Random Pics..Isn't She Cute

Emma is all about kissing now. She is constantly puckering up her cute little mouth to kiss us. Notice the huge bug bite she had just gotten on the side of her face. She has horrible reactions to bites.


This is one happy girl.

Puckering up with ice cream on her face.

This is the life. Relaxing by the pool.

Me and my favorite guy hanging out in the pool.

WOW. Mom has been holding out on me. These ice cream cones are the BOMB.

I'm not sure what she's doing here.

YUMMY.

My future accountant. As long as they let me go topless and wear my shades, I'm in.

Hope your Saturday was just as nice as ours.

Oh Happy Day....

Emma was busy playing with her doll (well, for about 5 minutes). They were shopping I think. Notice how my child never has on a shirt. The minute she gets up in the morning she starts screaming "off". I do make her wear it in public but she refuses to wear it at home.

These glasses can be such a pain. She wants them propped up on her head and they keep falling off and it makes her so mad.

First of all, let me say that I made the last payment on Ashton's braces today!! Praise the Lord. After 5 years of braces they are officially paid for. He gets them off in September and we will have to buy his retainers, but at long last the monthly payments are OVER.

The other big news of the day is that my husband is actually working on a Friday. He has been off on Fridays all this year and finally he is going back to work today. That's another praise item. I do miss having him home to take the kids to school and pick them up but I'm glad that he may be working full time again soon.

No big weekend news. I have to work tonight and the boys will probably hang out with friends. I have to deliver all of my consignment goods on Sunday after church. I still have to finish up a few loose ends with my pricing and I will be so glad to get it all out of my house.

Have a great weekend.

OH DEER.......

Yes, I do mean DEER. Bo was ambushed by a pretty little deer last night and it left a nice dent in my front passenger side fender. Thanks Bambi. The deer left with nothing but a headache. That's the second time he's been hit by a deer in my truck. The other story didn't have a happy ending.


So, as I suspected, my boys are beginning to move more slowly as the week goes on. The first day we left at 7:03, the second 7:05, today 7:10. I'm seeing a trend.


Ashton is liking his new school okay. He quit band because there were only 14 kids in the 8th grade band and the teacher made you sit in the corner if you misbehaved. HELLO. They are in the 8th grade. HARD LABOR maybe. That was the one sacrifice he thought he might have to make when he changed schools.


Brady seems okay with his schedule. After failing Algebra I last year he now has to take Algebra all year and I am certainly of the mind that he needs that. He's not too thrilled. I'm really hoping that he has learned a very valuable lesson from that experience but I guess time will tell.


Emma has done well with her therapies this week. Yesterday she cried and screamed when sweet Mrs. Jane took her back and today she went willingly. It was so sweet as she walked off she turned around and puckered up her lips for me to kiss her and waved bye. All of the moms in the room melted with a collective sigh. She really is sweet. Of course, she did scream like I was killing her when I made her get in the cart at Target yesterday and again at Kmart today. I'm no big fan of Kmart but I had some time to kill before therapy and I have been looking for some flash cards for Emma and have not been able to find any at Target. Kmart had a great supply and I was thrilled with some other things that I picked up for her to hopefully use those fine motor skills.

Okay, so you all know that I'm all about a good deal. If you don't subscribe to MoneySavingMom

you are so missing out. A daily feed to your inbox and she informs you of all the good deals out there. I went with coupons in hand to Harris Teeter last night for triples up to .99 cents and saved $102.66 in coupons. I'm planning another trip there next week when Emma goes to the doctor. But let me say, my Rite Aid trip was the bomb today. All of the things in the picture above were from Rite Aid.

• My total before taxes and coupons was $38.22
• Coupons were $35.99
• My total OOP (out of pocket) was $6.69 and I will be able to turn in $2.49 for a Single Check Rebate making my total $4.20. The cashier was very excited and kept asking me "how did you do that?" My best deal was the air fresheners that are regularly $12.99 and were on sale for $6.99 and I had $6.00 coupons. Yippee... .99 cents a piece. I'm hoping to make the boys downstairs smell MUCH better.
• My best Harris Teeter deals were: Purity Premium Ice Cream for .97 cents each. (I bought 3, Emma and Ashton love ice cream.)
• Grands Biscuits for .34 cents
• All Detergent $1.97
• Wish Bone Dressing - free
• Betty Crocker Warm Delights - .16 cents
• Shredded Wheat cereal - .35 cents
• Red Baron Pizza Singles - .75 cents
• Luzianne tea bags - .39 cents
• Welchs Grape Jelly - free
• Betty Crocker Supreme muffin mixes - .88 cents.

Okay, so enough about my boring life, but I love getting good deals. Apparently everyone else does because there were a lot of coupon shoppers at HT last night.

I have finally finished pricing the clothes for the consignment sale. I have a few pairs of shoes left and some toys to price and I AM DONE. I hope that I sell everything..... Emma needs fall clothes and this is how I intend to pay for them.

Have a great Thursday.

Where Did A Week Go...

This is Emma's new favorite hat that our friend Malina gave her. She looks like Gilligan in it.

Wearing Ashton's Titleist golf cap while talking on the phone. Are you seeing a trend? The girl loves hats.

A princess cap for eating bananas. Thanks for showing mom that big bite that you took.

This is one very happy little girl. Just give her food and a hat - that's how she rolls.

As hard as it is to believe, SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION. I'm not sure that I was completely ready this year but I suppose that doesn't matter.

Brady went back today and Ashton had a half day yesterday. It's weird this year because Ashton is attending a different middle school and we have to get an earlier start than before. We actually were ahead of schedule this morning and that is certainly a first. Of course the first day of school is always exciting, wait until next week! Reality will set in and they will be dragging themselves out of the house.

I have literally been undercover. Covered up in the many outfits that I'm trying to get ready for an upcoming consignment sale. I have priced over 100 items so far and I am still not finished. I'm completely exhausted with it. For a little girl that came into our lives with only the clothes on her back, my how the times have changed!

Emma is having some difficulty adjusting to the new school routine. She isn't liking getting up earlier and she woke up around 3 a.m. and wanted to go downstairs. She seems like she may be a little confused as to what is going on around here.

Well, I know that I have much more to blog, but I have to get some things done while little miss is napping otherwise it ain't happening:)

Testosterone, Sugar, and Caffeine...Need I Say More

5 a.m. "Mom, can we go swimming now? There's enough light out, we won't get hurt." Forget the alarm, that's what I awoke to.



Ashton and 5 of his friends have been up ALL night. They are jacked up on Mountain Dew, ice cream, brownies, and pizza. Throw in some powdered doughnuts and it's like pouring gas on a fire. At least 3 of them have some sort of practice this afternoon and I refuse to be held responsible for the extra laps they may have to run:)


Wouldn't you love to have enough energy or stupidity to want to be playing basketball at 5 a.m.? Oh for those days.....


So say a prayer for me and Emma. I don't know if we will survive a day with 6 teenagers high on sugar and caffeine.

Think About It - It Will Change YOUR LIFE

RainbowKids.Com is a web site full of information and pictures that will tug at your heart. They have a photo listing of children waiting on their forever families. Sign up for their newsletters and you will get the wonderful opportunity of seeing some of the most beautiful children that God has ever created. It's not an adoption agency but it can put you in contact with an agency if you are interested in adoption.


Even if you aren't interested in adopting, this gives you an opportunity to see the faces of waiting orphans from all over the world and allows you the opportunity to say a pray for them.


Think about it. It will change your life and those prayers can change their lives as well. They are beautiful and they all need just one thing, a family. Can you provide that for them?

Haircut Pics

Emma had her first haircut on Tuesday and you really can't tell much from the pictures that Bo took. Of course, it was like trying to photograph a wild cat, she was moving a lot. She did great however and her hair looks so much fuller in the back. It really has changed her appearance a lot. She looks more like a little girl and not a baby. She loved Mrs. Tisha and she got a candy bracelet that she wasn't too sure about. She managed to break it while we were at Aldi and screamed because I wouldn't let her eat the pieces off of the floor. What a rotten mom I am.



She moved around a lot while Tisha was working on her but she never cried.

This picture was taken before the haircut. Not the best photo, but look at those mischievous little eyes.

We have had Emma 11 months today. WOW! It's hard to believe that it's been that long. What an amazing 11 months. She has come so far and is making such progress. Her new favorite thing this week is to bump elbows with you. I'm not sure where that came from but she will just randomly come up and want to touch elbows together and just smile.

She has really missed Brady this week. She was pretty excited when she saw Daddy's car leaving to go get Brady yesterday. She was eating a banana and saw the car drive out of the driveway and looked at me. I told her that Daddy was going to get Bubba and she opened her mouth so wide (with banana still in place) and her eyes got so big and she said "Bubba" and hopped down to go look outside. It was adorable. She really loves her 2 Bubbas.

Brady enjoyed band camp and managed to come home with a ton of disgusting laundry. I think they marched in the rain everyday so you can imagine how wonderful his clothes smelled.

Another busy week ahead after we survive the weekend. They boys have doctor's appointments, I have a staff meeting, Ashton is having his belated birthday party, Emma has all of her appointments, golf practice, band practice, parent night at school. I'm already tired just thinking about it. No wonder I have such a hard time living in the moment.

I'm pretty proud of my 3 guys. They spent the morning mowing the yard of a friend of Bo's who is down on his luck right now. I hope that my boys learned something from that experience about helping others. They are just like most teenagers, everything revolves around them. I'm anxious to hear their take on the situation and I can assure you, they will be quick to give it.