

Just Us Girls!

Just look at him! He’s taller than me and only 14!

Layout – Precious

I had some old pictures I was wishing to get into an album I am trying desperately to complete (considering my son is now 14 and my daughter 10!) LOL

Anyway, I made this layout with some odds and ends of paper I had laying around. Just trying to slowly get caught up.

CTMH New Consultant Kit for Fall 2008

Close to My Heart has reduced the cost of our amazing kit! Now it is just $99 and contains a whopping $300 worth of products!
In addition, you offered something brand new – an add on pack. You have two to choose from.

Add on Pack #1 is designed to support those focused on scrapbooking and contains over $180 in valuable products, but is available as an add-on to your new kit for $60.

Add on Pack #1 is designed to support those focused on paper crafting and card making and contains over $150 in valuable products, but is available as an add-on to your new kit for $50.

These add-on packs can only be purchased at the time of consutlant sign up while purchasing your kit. Please contact me for specific items available in each kit.

But wait – there’s more!!!

For the month of October, CTMH Constant Campaign is designed to benefit the new consultant and offers Chocolate! What girl doesn’t love chocolate?

But it’s not the edible kind – look at these luscious items and be sure and sign up for your kit and become a part of our CTMH family.

The details:

When you join Close To My Heart as a Consultant during October,
you’ll receive a fabulous collection of current chocolate-inspired
products FREE with your New Consultant Kit. The Choose Chocolate!
collection has a retail price of over $100—making your kit even more
valuable and giving you an additional selection of wonderful Close
To My Heart products to “sweeten” your fi rst days with the company.
Here’s what you’ll get with your Choose Chocolate! collection:

Here’s what you get:
• My Acrylix® Chocolate Alphabet Small
• Caprice Paper Packet
• Caprice My Stickease™ Assortment
• Basic Textured Cardstock Combo Pack
• Designer Ribbon Rounds™ Heartfelt Collection
• Designer Ribbon Rounds™ Chocolate Collection
• Mini-Medley Accents Shades of Chocolate Collection
• Edge Anchors™ Heritage Assortment
• My Creations™ Artboard

Is It October Already?

What is the deal? How are we already ten months into the year? It seems so hard to believe that Halloween is already creeping up and that it is time to decide what costumes we want. I’m pretty much excited about the weather change as my favorite time of the year has always been Autumn. I love the cool crips days and the cold “firepit” weather at night. It just means the smell of pumpkin wafting out from my various candles and well…the oven since I have to cook as often as I can. Check out these recipes for Pumpkin Pancakes, Pumpkin Cupcakes and Pumpkin Custard. So delicious!!