Project 365 - Week 14 (Otherwise Titled "I'm Baaaaacccckkk!")

Now, I realize that the rest of the participants of Project 365 are on Week 16. But seein' as how it took a week to find my camera and then another week to find the cord to attach it to the computer, the other camera and the adapter for the cell phone card ...

Well, you get the gist ... We are just gonna skip a couple of those weeks. Which means that MY project 365 will go into 2010, but, there ya go. (And, did anyone else just have a mild panic attack over the fact that I just wrote 2010 in reference to the VERY NEAR FUTURE?!?!?! YIKES! )

Anyhoo, here is a glimpse into this week ... starting on Monday, because, yes, I am THAT mom that forgot to take a single stinkin' picture of her sweet girls in their Easter dresses.

I am ashamed ...

April 13 - Belle joined us for the day. And that calls for a Princess extravaganza! Here they are singing along with our girl Cinderella's Fairy Godmother.

April 14 - Yep, she's eating. Shocking, I know ...

April 15 - My sweet little Princesses have discovered the pleasures of a good wrestling session. Even without the Daddy (who is usually in the thick of it!!), they can get down and dirty with the best of em. Let's just hope that MUD is never involved ... and that they ALWAYS wrestle in long footie PJ's!

April 16 - Bath time. And, I am tellin' ya, the walls get just as wet as they do! Seriously, check out Hattie's splash action! And this is just a small one!

April 17 - Lost and Found. First off, forgive the quality of the pic ... stinkin' camera acting up again!!! And, of all the things we've lost in this move, somehow Sophie managed to find an old binky/paci/soother! She never used these things as a baby, but it took me all day to get this one out of her mouth!

April 18 - Aww, sweet sunshine. Welcome! PLEASE say for a while. Thank you.

And now, if you wanna check out some more pics of the weeks of people you may, or may not, know ... Head over to Sara's place. Maybe even play along!!!

8 Things (AKA Tag, I'm It!)

My Bloggy Friend LuAnn tagged me. So I guess I am it...

(I'm supposed to list 8 things in each category and then tag 8 other people)

Here we go:

8 Things I am Looking Forward To
1- Flip Flop Weather
2- A visit from my mommy (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)
3- Summer hang time with Cherry T
4- Some kind - ANY kind - of mini vacation with my fam this summer
5- My Daddy's B-day in Dec.
6- Mondays when Hubby is off
7- My anniversary in June
8- HEAVEN (saved the best for last!!!)

8 Things I Did Yesterday
1- Stayed in my jammies all day (even put fresh ones on after the shower!)
2- Vacuumed the whole house from ONE plug!
3- Cleaned the kitchen
4- Allowed Hattie to have a PopTart for dessert after dinner
5- Regretted that choice at 10PM when she was still bouncin off the walls in her bedroom
6- Hung with my PBFF Beth Moore .... or at least a DVD of Beth :)
7- Opened EVERY SINGLE WINDOW IN MY HOUSE to let the fresh air in
8- Facebook/Twitter/Blog Hopping

8 Things I wish I could Do
1- Cure Cancer
2- Have one more chat with Paula
3- Sing like Martina McBride/Carrie Underwood/Bernadette Caulley
4- Act Like Meryl Streep
5- Hug Julie Andrews
8- Live next door to my mommy (and the rest of my fRamily)

8 Shows I Watch
1- American Idol
2- Survivor
3- Biggest Loser
4- NCIS
5- What Not To Wear
6- Army Wives
7- Hallmark Channel/Lifetime/HGTV/DIY
8- Amazing Race

8 People I Tag
1- The
2- Eight
3- People
4- Who
5- Read
6- This
7- Blog
8- Period

(So, I cheated ... sue me!)

Before And After ...

Things here in B Manor are really starting to take shape, so I figured it was time to give y'all a tour. Unfortunately, the camera ran outta batteries before I was done and - you guessed it! - I have NO idea where batteries are!


But, here is what we have so far. In fine before and after fashion:


Before: I think we all remember the blue. And how, ya know, the blue gave ME the blues...

After - We used neutral colors (had to be approved by the owner!!!) and only painted over where the blue had been. But this is just a taste of the after in the living room... *this is about when the batteries died.*

Here are a couple of shots of the hallway - I had no before shots for these, but they were, ummmm, BLUE!!!!

This is Sophie's room before ...

... and after.

She was SOOOOOO excited to see these on her wall. I think this is when it became "home" to her!

Not really happy with the white walls, but we needed to be thrifty and not spend a ton of money on paint and stuff :)

Hattie's room before ...

... and after.

We kept her beachy theme going since she loved it so much in the old house.

Bathroom before ...

... and after ...

And the master bedroom, before ...

... and after ...

This is some of my Grandma's art work on the left (she took painting lessons in her late 80's and early 90's! What a woman!) and the painting on the right is from a benefit worship concert for Paula's family after she passed away. Our artist friend Kathy painted it as her act of worship during the concert and they auctioned it afterwards. Hubbs made sure I got it! LOVE HIM!!!

So, that is what we have so far.

I gotta tell ya that I am LOVING the coziness of this house. The other day I was cleaning and realized that, if I use a plug in the living room near the hall, I can vacuum the ENTIRE house from one plug. I am sure that this would sadden some, but I did a little praise dance!

We are so very thankful for God's provision of this home and for the wonderful fRamily members who chipped in and gave of themselves to make it a home for us. We do not know what we would do with out y'all!

We are truly Blessed in His Sweet Abundance!!!!!!!

This is The Body ...

The Heart Of The Wood

I know that not everyone likes country music, but, yeah - I do. I saw these two for the first time on a show called Can You Duet. They are hubby and wife, but had never performed together until they decided to audition for that show. I am tellin you, they rocked it ... in a country, blue grassy kinda way.

So, this morning I was blog surfin and saw someone mention the song they did on the show called Cheater Cheater - it was a FUN song and so funny. So, I took a little trip to youtube and looked it up. Had some fun rockin out to that one and then decided to see what else they had there. And I found this one.

And, I LOVE the message - just in time for Good Friday. Please - even if ya don't like country - just listen to the words all the way through. I am sittin here cryin listening to it again.



MAN! God is just so stinkin GOOD!

Wassup?

So, I'm thinkin' I have now officially become the world's worst blogger. It seems all I have had time to do the last couple (oh, OK, FEW) weeks is post pictures with brief blurbs of description and call it keepin' up.

Pathetic ...

And then this week, not even that.

However, I do have an excuse. No, really ... stop rollin' your eyes and listen to me!

Please.

(I get so demanding when I am trying to plea my case, don't I?)

So, here's the thing. Well, actually, the thingS! Plural people, PLURAL! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and emotion for the B Bunch. We have been set on fast forward, runnin' mach 5 with our hair on fire and acting like chickens with our heads cut off.

And, quite frankly, I am still recovering from it all - all of which came to a head this weekend. So, I am gonna give you the bloggy rundown right here and now ... in list format.

Because, when you're tired, lists are soooooo much easier to format than, ya know, paragraphs and stuff.

Just keepin' it real here, just keepin' it real...

1. A few weeks ago I met with a social worker through the school system because some decisions need to be made for Miss Hattie for the next school year. We came up with a plan to try to get her placed in a program for children on the Autism Spectrum. The program is designed to provide INTENSE therapy, as well as to introduce them to mainstream classes and teach them to adapt and function and, hopefully, thrive in such an arena. All involved feel that she is extremely high functioning and WILL thrive if properly trained early enough.

The program, however, fills up quickly. So, thus began an intensive, high speed journey to get all paperwork, etc ... in order to get her into the program.

2. One of the best ways to get her into this program is to actually live in the school district. Which only served to add to the urgency of our house hunt. Now, not only were we trying to find a place to live before we are forced to walk away from the house, but we also had to be within this school district. AND we had to know WHERE we were going to be ASAP!

3. So, we did find a house and began preparations to move a 2600 square foot house of stuff (plus a full basement loaded to the gills with ... let's call it "stuff") into a 1200 SF house with NO basement! All the while trying to keep life semi normal for two little girls, one of who is in desperate NEED for normalcy.

4. Hattie, of course, caught on to the fact that somethin was up pretty quickly. It was no time at all before she resumed a long lost habit of never leaving the house without an armful of her belongings. Last time we moved it lasted for nearly a year. Please join us in praying that it doesn't take as long this time.

5. Two weeks ago we had THE meeting at Hattie's school. The one where we all signed the papers saying that "yes, this is the program we want her in and can you, pretty please squeeze her cute little hiney into the program, because, it is, indeed, LITTLE and I am SURE there is room for her there! Thank you very much!".

6. One week ago we had THE appearance to finalize our financial situation so that we could just be done with it already. Can I just tell you that the only words for that moment are "bitter sweet". Sweet, because it is over. Bitter, because it is over in this way.

Not easy, but God is on our side so we made it through and He lead the way.

Have I mentioned that God is faithful? Oh, yes He is. And if you do not know this for yourself, please contact me so we can chat. Please!

7. Last weekend, we moved. And moving is sooooo not fun. But we are here and we are good and the girls are comfortable here and loving playing in their own bedrooms - which are all on the same level.

Note to self - NO MORE STAIRS!!!!!

And, let me tell you - again - how good God is. Last week it rained - a LOT! Saturday and Sunday dry and semi mild weather graced our moving experience. Yesterday and today - SNOW. And cold. And YUCK! but did ya catch the part about the moving days being dry and mild? Yeah, He is just that stinkin' faithful!

Sunday our wonderful Home Group peeps came over to help us get settled in. They rearranged our living room at LEAST two dozen times before finally coming upon an arrangement that, no lie, makes the room look 10 times bigger than it did before. I am tellin 'you, it may seem like nothin' to you, but to this heart of mine it was nothin' short of the miracle of the fish and loaves. Truly! I am sooooo thankful for my fRamily!

By Sunday night though, I was startin to feel the effect of all the craziness. I started coughing like a fiend and by about 9:30, I was down for the count. My sweet hubbs let me veg out all day yesterday and point him toward the proper spots for all of the nails to be driven to hang the pictures around the house - AFTER he worked all day to get the wireless network up and runnin' so I could get back online. MAN, that was some serious hard stuff going all weekend without facebook and twitter!

And now, MOST of the pictures are hung, the girls rooms are totally put together and - as long as I do not look into the garage where there is a BOAT LOAD of stuff waiting to be sifted through - I am feeling pretty comfortable with where we are. Well, except for the hole in my tongue created by the twelve thousand four hundred and twenty seven cough drops I have ingested over the last couple of days!

Other than that, I'm good!

Because, and can I just tell you again, my God, He is THAT good!

And, you KNOW I have pictures ... but somewhere in that (did I mention scary) garage is the cord that connects the camera with the computer, thus allowing the downlaodinization of the pictures onto said computer for you all to see. And, seein as how that cord is in that garage ... well, pictures will have to wait. I hope that you understand.

So, that's about all I have on this end ...

What about you? How are ya?

Tell me, wassup?

I Heart Faces - Puttin on The Pout

This week at I Heart Faces they are rewarding kids for pouting ... well, at least they are rewarding the PARENTS for capturing the pout on camera! Which FINALLY gives me a reason to rejoice that my sweet natured, oh so agreeable little angel is getting close to turning two. And there are moments when she is trying hard to live up to the "terrible two" reputation.

Moments like this one ...

(Yeah, girlfriend can get her 'tude on!!!)

But she can't fool her mama, I know my girl is still the sweetest almost two year old around!!!

Check out I Heart Faces for more pouty portraits - or enter your own!

Project 365 - Week 13

It has been a CRAZY week here in B Manor, so I have not been a very good blogger. Maybe these photos can help us get caught up a little...

March 23 - Sophie sittin' on the big chair. Belle was havin' a little chair envy (they both love to sit there!!), but she patiently waited her turn!

March 24 - Sunshine on our shoulders!!! Bug and I were enjoying the sun pouring through the window and, since I was having a good hair day (yes, the curling iron is now officially a part of my day!), we decided to capture the mommy/daughter moment. I may have to take this one to http://picnik.com/ and have some fun with it!!!

March 25 - Who new Hamburger Helper could be this much fun?!?!

March 26 - The pictures are slowly coming off the wall. On one hand, it feels like I am getting something done. On the other hand, the bare walls make the hall way look very lonely!

March 27 - We had made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies on Monday ... three guesses who got the last one...

March 26 - Painting day!!! We spent the day at the new house painting over the blue walls. We had to run an errand though when we realized that painting would work better with, ya know, rollers and pans!!! And, since we had some McBucks, we took a detour for lunch and ate on the run.

Plus, hello! How cute does Hattie look in the Gilligan hat?

So, that is our week - how was yours?

PS - I LOVE my kids ... can ya tell?

30X5 ... I am in!

***Daily stats for the 30X5 will be in a sticky post at the top of the page***

So, I need to get in shape. Anyone else? Yeah.

The problem is this ... well, OK, THESE:

*I need accountability, y'all. I simply cannot do this alone.

*I need short term, forseeable and, ya know, DOable goals.

*I need encouragement ... and accountability. Are you seeing a trend.

*I need something I can finish.

*BABY STEPS. I need BABY STEPS people!!!!

So, here is what I'm gonna do. Linda (AKA Lidna ... don't ask) over at 2nd Cup of Coffee is havin' a little encouragement/accountability/get up and move/baby step/short term goals/all very DOable little carnival over at her place. Clearly, you can see why I am intrigued. All of my needs are met!

So, starting tomorrow, all participants are asked to commit to 30 minutes of some kind of activity a day.

PS, TV does NOT count as that activity! (My thumbs, however, are in the best shape of my life thanks to my handy dandy remote control!)

PPS, Cranking up Mamma Mia and singing and dancing along DOES count. Linda, however, is not a fan of the musical (I blame parenting for this sad deficiency in her otherwise lovely persona), so she will most assuredly NOT being doing that!

The commitment is for 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS ... who can't do that?!?!?!

You may , or may not, choose to include your bathroom scale in this endeavor. Your choice. I for one, become obsessed with those little (AKA BIG!!!) numbers, so I may not do that for a while. I really just want my clothes to fit again.

My really cute clothes ... as opposed to the tents that I am currently sporting!

So, if you would like to play along, head on over to Lidna's and sign up! We are all in this together y'all. Let's keep each other motivated!!!

I will be back soon to tell you all about the last few days activities ... so much to share!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Project 365 - Week 12

Week 12!!! Yowza!! That is all I am gonna say about that!

Here is our week:

March 16 - Princess Day - Hattie, Sophie and Sweet Belle all discovering the joy of being at a ball!

March 17 - Hattie had a great day at therapy and the reward was a trip to McD's. Sophie, it seems, is a fan of the fries!

March 18 - Taking a break from the life of a Princess, Hattie found Sophie's winter hat from LAST YEAR and thought it would be fun to wear IT for a while! How cute is she?

March 19 - SPRING is near! Thank the Sweet Lord!

March 20 - Mama Beth wrote this post, which stirred some major onion ring cravings, so on our date, Hubbs and I took a little trip to Sonic!

March 21 - Teri and I out for coffee, courtesy of Frannie and her gift card! Good times!

March 22 - We had a date with Sophie's birthmom - here she is with her Mama Kim. She also got to meet her birth grandma, but that is a post all it's own!

So, that was our week, how was YOURS?