This will be my last post on this blog. I have started a new one here on WordPress called Baby Dolls and Beer Bottles. It’s a new beginning for me and I hope you will let me share it with you…

If you don’t get lost, there’s a chance you may never be found.

Author Unknown

101 ways to praise your kids…

Everybody needs a bit of praise once-in-a-while. Her are a few things we can all add into our daily conversations with our children…

Wow

Way To Go

Super

You’re Special

Outstanding

Excellent

Great

Good

Neat

Well Done

Remarkable

I Knew You Could Do It

I’M Proud Of You

Fantastic

Superstar

Nice Work

Looking Good

You’re On Top Of It

Beautiful

Now You’re Flying

You’re Catching On

Now You’ve Got It

You’re Incredible

Bravo

You’re Fantastic

Hurray For You

You’re On Target

You’re On Your Way

How Nice

How Smart

Good Job

That’s Incredible

Hot Dog

Dynamite

You’re Beautiful

You’re Unique

Nothing Can Stop You Now

Good For You

I Like You

You’re Darling

You’re A Winner

Remarkable Job

Beautiful Work

Spectacular

You’re Precious

You’re Spectacular

Great Discovery

You’ve Discovered The Secret

You Figured It Out

Fantastic Job

Hip, Hip Hurray

Bingo

Magnificent

Marvelous

Terrific

You’re Important

Phenomenal

You’re Sensational

Super Work

Creative Job

Super Job

Fantastic Job

Exceptional

Performance

You’re A Real Trooper

You Are Responsible

You Are Exciting

You Learned It Right

What An Imagination

What A Good Listener

You Are Fun

You’re Growing Up

You Tried Hard

You Care

Beautiful Sharing

Outstanding Performance

You’re A Good Friend

I Trust You

You’re Important

You Mean A Lot To Me

You Make Me Happy

You Belong

You’ve Got A Friend

You Make Me Laugh

You Brighten My Day

I Respect You

You Mean The World To Me

That’s Correct

You’re A Joy

You’re A Treasure

You’re Wonderful

You’re Perfect

Awesome

A+ Job

You’re A-OK Buddy

You Made My Day

That’s The Best

A Big Hug

A Big Kiss

I Love You

Smile – It’s Worth 1000 Words

one fish, two fish…

We went tonight after school to get some fish. Abby and Mae picked out 2 red, 2 blue and 2 yellow guppies and 1 dalmatian molly. We brought them home and floated them (to acclimate them to the water temperature) while we ate dinner… and then had the big unveiling! They seem to like their new home and the girls are so excited about their new “pishies” (as Mae calls them).

After the fish were admired sufficiently, I went on to clean up the dinner dishes. Abby was working on her homework and I got to missing Mae. I looked around the living room and heard a noise coming from the kitchen. Lo and behold – this is what I found…

Well, I guess she just gravitates toward food…

lazy Saturday…

we’ve had a truly lazy couple of days. I’ve already written about our Friday, but yesterday and today were not much more exciting. Fun but not too exciting. Yesterday morning I took the girls for haircuts. Abby got hers stacked up a bit in th back and Mae got her first “official” haircut. They both did SO GOOD!

Here’s a picture of the 2 cuties hamming it up for the camera after their haircuts.

After we left the salon, we went shopping for Abby some new soccer cleats, we went grocery shopping and somewhere else (but I can’t remember). Since it was a nasty riny day, the rest of the afternoon was spent sewing, doing laundry, playing games and watching tv. Definitely my kind of Satuday!

Today, after leaving church we cam home and did more of the same: sewing, cleaning, watching tv and resting. Oh and the girls drew pictures. Hahaha – here’s a picture of Abbys. She says it’s  horse (a very abstract one)…

All-in-all… a great weekend. Sometimes you just need to veg-out at home!

Movie Night!

Tonight starts my week with the girls and I thought that the best way to spend as much time together tonight as possible, was to order a pizza and veg-out watching a movie. Well, before I left work today I set it up so that Papa John’s would deliver my pizza at 6:30pm. Have you tried that? It’ the most wonderful thing ever invented… you go online, choose your pizza and type in what time you want it delivered. Done! 6:30, my door bell rings and it’s our dinner!

Anyway, as soon as the 3 of us girls got home, I put Abby and Mae in the bath so they could get clean and get their jammies on before the movie. After we ate dinner (Mae LOVES the garlic butter from Papa Johns by the way), they got out their Polly Pockets to play for a while before the movie started at 8.

The movie of choice for the evening was the world premier of The Cheetah Girls: One World on the disney channel. I must say that I was a bit wary of letting them watch it but it was a really cute movie. About half-way through the movie, Abby and Mae decided they wanted some popcorn and sat together so nicely eating it. Look how cute they look all bundled up on the sofa beside each other. Sweeties…

After I put them to bed every night, Mae has to get up and “rock” with me a bit (or just sit in my lap in the chair). This is a throw-back to when she was a baby (shame on me) but it only lasts 4-5 minutes and she always goes right to sleep when I take her back to bed. Well, tonight when I was “rocking” Mae, she reached her little hand up to touch my face, looked me in the eyes and said, “I love you Mommy”. Oh my goodness, I almost lost it right there! That is the first time she has ever initiated an “I love you” before. Sweet girl…

I love my girls so much and I really missed them last week. They had fun at Daddy’s house though, so that’s what’s important – even though yesterday was picture day and I’m kind-of nervous to see how Abby’s hair looks in her pictures…

as promised…

So I know they are long overdue but here are some pictures of the apartment. It’s still a work in progress, but it feels great and is very homey. The place is HUGE and at over 1200 sq ft, is as big as my first house! I was a bit wary of apartment living, but so far it’s been great… when something needs work – I just call the front office! Anyway, without further ado, here are some pictures (with brief commentary)…

When you walk in the door, the kitchen is to the left… and it’s a very nice size. There is tons of storage and nice appliances.

Directly past the kitchen is the dining room. Shannie took charge and helped me hang the trays and plates on the wall (read: Shannie hung the plates and trays for me) nd I think they look great – a wonderful focal point as soon as you walk in the front door.

The living area is next.

Then you have the sweet little sunroom that I’m using as an office. I love this room the best… it’s so warm and cozey and I know I’m going to love curling up in my pink chair to read a good book when it’s cold outside.

The girls love their room and bathroom. Sorry about all the junk on their beds, but I went shopping tonight and bought them some new clothes and have them spread out on their beds for them to find Friday when I pick them up from school. They love the twin beds and are doing surprisingly well sleeping in the same room.

Here is their cute bathroom. Their tub is MASSIVE!

The only room(s) in the house I haven’t shown you are my bedroom and bathroom. Mainly b/c my bathroom is awkward to photograph and my bedroom isn’t finished. I’ve got a quilt for the bed, but am making a dustruffle and pillows before I take ANY pictures of it in it’s unfinished glory.

There it is… our apartment. I’m extremely pleased with how it turned out…

First day of First grade (a few days late)…

Last Monday  ws Abby’s first day of First grade. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, bt I feel ill-equipped when I have no camera… even if I’m not sharing any pictures. Anyway we woke up super early and I made blueberry muffins (her first day of school breakfast request). She wore the cutest outfit and looked the part of a grade-school kid… no longer a kindergardner. I don’t know why this year is so much harder for me – maybe it’s that it’s “real” school now… she’s actually in a grade. Well, I took her to school and walked her in since it was her first day.

After school, I picked her up to take her to her after school care place. I don’t want her riding St. Mark’s bus the first day… after I picked her up we went to McDonald’s to get a chocolate milkshake before I took her on to St. Mark. We sat in the car for a while talking about school and she said (in a very grown-up serious voice) “Mommy, I  like first grade so much more than kindergarden” . Hahaha… that’s good. She was worried about having to “learn” too much in real school v/s kindergarden. Sweet girl. She is required to read for 20 minutes every night which is a good thig b/c we have trouble with her reading. She excells in just about every area of school except her reading ability. She can do it, she just doesn’t like to.

Anyway here she is on the first day of school. Doesn’t she look so big?

is there psychic in the house?…

I’m back and moved… I’d love to show pictures of the new apartment (which looks great) but my camera is dead. I’d also love to show pictures of Abby from her first day at school today, but my camera is dead. Oh, did I mention that my camera was dead? Yeah, a normal person would just plug it up… but I can’t because I have no earthly idea where in the heck the battery charger is. For that matter, I don’t have the slightest idea where my usb cable is. Who knew! I mean, I KNOW I packed that stuff, but I have no earthly idea where it could be.

Where is a psychic when you need one?

intermission…

I’ll be moving over the next few days and will have no internet access, so Ill try and update the blog sometime early next week. Have a great weekend and think about me (moving boxes) while you go about your normal activities.

ciao…

in the beginning…

Genesis 1:26-31 (paraphrased from KJV)

So God created man in his own image…

in the image of God created he him

male and female created he them.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.