Playing school with the kiddos....

I loved playing school as a little girl.  I was always the bossy teacher!  Now my niece, Skylar is the bossy teacher.  I think she's more bossy than me though.

We've been playing today. I've been the principal, Emma and Aidan have been the unruly students, and Skylar is Miss Bossy.  Basically, I'm just here for discipline and to make copies of her "lessons".

I think we need to come up with a cute name for our school, or at least our classroom... any suggestions?  And how much would Skylar love to have a real teacher's gradebook?!  I also thought about getting her some kind of bell, to tell them when class starts and ends.  Just go OVERBOARD!! We'll definitely need to make a trip to Teacher's Warehouse in Center, or to that other teacher's store in Nac.  I love both of those places, even as an adult. So many pens, paper, and things for classroom walls!!

This was Miss Bossy's first assignment for the little ones.

Emma was so excited that we let her have scissors!!

All his curls are gone again....

He says, "Quit taking my picture, woman!"  But then he's in my face!!!

I love this bald-headed kid!  Such a personality :-)

Random... but pretty :-)

Coloring was part of their assignment today.

And of course you know there has to be a few broken crayons in there.

They DO belong to Aidan Sawyer!

Here is Miss Bossy with Aidan and the class pet, Hurricaine.

And please don't correct my spellling.... this is how his name is spelled.

Wink wink, Stephanie S.

Hard working, yet UNRULY students, Emma and Aidan.

Coloring IS hard work, ya know...

Another assignment, but I'm pretty sure they didn't understand this one!!!

Look at that pretty girl! I mean, teacher!! lol

She had me copying so much, I'm almost out of black ink! Gonna have to switch over to the fax machine I guess!  Ink for it is more expensive though....

I couldn't resist!!

Hubby came up with some rules for us!

He is so stinkin' funny!!

Guess he doesn't get that Skylar and I are running this :-)

Well, this was our day. I'm enjoying being home with the kids.

I've only been off a week, so that could still change.... but I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

Of course, it helps that we have such awesome kiddos!!!

More Freebies....

Here are today's freebies :-)

I know, it doesn't look like a lot. But it's more than last time!
And I don't count Buy One Get One Free as FREE.  That's just 1/2 price.
These were FREE. FREE I say.

It's really frustrating because I had some really good coupons but the product was completely wiped out by the time I got to CVS this morning.  And their truck just came in :-/
I''m picturing someone just sitting there in the parking lot,
waiting for them to load the Excedrin on the shelf.

I had to go get groceries anyway today, so I got what I could.

See ya, folks!

The Traveling Pants..

I'm watching that movie, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  When the little girl dies in the end, makes me sad.  SAD. 

But what she says is 100% true.  First of all, there IS a little bit of loser in all of us.  Some more than others. Just sayin'.  But the sappy part, about being happy.  That's pretty awesome.  Cheesy and awesome.

"Being happy isn't having everything in your life be perfect.
Maybe it's about stringing together all the little things."

I LOVE THE LITTLE THINGS!! Enjoy them.

This is what hillbillies goin' to town look like.

This is my baby girl, Skylar.  She's my sister's oldest.  She and her brother have been at their dad's for a few weeks and I missed them terribly!!  She got a cell phone while she was gone, for her 11th birthday, and I LOVE her having it! I can text her and talk to her any time. She just text and asked if I saw the moon? I know it's full, but I'm pretty sure I already missed the eclipse.  Better go check it out! Not even sure we could see the eclipse from here...

And here's Trystan.  Gosh, I missed them! He and Aidan fight like brothers, instead of cousins!!
I didn't miss THAT!!

All I'm saying is that when it's Aidan vs. The Treadmill, Treamill is gonna win every time.
No, I didn't beat him.  He was trying to run "super speed" on the treadmill and it didn't work.  I've told him, and told him, and told him.  But what do I know?! I'm just the mom.

Great quality photos, huh?


You might be a redneck if you live in a rural area and
behave as such.

As you all know, we were strong-armed into taking this little guy.  (I kid, I kid)  His name WAS Batman, as were all his other male litter-mates.  Now his name is Mr. Cuddles.  And he likes Spiderman.  Can't you tell by the blanket he's on??  He's very friendly.... VERY. And cute. And cuddly. 

We'll see what hubby thinks about him in the morning.  He'll start his days off tomorrow :-)

As I was trying to coupon, and get my stuff ready for my freebie frenzy in the morning, Mr. Cuddles thought he needed to do his grooming on my new laptop!! WTH?!

Guess I better get offf here.  Not much else to say :-)

Well, one more thing ~ WE GOT OUR VACAY BOOKED!
We are FLO-rida bound come mid-July :-)
Woot woot!!!

This was from our Florida '09 trip.  No glass on the beach, and that's fine with me :-)
BLL in a can will do in a pinch.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!


Peace out, homies.

Newest Addition to Our Zoo :-)

This is Batman, aka Mr. Cuddles. 

He has already taken over Aidan's camo chair.... and Aidan has pulled the sheet off his bed for him :-/  Really?!



And.... DRUMROLL please....

My new blue Dell :-)  And of course, Aidan's big head had to make an appearance.
Short and sweet, huh?  I'll be back later.

My First Day of Nothing

Where do I even begin to tell you all the things I did today?! My first day home with no job... and I was so stinkin' busy!! NOT!!!

Seriously, I did a whole lotta NADA.

I was on baby donkey watch for a while. I cannot believe Molly Isabelle has not had her baby. 


This may be the worst picture EVER (Oh, Aidan and that big head!), but I wanted you all to see how big her belly is.... I feel so sorry her.  And the heat index was 104 today. Aidan even said when we got home the first time. "Isn't her belly just gonna pop?!"  If he only knew what was really going to happen, how donkey no. 5 was going to enter this world.  Maybe it's time to have that "birds and bees" talk.  Or that donkey and donkey talk?! WTH am I talking about... I have no idea. 

Anyway, started the morning out taking Aidan to his first VBS of the day.  I didn't stay.  I was afraid lightning may strike or something.  Then I took Coby to get his new Xbox game and controller (trade from some other crap he got at GameStop a few weeks ago that didn't work and games he's already mastered or won?), then got my previously blogged about freebies.

I watched a whole lot of LMN (boooo!).  I actually listened to a lot of it, while I looked at coupon websites, further confusing myself.  Why can't I turn away from LMN?  It's like a train wreck.  I just CANNOT turn away.  I know who the bad guy is, usually within the first 5 minutes.  And the acting?! Not good. Not good.  I think I'll stick with something like Judge Mathis or Judge Judy from now on.  That's what I watched during my lunch break back when I used to work.  WAY back when. Yep.

There's really no reason for this pic to be here... other than HE IS CUTE.  This was from last week when I was working on long exposure/over exposure (FAILURE) and he actually posed himself and said, "Here, take my picture like this." I was SHOCKED. And thrilled at the same time.

Headed to bed. Thanks for stopping by :-)

My First Coupon/Freebie Trip

Well, I clipped coupons this weekend. I sorted through them and compared sales, but my A.D.D. kicked in (as usual) and before I knew it, I had moved on to something else. I don't remember what, but something. Oh, look! A squirrel!

So today I took what I had figured out so far to CVS, since we'd be in the area anyway, and this is what I got:

Three free 20 ct. Motrin P.M.

Not bad for my first trip! I just needed to figure out CVS and their Extrabucks. I get it now.  I'm so proud.  It wasn't as difficult as I was making it. Go figure!

  Coby (my 14 yr old) says, "Do you even NEED those?"

Really?! He's got some nerve, huh? 

I don't need them now, but they were FREE.  Who knows when I will need them. Hmph.

Wait until HE gets a headache and can't sleep. He AIN'T gettin' my FREE Motrin P.M.

And a bonus:

I  found this on the junk mail counter at the Post Office. 

I didn't even have to clip coupons or compare sales for this!

It's two sheets of cutsie wrapping paper and coordinating labels.

:-)

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

So, there's this awesome photographer, Ashley Sisk, and she does a weekly photo challenge called Scavenger Hunt Sunday..You should all go check her out.... Ramblings and Photos :-) Anyway, this is my first Scavenger Hunt Sunday...I always loved scavenger hunts as a kid, so Aidan and I had a lot of fun with this!Hopefully I'll improve as the weeks go by.    {Long Exposure}

Okay... I think I OVERexposed on this one.  Instead of long exposure. GRRR. 

All week I've been thinking it was OVER. But isn't it a CUTE pic?

What a pouty chunky monkey.

{Shapes}

We spent some time this weekend working on "arts and crafts", as Aidan calls them.  He's all gung-ho in the beginning.  Then who's left at the kitchen table cutting and gluing? Yep. Mama.  This is some of the stuff we I've done so far.  My favorite is the Candy Crown.  He is my Prince of Sweetness! I'm thinking there are more colors here than shapes... oh, the construction paper.





 {Green}

ICK! This is our pond... our once beautiful pond.  It's covered in this green funkiness that is killing our turtles.  Hubby doesn't much care about it killing the turtles because they eat the fish.  Surely our fish will start dying if we don't get some serious rain soon. The flowers are a little pretty, I guess?! I'd much rather have our pretty pond back the way it used to be.





 {Fruit}

 Our pears will be ready before long, I hope.  COME ON RAIN.  They're usually so sweet and juicy, the deer come into the yard for them.  That is, what we leave them!  Yummy sweetness.





 {Childhood Memory}

What can I say? Not much has changed.

  Hope you all have a wonderful week! 

A Sign of Change

I left a job I love today to spend more time with my boys.

This is the sign in my rearview mirror.

I saw this Photo Challenge "SIGNS" and knew I had to submit this.

Just The Two of Us

How is this for Flashback Friday?!

These photos were taken with disposable cameras, and I didn't even know what photo editing software was!! True story.  These are all unedited, as will be VERY evident.

My little Coby at 7 years of age... he's 14 now!

Back in 2004, when it was just Coby and me, we took a road-trip.  We started out in Rowlett, where we lived back then, and headed out through West Texas.  I remember thinking how funny it was that Coby was excited about seeing a tumbleweed!

Ahhhh, a tumbleweed....and litter.

We went through Roswell, New Mexico.  The poor little fella was terrified.  I loved it! The whole freakishness of it all!  At one of the alien museums there, some guy was telling us stories of various abductions he had heard of through the years.  One was the abduction of his pregnant girlfriend. Apparently, she WAS pregnant with twins before the abduction.  But one fetus was missing after she was returned. The aliens kept it, to raise it as their own. These guys were nice enough though, to come back years later, abduct her again and let her visit the other twin they had raised.  Coby still remembers this.  I guess I scarred him for life with this visit :-/

Did I mention the cheesiness of it all?! I loved it! Still do... we went back last year with the rest of the fam.

And on to the Santa Fe Rail in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 
There once was a time when he didn't think he was too cool for me to take his picture.  He would even do SiLlY things for them! Woohoo!

Coby is a souvenir junky!  This was his little jar of gold shavings from the gift shop.

He just couldn't believe that he OWNED REAL GOLD.

It was a gorgeous ride out into the hills.  And dry.  Not the nasty humidity like we have here in East Texas.

Our next destination was Colorado.

We went to the Downtown Aquarium in Denver.

What crappy pictures!! hehe

And these were the best two!! I know we got to touch the sting rays.  We also walked over this huge, thick tank of sharks.  Guess we didn't get pictures of that.  Or they didn't turn out.

This one was taken at Red Rocks Park outside Golden.

I sure miss this little guy, but am so proud of the bright, witty young man he has become.

Here he is, striking a pose!!

I'm entering this in the Better Than Best Photo Challenge over at Crown of Life Photography.

Although I have a different take on the prompt GOLDEN, we were actually in Golden, Colorado.

Man, oh man, was this water frigid! It was snow melt off the mountains.  If I remember correctly, this was Clear Creek.  We panned for gold, but didn't find anything worth writing home about.  It was absolutely beautiful though,  You could see the gold sparkling through the ripples of water.  Just mostly little flakes of it.

Buffalo Bill's grave was also in Golden.  They say it's haunted.  Hubby and I actually saw a story about it on an episode of Ghost Hunters on Syfy (I think that was the network). 

Look at these photography SKILLZ!

Rumor is that Buffalo Bill may not even be buried here?

Some people say he's buried in Cody, Wyoming, a town he founded, while others say he's in North Platte, Nebraska, where he spent many years. But most believe he IS here. Who knows? It's just interesting to me.

This little, sulky cutie pie is interesting to me too.  He was probably mad because I wouldn't buy him some $50 dollar rock, or something like that!

Not much has changed....

This was Fraser Tubing Hill in Winter Park, Colorado.  SOOOO fun!  You just feel so out of control though, speeding down that hill.  Quite a rush. There was no steering your tube, or I couldn't do it!



I'm loving that finger in the shot there.  And look at that silly little boy.  Wow! Reminds me so much of the way Aidan is now.  They are so much alike, but so different at the same time.

Look at him, all bundled up! 

We snowmobiled up through the Rockies. It was such a thrill.

I think this was his favorite part of the trip.

We were up to about 13,000 feet, there was a storm blowing in, and it was COLD.  I remember being terrified at one point, on the way down, that he would get blown off the snowmobile. 

He just enjoyed making snowballs, snow angels, you name it.  I was freezing my butt off, but loving it at the same time. Mostly loving that he was loving it!

This looks like one of those shots of a Yeti or Big Foot!

This was a fun trip down memory lane for me. This was such a fun trip.  I love, love, love road trips.  I hope we can go back to Colorado with Josh and Aidan sometime soon.  This was a Spring Break trip, so maybe next year?! You just never know where life will lead you.....