Wittle whistler :)

Bree has taught herself to whistle! She started trying one day while we took the older girls to school, and has been practicing and practicing each day. She is getting better and better! I think its awesome. This video was from a few days ago, I was lazy and just now uploaded it...


She rocks doesn't she? :) Not bad for not even being 3 yrs old yet. Soon she'll be whistling tunes!

Toodles!

Secret is out...

The other day in my Dear... post, I did a Dear Self comment. Some of my readers thought the secret was that I was PREGNANT! Hahahahahahahahaha! No, that is NOT the secret. The secret was that I made a gift for a friend, and I was excited to show it to her. Thankfully I didn't have to wait as long as I had originally thought.

If you've been following my blog, or know me in real life, you know of my friends Cindy & Dan, and their son Elliott, who sadly passed away back in April. Elliott suffered from cancer for many years, and the complications from it called him to heaven. Dan & Cindy have been having a rough time, for obvious reasons. This time of year is especially hard. First Thanksgiving, First Birthday, and First Christmas without Elliott. I wanted to do something special for them, to try to cheer them up a little bit. Since money is tight, I needed to be creative in an inexpensive way...

One night I was in bed, trying to sleep, when the idea came to me. I wanted to see if some of Elliott's friends would be willing to come take pictures at the forest preserve, and help me with my plan. We met on a chilly Sunday morning, there was my girls, Mrs. W. (Elliott's former tutor), Caitlyn & Emily (Mrs. W.'s daughters), and Stephen who is Elliott's best friend. I had the kids use their bodies to spell out E L L I O T T, and took pictures. We also took many candid pictures. We even had fun while doing it!

It felt like Elliott was watching the action that day. We set our coats on a picnic table, and on the table right in front of us said, "I LOVE CINDY" How cool was that? Maybe it was a sign of him being there.

Later I ordered prints, got frames, and loaded up the pictures. It turned out pretty well I think. I was going to give the pictures to Dan & Cindy at Elliott's birthday celebration in December, but since not everyone that participated in the pictures was going to be there, we decided to give it to them last night. I wrote a little poem to go along with it too.


I think it is safe to say, the gift was loved. I'm so happy. I hope the tears of happiness last night were a much needed break from tears of sadness.

I'll share a few pictures with you, my friends. I hope you enjoy them.










What do you think? I think they turned out great! I should have done the L's a little different, lined the kids up over top of each other more, so they lines didn't look so long...but other than that I like it all.

QOTD: Has anyone ever made you a special heartfelt gift before?

Toodles!

Call me crazy...

I hope everyone had a marvelous Thanksgiving with friends & family. Did you over stuff yourself on all that great food? I sure did. It was great food, even if I did cook it! Our day consisted of just us, and my parents. My brothers had other obligations. They were missed a lot though.

I didn't sleep well Thanksgiving Eve, felt like I was awake every hour by something. At 5:30 I said screw it and just got up and started about my to do list. I showered, cleaned, cooked, cleaned again, we ate, cleaned again, mom and dad went home, put the tree up, cleaned again, felt exhausted, tried to nap...with no luck, then at 11:30 we left to shop! Yep, the girls & I (even Bree) were out the door at 11:30 p.m. to go Black Friday shopping. We wanted to make sure to get the stuff we wanted at Wallyworld, their sale started at midnight. Bree had a little nap before, I was hoping she'd stay sleeping in the van and at the store, but no such luck, she woke up as we left. Walmart was a madhouse, but we were able to score everything on our short list, check out, and be out the door....by 1 a.m. Ummm the next sale isn't until 4, so we sat in the van. And sat in the van. And SAT IN THE VAN. Steak and Shake was open, and making a killing, SUPER BUSY. We ended up getting in the drive thru line for some fries. We were in line for 45 minutes. Wow. But, since we had nothing better to do it was ok! We kept warm while the van was running. We went to park again and eat the fries...after that we needed a potty break, so we drove to a gas station that was open. Then back to the parking lot at JcPenney. Thank goodness they ended up opening a bit early, at 3:30. We were out of there by about 4:30, and home by 5 a.m.. What a LONG night. The girls all behaved, even Bree who stayed awake until about 4, when she crashed in the stroller. I was so glad to get home and go to bed...but not before I had to clean cat crap off the bathroom carpet, ugh stupid cat. Getting in bed at 5ish (little after) and waking at 7:20 to talk to my husband when he got home, then back to sleep till 8:30...just was NOT enough sleep! But Bree got up, so I had no choice but to get up too. Mommy duty called. Kels slept half the day. Jillian slept until like 3:20! She only got up because I made her. Must be nice. Bree never did nap yesterday...until we were driving to our friends house. I didn't get to sleep last night until nearly midnight, I was SO TIRED! But, I guess it was worth it, to get some good deals on Christmas presents for the kids. With money tight, you gotta save when/where you can!

Did YOU go Black Friday shopping? Did you get some good deals?

Dear...(11.24.10)

Good morning friends! I'm linking up with my Dear Dazee with her Dear John type letters. I love these because they can be a nice letter, or a ticked off one :) Play along if you'd like...either here in my comments, or on your own blog. If you do your own blog, maybe you could link up to my friend Dazee! :) That would be nice.

Dear self... The secret must be kept from friend for a few more weeks, stop getting excited and wanting to spill the beans early! You can do it! (NO, I am NOT pregnant.)

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Dear Dazee...Thanks for talking to me daily. Its nice to have grown ups to talk to in my child filled world.

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Dear DWTS, ABC, and America...Thank you for not letting Bristol Palin win DWTS last night! Yes, I know she improved some, and tried hard...but she is not the best, and she isn't a star, she shouldn't have been on there anyways. Thanks.

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Dear DWTS...I'm so glad this season is OVER. You made my blood boil each week!

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Dear Bree... You are nearly 3, its time you start sleeping through the night... Mommy is tired.

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Dear Mother Nature...Take back your stupid tornado warnings, severe thunderstorms and all that junk, and bring me some freakin SNOW.

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Dear Zach...Do not tell your baby sister a donkey will come kill her in her sleep if she doesn't eat dinner...she has enough sleep issues and this does not help. Butthead.

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Dear Butt & Bladder...night time is not the time for business...I want to sleep, not visit the john. Especially at 6 a.m. on a morning I don't really need to be up.

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Dear Thanksgiving meal... please cook up nicely so the family is able to enjoy you tomorrow.

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Dear housework fairy...have I got a job for you... :)

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On that note, Dear Money Fairy..can you please drop me a load? I want to shop on Black Friday!

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Dear headache...LEAVE.

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Whelp...as usual, I could go on and on...but I'll stop for now before I bore you to tears. :) You are welcome. LOL.

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In case I don't get on here tomorrow... Please everyone have a safe, fun, happy, healthy, enjoyable holiday. Don't eat to much turkey! Hugs!

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Toodles!

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2nd QOTD: I heard on the news that pumpkin pie has some arousal factors for men...anyone have any experience to share about this topic? :)

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.WTH is bloggers problem today? I try spacing between paragraphs and it shows it as I'm composing my post, but when I publish all spacing is gone...hence the dots between...didn't know what else to do to make it less jumbled. Behave blogger!

Crazy Weather

Happy Thanksgiving Day EVE! :)

The turkey (me) has arrived.

I bet you were missing me weren't you?

I've slacked a bit in the posting area. I blame Dazee for talking to me all the time LOL just kidding.

We had some crazy weather the other day out here. Tornado warnings, IN NOVEMBER. Bizarre. Just as it was time to head out to run an errand and to pick up the girls, the tornado warning thing comes on tv. Thankfully it wasn't for my area, but to some nearby. It got me nervous.

Zach & Bree & I went to CVS, then to the school. At this point it had started to rain, heavily. We waited, and waited..and discovered they were not letting the kids out! Zach had to go to the bathroom, so we zoomed home quick, so he could do that, and I could check the phone to see whats up with the school stuff. Sure enough, they had left a msg at 2:55 to say they were holding the kids over because of the weather. Ummm maybe next time they should call earlier, or make some kind of loud speaker announcement for the people that were already THERE waiting! I thought my cell number was in the school info for these type of things but I didn't get any call on my cell. While we were checking the phone, the rain came down harder and harder, the winds picked up, the garbage can blew out in the street..some small chunks of hail fell too. I pulled the van into the garage once I saw hail :) Then I made Zach go out in it to fetch the trash can before it blew to far away...he got soaked!

Finally after several phone calls, we heard they would release the kids. First we went to Lincoln, the closest school, that is where I usually pick up all 3 girls, two get bused there. Zach had to run in to get the neighbor girl, they wouldn't let her go on her own. I had to park in a huge puddle that came up mid tire, because the intersection was flooded!


As I was waiting for Zach to get Jackie, Jilly called...she missed her bus. Oh goody. Kels had called earlier to say she missed hers too... So once Zach & Jackie got in the van we were off to Jilly's school, snagged her, then off to Kelsey's school. Whew. That was exhausting!

No time to relax just yet though. Kels ran in to change, then I had to take her to bowling practice.

Finally, relaxing time. :) It was a crazy afternoon. I was glad to go to bed that night.

QOTD: Have any crazy weather lately?

Toodles!

I Have A WINNER!

Thank you so much everyone who left a comment to win the awesome prize pack from Pillsbury & MyBlogSpark!

I have a winner!

Congratulations to....

Lucky comment 9 belongs to Mindi! Congratulations Mindi! I hope you and your kids enjoy the great prize package!
(please send me your info)

Once again, I'd like to thank both Pillsbury and MyBlogSpark, for giving me the opportunity to have this giveaway for my readers. It was fun!

Toodles!

My First Review and Giveaway! (closed)

**Giveway is over, thanks to those who played!

Hello!

Today I'm going to share with you my very first review AND GIVEAWAY!
Are you excited? I am!!

Thank you so much MyBlogSpark and Pillsbury for giving me this opportunity!

Would YOU like something to smile about? Need a fast breakfast that is also yummy and easy to eat on the go? I've got the perfect thing for you.

Pillsbury TOASTER STRUDELs!

I was very excited to get this offer, because we have tried TOASTER STRUDELs before, and we all love them. If you have never had them, then you are in for a surprise. You just pop them into a toaster to heat them up, when they come out you have a little icing packet, and you can doodle on your strudel! How cool is that? Nothing like a little art work with your breakfast, it makes the kids smile. Speaking of doodling on a strudel, you can virtually doodle on one by clicking over to Pillsbury on Facebook , you can even share your strudel artwork with your friends. How fun is that?

When I went to the store with my coupon for my TOASTER STRUDELs, I let my youngest daughter, Bree, pick out what flavor we got. Bree picked out the blueberry variety. She is a big blueberry fan. Sometimes Bree is a picky eater, so I figure by letting her pick out the item, maybe she'd be more likely to enjoy it. Guess what? She ate ALL her strudel!

After cooking ours, we like to doodle on them, then right before we eat them, I like to smear the icing goodness all over the strudel, so not one bite is without the icing. YUMMY!

I would also like to point out that on the box of TOASTER STRUDEL is a Box Top for Education. So not only can you & your child get a good breakfast, but if you collect box tops for your school, they can profit from this too! Good deal!

With the help of Pillsbury, and MyBlogSpark, I would like to make YOU smile too by having this giveaway! You could win this prize package*:

The prize kit* includes a coupon for TOASTER STRUDELs (coupon only good for residents of the US), a stress ball, mug, place-mat, and a giggling Dough-boy doll (He is a good size too, not teeny tiny)! If you would like to win this happy prize package, please leave a comment! Make sure you include a way for me to reach you when you win :) Please tell your friends too! I will pick a winner randomly on Friday morning 11-19. Good luck!

I should also let you know, that Pillsbury is doing a sweepstakes, " A Million Morning Smiles" in which you can win a months worth (4 boxes) of Toaster Strudel! Over 2000 winners per week! You can try to win daily by visiting Pillsbury from now until Feb. 7, 2011.

*This prize package, information and free product was provided to me by Pillsbury through MyBlogSpark.

Toodles!

Dear...(11-16-10)

Happy Tuesday!

Yep, I'm still tired, in case you were wondering.
LOL
You probably were not...but oh well.

I'm going to join in my friend Dazee's linky thingy :) the same one I did the last few weeks, the Dear... one, that can be for good or bad, I like that it swings both ways. Play along if you'd like, here in the comments, or on your own blog, and link up to Dazee's...

Dear Mother Nature...I'm STILL waiting for now. Come on, its almost Thanksgiving, we need a little snow coverage to get more into the holiday spirit. Dear Mom...Thanks for the surprises. Dear Butch...Thanks for catching me up on whats been happening in your life the last 30 yrs or so, I've missed ya friend. Dear old faucet...You've been very very naughty. Its not nice to leak like that. Dear new faucet 1...you looked nice...but you had to go and mess up...not good. Thanks for making me go longer with no way to do dishes...not cool. Dear bathtub...you are very uncomfortable to lean over to wash dishes in a bucket in there..a ton of dishes. Dear new faucet 2...So far so good, you look nice, now please play nice and stay working without leaking. Thanks. Dear sales lady at Zales...Next time you have customers waiting for services, don't ignore them and gossip with someone else. Dear sleep...please come to me easy tonight, and last all night long. Dear Bree...please be kind to mommy and sleep all night. Dear Z...no, I will not wax anything on your body, gross. Ok, I could go on, but I'll stop for now... QOTD: Have you met any celebrities? Toodles!

Yawn...So tired.

Happy Monday to you.
I'm tired.
Had several nights of crappy sleep.
I should be used to it. LOL.

Saturday we went to my brothers house in Springfield.
Wow, the drive seems to take FOREVER.
2.5 hours = forever, in case you were wondering...
The girls & I were very excited to go there.
I wish we could have stayed longer, like a few days. :)

We went to Springfield for my nieces 1st birthday celebration.
It was just us, my mom, and one of my Brother & SIL's friends.
The big party was the week prior...we got our own private celebration I guess...
Anyways...
My niece was cute as a button.
Her eyes are so pretty.
She loves to say HI.
And, she LOVES cake.
No one had to tell her or show her what to do...
the cake was put in front of her, and she went to town...






See, I wasn't kidding...

Here are a few other pictures from while we were there...

Jilly wanted to take Trinity home with us.

Once we got home, we had a few hours to chill, than it was time to get Zach at the train station. He came home for a bit...probably till around Christmas.

Other than that, the weekend consisted of faucet repairs...and faucet repair fail...

So, I have a sink full of dirty dishes and a dishwasher full of them too at the moment...

Hopefully the repair will be made correctly later and I can have a clean kitchen again.

I guess until then I'll enjoy my dishes break.

Kelsey started getting a sore throat late Saturday night, she slept off and on yesterday.

Today she is sick home from school, sleeping.

Hopefully she'll feel better so she can go back to school tomorrow.

Oh, I got my surprise Saturday...

Some gift cards, for haircuts and nails to get done.

Yay, I might look presentable for a change :)

Thanks Mom!

QOTD: What did you do this past weekend?

Toodles!

Exciting stuff

Howwwwwwdy!

I've got some exciting stuff to tell you about.

Well, its exciting to me anyways :)

Soon, I will be having my first real product review AND GIVEAWAY! I'm soooo very excited about this. I'm hoping this is the first of many. Since I have very few commenters, the odds of winning are pretty good for you regulars.

Also exciting to me...I got a new cell phone! Yay! But, even more exciting...I can now TEXT like the cool people! I no longer live in the stone age. Woohoo! I like my new fancy phone, so much more cool than my old one. It is taking some getting used to though. Its a touch screen, and I have to get the knack of how to get it to move things correctly. I'm not so good at that yet. I keep touching wrong things and opening stuff I shouldn't. Some day I'll get the hang of it...I hope.

On Saturday, the girls, and I, and my mom are going to visit my brother & sister in law and their little girl. Its my nieces birthday party, she just turned 1. It should be fun. We are excited to get to visit, we don't see them often enough.

Oh, more exciting news, I found an old childhood friend online! After I moved in like 6th grade I think it was we lost contact. He was so nice back then and he & I used to talk on the phone for hours and hours at a time. Over the years I always wondered what happened to him. Now I know. We've now become face-book friends and texting pals, catching up on all that's gone on over the last 30 yrs or so.

That's it for now...Have a great evening!

QOTD: Do you have any exciting news?

Toodles!

Tease!

Ladies and Gentlemen...
I just want you to know...
My Mother is a....

TEASE!

Yes, she is.
Did you see the latest comment she left on my blog?
She knows how to drive me crazy...just like my brothers always did...
She said...

"Dear Renee, I have a surprise for you soon."

That is like torture. A good torture, but torture...
Now I have to wait, and wait...to find out what it is, and it is going to seem like FOREVER.

Its like being a kid at Christmas...seeing presents and going crazy wanting to know whats in them. My brothers always got a kick out of teasing me about that stuff... "I know what you are getting!" evil I tell ya.

So Mother...you've got me curious...can't wait to know what my surprise is. :) Love ya.

QOTD: Do you like surprises?

Toodles!

Dear... (11-8-10)

Welcome!

Today I'm going to join my dear friend Dazee again in her little meme 'Dear...'

It swings both ways, you can rejoice about something or rant and complain :) I like the flexibility in this!

Feel free to join in with Dazee, and link up to her blog.

Ready? Set..? GO!

Dear Dancing with the Stars...Please make Bristol go home tomorrow (and take her mom with her!) Dear ABC...What the heck is with all the Christmas advertising tonight during Dancing with the Stars? Its not even Thanksgiving yet. Don't rush things. Dear pipe/drain in my basement...Do NOT get messed up again spilling water all over my basement floor. Dear TLC...Your new show 'Strange Sex' is umm very ummm strange. LOL. Dear crazy lady (from phone call in previous post) stop calling us. Dear Kelsey...Great job getting all A's! Dear Jilly...You did great in a few classes, well done, you have a few more to work on, you can do it! Dear Bree...You talk a LOT :) While your little fart noise game and you saying "mom, why you farted? Go to the bathroom already" is funny at home, its NOT something you say at a restaurant. (and BTW, I DID NOT FART!) Dear Mother Nature...still waiting for that snow! Dear skinny people...Stop saying "oh my I'm chubby I better work out" when you have not an ounce of fat on your body. Look in the damn mirror for gods sake. You won't see fat there. You wanna see fat? Look at me. Dear auto place...please please PLEASE fix my van tomorrow without costing me a fortune. Dear Dazee...Chin up girl. The sun will come out tomorrow...(that's me singing the Annie song hehe), when things are getting you down, think of your wacky duck friend. Ok, enough for now... Toodles!

Crazy Woman Calling

Many months ago, my husband checked into getting a payday type of loan. He was approved, but he decided against getting it after all and never got the money.

Somehow, the people think he did...and want it back.

They called yesterday. Husband said he didn't get the money, and they need to go piss up a rope and hung up.

They called back. Hubby retold the crazy woman who was yelling at him that he never got the money, therefore he has no debt to pay back and to stop bugging him about it. He then told them, IF he had gotten this loan, where was it sent to? Of course, they hadn't a clue. He told the woman she was a stupid b***** (that was actually nice for him...), and hung up the phone on her.

Guess what...the phone rings again! This time he just hung it right back up without saying anything.

Apparently that wasn't good enough. The phone rings yet again...this time we let it go to voicemail.

Check out the video, and take a listen to the nice lady calling my husband names...She is CRAZY! **Warning, the video contains cuss words, if you have kids around or are at work, listen at your own discretion.



Bill & I laughed at this so much. We are weird like that.

QOTD: Ever have a crazy collector call you?

Toodles!

Things that make ya say hmmm...

Some time over the years, we got a book for the kids.
Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever.
It's been buried somewhere in the house, but recently came out of hiding.
Kelsey was reading it to Bree the other day, and I was listening...

Some of these Mother Goose stories are a LOT different then I remember them being, and some, well, some I've never heard of before. Some are kind of questionable!

Let me tell you about some...

*Little Boy Blue...You know that one right? Do you remember where Little Boy Blue was? He was under the haystack right? In this book its the hayCOCK. Have you ever heard of a haycock? I haven't. Where have I been? Hiding under a haycock apparently...

*Not sure the name of this one, but its about a bachelor. He goes to London to BUY a wife. Seriously? BUY a wife? He brought her home in a wheelbarrow...until it broke and she fell. Poor bought wife.

*Here is one about cats, let me just type it out for you...
There were once two cats of Kilkenny,
Each thought there was one cat too many;
So they fought and they fit,
and they scratched and they bit,
Till, excepting their nails
And the tips of their tails,
Instead of two cats, there weren't any.
Kinda morbid don'tcha think? A story about cats killing eachother? Sheesh.

*Of course there was 'Sing a song of Sixpence'...about baking blackbirds in a pie, and about a blackbird snipping off someones nose. Nice.

*There is one about Taffy the Welshman. He is a thief, sham, and a cheat. In the end, he got beaten on the head with a bone marrow bone while he was in bed.

*How about this one..
As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kits;
Kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?
Hmmmm is this a new TLC show? Sister Wives-ish anyone? LOL

Those are wacky kids stories for sure...They made me go hmmm...

QOTD: What was your favorite Mother Goose story as a kid?

Toodles!

Dear...

Happy Hump Day!

My friend Dazee has started a new link-a-long thingy on her blog, so I figure I'll give it a try today. Its called "Dear..." you can do a 'dear John' type thing good or bad, I guess that is how I'd describe it. You'll get the gist when you read them... You can check hers out on her blog by going here. Wanna play along? Go for it! Link up to her site.

So, here we go...

Dear Mom...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are the best mom a girl could ever ask for. Thanks for all you do for me & my family.

Dear Cindy & Dan...Happy Anniversary! May you have many more!

Dear Mother Nature...Is November. I am ready for snow. Bring it on.

Dear Dazee...Thanks again for the awesome penis cookie cutters LOL.

Dear idiot driver...Toddlers do not belong on laps in the front seat, put that kid in a car seat! Stupid idiot.

Dear cop neighbor...you look mighty fine in your uniform.

Dear lady next door...I'm thankful for fall & winter so I don't have to hear you mowing your grass every other freakin day!

Dear neighbor across the street...I hate your stupid noisy car. Its not cool like you think it is, and you don't need to rev the engine several times a day thinking you are a hot badass.

Dear cats of mine...the litter box is for shit, not my carpet.

Dear cleaning fairy....where the hell are you at? My house is in dire need of your services.

Dear Moo...STOP LICKING YOUR GUT. You are licking it raw...and now you are stuck wearing the cone until you stop and it heals. Dumb dog.

Dear sunrise...you were mighty pretty this morning...

I could go on and on...but I'll stop for now. :) Until next time...

QOTD: Do you have a pretty sunset/sunrise picture?

Toodles!