Lately

First things first. Congrats to my brother-in-laws (Jason's brothers) who BOTH graduated from the Medical College of Georgia's School of Dentistry two weekends ago. It was so inspiring and I commend them for all of their hard work. I can't help but imagine us there in a few years....hopefully graduating! :) You can do it honey! Bo and Ben will be practicing here locally at my father-in-law's offices. Ben will actually be our neighbor!
If this picture is blurry it was because I was laughing hysterically when I took it. This morning I took my mom to the airport at 6:30am. Jason got Ella ready for school. It was beach day at school and so I set out Ella's bermuda shorts and shirt. I guess I should've set out the brush too. Oh and the shoes. Jason put them with Ella's pink patent leather church shoes. Funny funny. I completely forgot to take out her hair last night. She went swimming yesterday and I am not afriad to admit I bathe my kids every other day unless an unusual amount of dirt has incurred. Anyway, so this hair do was from Thursday and this pic was taken on Friday after school. Jason took her to school like this. Wow. What a sight for sore eyes. Her teachers were laughing with me when I picked her up .They both said they knew I was not home! At least they knew that. Am I embarrassed? A tiny bit? But mostly amused. Jason was so sweet to do that but there's nothing like a mother's touch, right?

Yum. I threw some things together on Thursday night for dinner (we had the missionaries over).I got really creative and called it "Strawberry Shortcake Surprise". I know, an groundbreaking name. Anyway...I just had some pre-made, pre-sliced angel foodcake and I just put one piece down and then slather it with the following mixture:
Mix 1/2 stick (so 4oz) of cream cheese
1/2 c. pwd. sugar with electric mizer. After thoroughly mixed, miz in 4 oz. of fruity yogurt.
Then fold in 16 oz. coolwhip. Top with another dollop pf mixture and then add berries. YUM.

I have been meaning to blog about this for about two months now. Jason made this book shelf this winter. Isn't it amazing. Seriously. He spent hours.

He even did these little notches by hand. I cannot imagine having the patience to do that kind of wood working.

This is Ella's Thursday outfit. It was backwards day.I thought she looked adorable. Her worried of everyone laughing at her overwhelmed her though and her teacher took of her "face" around breakfast. (Yes, they serve breakfast at her school. Wild, huh?)
Now on to my treasures that I found garage selling....my favorite thing to do. I now have stuff piled up everywhere and an eternal list of projects.I found this cute little brown finial thing for a dollar. Goes perfectly on top of my piano. Perfect.



This jute rug is heaven. I love the color and it is unlike any other jute rug I have ever seen. It is actually soft and comfy. So my husband- who's favorite place to be is on the floor during a movie much to my chagrin- can be perfectly comfy. Thirty dollars. Steal of the day. It is really high quality and soft and HUGE. Notice the boots right next to the rug? I scored a TON of hardly used clothes and shoes for my kids. Only the best shape and great brands. And I got about 15 "Value teaching" movies for a quarter.

This table is a real antique. The lady who sold it to me was telling me all about it's history. Her great great grandpa made. It is traveling writing desk that was taken everywhere by the pilgrims. It actually folds up. It's great. I wish I could've downloaded the pic of the cute sides but the comp. was not cooperating. She wanted 50 but I asked if I could pay 30. SCORE!
See my jar collection on top of my hutch? Love the green ONE. But notice I only have ONE green one. Story to be continued......
Again, emphasis on the ONE green one.
Pillows to be refinished. I actually really like the green and grey one. The green one is very cute and girly and would go really well in Ella's room. I think they were both a quarter. Who cares if I never even use them for that price! I plan to though.
This is beautiful green bottle/jar/whatever to go on top and join the other lone green one. I say whatever because I am not sure what it is. It's pretty and unique and I LIKEY!
This brown chair is another favorite find. SOOOOO much character. 5 bucks. Have no where to put it, but I love it. And the gold feminine chair I have great plans for it. ELla has this cute little white wood vanity that I got about a year ago garage saling for ten bucks. I have been looking for an appropriate chair for that long. This beauty painted white and with a cute funky pillow is a dream.
Unique and interesting. To go in the guest bedroom as decor. Not sure whether to hang it or just put it in the corner.
Awesome little frames. I love them. I plane to do a whole little corner in Ella's room with funky colored painted frames. These two are perfect to add drama and dimension. I actually really like the pics inside too. Twenty five cents ea. There is a lady in our ward who gets things that have fallen off semi trucks thathave damaged packages but the product is not damaged. So she brought thisKing Arthur white and wheat flour to church to share. FREE. When our AC went out last weekend the AC guy came into my house to find this and my green jar sitting next to it. They both looked very suspicious and he prodded me to tell him what it all was. Lets just say he didn't think we were obeying the word of wisdom. Not that he knows what that is....but...you get what I am saying, right? He thought the green jar was a bong and we all know what this flour wrapped up in saran looks like. Funny times.

Money Can't Buy This....

Jason gave the perfect gift/s for Mother's Day. You tell me if you agree:

1. Sleeping in
2. NOT getting ONE kid ready for church or even feeding them
3. Not packing the church bag
4. Breakfast in bed(with hot BB muffins) and then going back to sleep
5. Not taking Quincy to YW with me and actually being able to listen to an awesome lesson on temple marriages. Oh, and giving my two cents which really ended up being more like 2 dollars since I ALWAYS contribute too much.
6. Not taking one kids out during sacrament.
7. Not taking the kids to the bathroom in sacrament. (This meant I actually got to listen)
8. Not cooking lunch or cleaning up after
9. Not putting the kids down for a nap but only putting myself down for a nap
10. Not getting up ONCE during that three hour nap to do one of the following: put Q's binky in, tell the kids to get back in their room, wipe their bums, or tall them to press play AGAIN on their DVD player.
11. Not cooking dinner or fixing the kids plates or cleaning up after dinner.

I am sure there are lots of things I forgot that Jason did with a huge smile on face. Money cannot buy this kind of present. And at the end of the day when he apologized for hnot getting something monetary, I scoffed. A day off is the best kind of present ever. And it was very funny to watch FOUR men (Dad, Jake, Jordan and Jason) cook dinner with all the kids running around them. We didn't lift a finger. It was comical. THANK YOU SWEETHEART!!!!

PS- The icing on the cake for me is 1-having such an amazing (truly) mommy and being surrounded by so many inspirational mothers. Not to be trite- but it's true. 2- Also, I laughed hysterically when Ella asked me after giving me breakfast in bed, "Mommy, is Mother's Day when you get to lay in bed all day and we bring you stuff?". ALAS!!! An improvement to be made upon this year's celebrations. Next year I will lay in bed all day. Thank you for giving me this revelation Ella 3- Having such exciting kids (I hesitate to use the word perfect because my kids are just normal kids, but they do bring lots of excitement into my life). And when Ella said the prayer for our lunch and said this: "Thank you Heavenly Father that Grandma could stop going on trips so we can give her hugs" it made my heart swell with pride.

My New Life

My New Life
I cried through this whole inspirational video clip. I have followed her blog for a while now. If you think your life is hard at any moment, you can take one hard look at her and her perspective and your hope in life and will be renewed. It's moments like these that I realize why the internet is such a blessing - to share our testimonies of Christ.

Do not judge me. Quincy is in no sort of pain. He laughed after each face I made. He looks like the cutest bulldog ever.
Jason had a little bug this past week. This is him "recovering".

Can't resist this adorable face.
My little friend. This was not my friend the first time I stumbled on him- really, ON him. Jason casually asks me to water his newly planted plants. "Sure", I innocently say. Oh- if I only knew what was waiting for me. I reached out to turn on the faucet and practically stepped on this little fellow. I screamed and basically refused to water Jason's plants. They are HIS. I want no part of them if it means encountering this snake. Finally- after learning that this snake (and it's friend- YES WE HAVE TWO) is harmless and would actually eat any poisonous snakes- we made a truce and are friends.