Just For Fun!

Now that I've reported about all the Winter Weather happenings, it's time for fun!

Food
I've had time to do a lot of catch up on most all the blogs that I following. When I saw this Vera Bradley Purse cake from Living Locurto, I  immediately thought of Laura and her passion for Vera Bradley.  According to Amy, her friend Christy made this cake.  All I can say, she is one talented lady.  The craftmanship that's put into a cake like this makes me want to pick my jaw up off the floor.  Check out the photos:

Entertainment
I don't know about you, but I love the idea of Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock together.  Ahh! I just think he is gorgeous and she is so beautiful.  What a perfect couple!  Of course, Hollywood will come into effect and will try it's hardest to keep them apart.  For right now, I think it's great! 

Great Finds
Katie and I have found a great find during this very Wintry week.  We are a very big cheese eating family.  I keep a stock of slice cheese, deli cheese, cheese sticks and shredded cheese.  Not to mention the cheese dips and mac & cheese for the kids.  Well, we wanted to try Farm Rich's Mozzarella Bites and all I can say is OMGosh!  It's sooooo good.  You've got mozzarella squares surrounded by pizza dough.  This is probably so full of calories and saturated fat, but we are not going to go there this week.  They are delicious, so delicious that I grabbed another bag from Walmart's freezer section.  Yum!  You might want to take note for your next get together.  They are great appetizers, be prepared because they won't last long because they are that good. 

Just throw these babies into the microwave and your set for a tasty snack

So True!

2011 Winter Storm Day 5 2011-01-14

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Snow Day 5

Day 5

Well, we woke up this morning to a whole 9 degrees outside. Of course, Katie was out of school again, so we had class in the Dining Room today. We reviewed sight words and math problems. After the review, I gave her a quiz. She did pretty good. I had her write two stories that I started and read her books aloud.  If you can imagine, Katie had to dress up for homeschool every morning this week.  The dress included her Minnie Mouse ears or one of her headbands. 

While we did classwork, Doug stayed busy cleaning off the driveway. It still had some ice on it. After all of Katie's studies, she was ready to release some steam. She got all coated up and outside we went. I was telling Doug yesterday how I don't ever remember seeing snow on the ground for 5 solid days. And I know I've never been out of school for a solid week like Katie because of the snow and ice. Our neighbor told me, while she was driving down the highway it reminded her of when she lived in Indiana because of all the dirty snow on the sides of the road.

Ice in our driveway that Doug worked on today.  By this afternoon, he got it all off. YAY!

Katie wanted to go for a hike outside. I grabbed the camera and outside we went on an adventure. One of our neighbors has a huge hill and Katie had a blast trying to climb up and slide down the hill. I had fun taking snow photos of my little snow bunny.

Snowlady, Ella, is still hanging in there after 5 days

Mommy's Snow Bunny

Ice and Snow on our street on day 5

Katie climbing a big hill - she loved it!

A lot of people have complained about all the snow and ice. Honestly, I've loved it. I'm sure if I lived in it all the time every year, I would probably get tired of it just like I get tired of our hot humid triple digit Summer months. I can't stand our hot triple digit Summers.

We actually reached a balmy 41 degrees this afternoon.  It was nice to see the sun out all day, instead of a peek every now and then.  The high temps with the help from the sun, a lot of ice and snow melted.  Don't get me wrong, we still have quite a bit of ice and snow for tomorrow. 

Once Doug got all the ice off of our driveway, we loaded up and went for a drive in town. We were running low on food, so we ended up at Walmart. This may sound a little dramatic, but hey it's me. Looking out the window onto all the lawns of white snow, it was beautiful.  Have you ever seen snow that's beginning to melt?  With the sun shining down, it has this diamond glisten to it.  As we were driving, it was as if God dressed the dirty, ugly, dead ground with a beautiful silk cloth.  The most delicate, expensive, white silk that you would find a bride wearing on the day of her wedding. 

Walmart was full of cabin fever survivors.  I don't think they were able to replenish their shelves because it still looked bare.  The most crowded aisles were the snacks and chips.  LOL!  Why is it when you are stranded at home, the only food items that's appealing are unhealthy?  Of course, we ran into a few people that we knew.  Millard and Peggy were there, so Katie went with them shopping.  Later, they came by the house and picked a few clothes for Katie and took her home with them.  HAHA!  I know it was a treat for Katiebug.  She took an armful of dolls and a couple of movies that she wanted to watch with her grandparents. 

We are expecting some warmer temperatures this weekend.  Rain is supposed to be coming in on Monday or Tuesday, but I'm already hearing threats of snow flurries by the end of the week.  I don't think it will be anything big. 

Snow, snow, snow!

Four days later and I'm still at home with the kids. So many neighbors and people I know have griped and complained about being stranded at home or having all the snow. So, I won't say a word (bad) about our situation. We are just trying to make the best of it.

Katie hasn't returned to school this whole week. I let her have Monday and part of Tuesday off, playing and acting silly. Yesterday and today, I set up a classroom on our Dining Room table. We went over her sight words and I tried to help her in pronouncing her "wh" "th" "ou" and "sh" words. I've noticed in the past, she wants to sound them out individually. As you know, doing this makes the word sound nothing like it is spelled. I know it will come in time, but I'm just trying to help her in the long run. I know that Mrs. M wanted to introduce addition to the class this month. I thought it would keep Katie busy to write out a sheet full of math problems. I had her exercise how to read the problem and then figure it out by counting on her fingers. She was doing fabulous until I made my answers go past 11. Ugh! I think I have some hair left from this morning. Have you ever tried teaching your child to continue counting on their fingers past 10? I guess they figure, well I don't have any more fingers so the answer is 10. Ugh! Once I got Katie to start all over on the first hand, in order to count to 13. She got that down pat, but when it came to finding out the total. All she could see was 8 fingers in front of her face, so she would answer 8 instead of 13. I feel sorry for Mrs. M. Surely, she's got a better way of teaching a 5 year old to add past 10 than I do. Saying all this, Katie did good overall in her addition. She just has to practice. I had her read her new school books, which have harder words. Another hurdle to jump over, but she doesn't see it that way. She gets very frustrated if she gets stuck on a word.

We still have snow and ice on the ground. We are at the point where what snow the sun melts, it freezes overnight with temps in the lower to mid teens. We've got salt on our driveway, but there is still one large section of ice that stretches across our driveway. I stepped on it this morning, taking mail to the mailbox, and yeah slipped there a little bit. Thankfully, I recovered my balance and made it over to the hard icy snow. If Katie does go outside for a little bit, I remind her to stay off the sidewalk and driveway. Basically, I try to keep the kids inside. Colton's developed a cold from all of this, so I don't let him out at all.

We haven't developed cabin fever yet, but we are driving each other a little batty. Katie and I are keeping each other occupied by playing Wii. I try to do a little more effort, in hopes to keep my body moving. Katie has found a new love other than Swordplay, she has discovered Cycling. She loves it! This is good because she is jumping around and moving her arms and legs. It really wears her out and me too. I thought that if she liked cycling so well, maybe she would like boxing as well. I love boxing! Nope, I was wrong. Actually, she doesn't like being knocked out. Good Sportsmenship is another thing I have to teach Katie. She doesn't like losing to any game. When we first starting the Wii, sure I let her win. Later, I got to thinking that I might be doing the wrong thing. If she loses at a game with someone else, how would she react? Plus, I hope it challenges her to try better and harder. I've explained to her that I'm older and know how to do some things a lot better than she. She doesn't like it, but she's got to learn. I know I sound like such a bully. I hate it because I want her to win and yeah there are times where I decrease my effort, just so she might win.

Until then, I'll be here watching my chickficks and playing games. See ya!

Frito Pie

The other day, Doug and I were hungry for Frito Pie. I don't have a recipe, it's pretty much what I thought would be good in it.

Frito Pie Recipe

Ingredients:
2 lbs. Ground Chuck
small can of sliced black olives
1 can of petite diced tomatoes
1 envelope of Taco Seasoning
Sour Cream
container of Con Queso cheese dip (whatever color and heat you prefer)
Taco Sauce
Plain Frito Chips

Cook and drain meat; over low heat, add the taco seasoning with the recommended amount of water from seasoning packet to the meat. Stir to blend well. Once blended, add the tomatoes, olives and any other topping you would like. (I think mushrooms would be great). Stir and heat until warm.

Place a couple of handfuls of fritos in a soup bowl, top with meat mixture and put a couple of dollops of cheese sauce and heat it in the microwave. The time depends on the power of your microwave. I heated it for about 10 seconds. Doug didn't care for the cheese sauce as much as he liked shredded cheese. Shredded cheese is optional. Place a dollop of sour cream, taco sauce and your ready for a great warm meal. Yum!

My Heart Felt Wreath

 I followed the instructions - HERE - from The Idea Room, but I made a couple of tweaks of my own. 

Like instructed, I used 3/4 yd of pink felt.  Taking a teacup, I laid the open end and drew a circle onto a piece of card stock paper, for a template.  I pinned the template onto the felt and cut out SEVERAL circles. 

The Idea Room instructs you to pin the ribbon onto the back of the stryofoam, but I wanted to secure it a little better.  I cut 16 inches of ribbon, wrapped it around the top part of the heart and hot glued it in place as seen here.

I folded the circles in half and then folded it in half again, making a little rose tip.  I placed a straight pin through the pointed end of the halfed felt.  The Idea Room had their rose felt tips placed very close to one another, but I kind of like them ruffled out a little.  I think it's whatever you prefer. 

Katie and I love our finished product and it looks so well on our front door.  Katie's excited because I promised that after Valentine's Day, I would hang the wreath in her room on the wall.  She was so excited that she easily grabbed the wreath and began heading for her room with it.  I had to remind her that she could have it after Valentine's Day.  Of course, her bottom lip came out.  LOL! 

2011 Winter Storm 2011-01-09

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The Morning After The Storm

I think I finally went to bed around midnight or so.  I'm like a kid when we have storms of any kind, too excited to think about sleep.  I kept people updated during the night as far as how many inches we were receiving. 

This morning, I was the first to go out and survey all the snow accumulation.  HAHA! Actually, I knew we would need our thermals, blue jeans and lots of sweatshirts washed.  I just thought, since I was bundled up anyway, I'll go check it out and take a few pictures.  Overall, we measured anywhere between 5-6 inches of snow and our drifts measured between 7-9 inches.  There is a nice sheet of ice on top of the white fluffy snow.  Of course, under the snow it seems to be another thin sheet of ice.  So, everyone has to be very careful today as they get around.  It is so beautiful and peaceful outside.  Walking around in the deep snow, I could see evidence of bunnies out, probably looking for food and shelter.  I took a picture of one area where they dug by a tree, I suppose to get down to the grass.  It is very cold out, so you can't stay outside for very long.  It didn't take Katie very long, when she got up, to get her clothes on and ready to be apart of this miraculous and historic event.  Right off the bat, she wanted to make a snowlady and snow angels.  It was a little hard for her to make the snow angels because of the ice on top, but she was able to do it.  The snowlady wasn't as bad, it just took some time.  Time that Katie felt she didn't have because her fingers were so cold.  Now, I've never lived up North, so my snowman building skills are something I need to work on.  Saying that, I don't think I did half bad.  I know it's the tallest snowlady I've ever made before.  I'm sure if I wanted to stay outside a little longer, she could have been much bigger.  However, Katie thinks she perfect and with all of her accessories, she is the snowlady with the most style on the block.  LOL! 

 

At noon, the temperature got to 33 degrees, so the snow on top of trees and houses seem to be melting just a little bit.  Tonight that won't be so great when the temp dips down into the teens.  I have a feeling no one will be able to go anywhere tomorrow as well.  Further North of us, it is even worse with lots more ice and snow.  Our friend from Florence received approximately 10 inches of snow and Huntsville is reporting anywhere between 8-10 inches.  All the major roads are closed for non-emergency vehicles and the road departments are very busy clearing the roads and spreading salt.  Of course, Doug is home today, but he's already thinking that he may not be able to make it to work tomorrow.  The meterologist are saying with all the snow and ice that it will be several days before the snow will leave, especially with us not getting much warmer anytime soon. 

Meanwhile, Katie and I baked some chocolate chip cookies and the menus for tonight's supper will be baked Tilapia, baked potato and salad. Yum! Y'all stay warm!

All of today's pictures will be on a separate post from Shutterfly. Enjoy!

Staying Up Watching It Snow

A few last minute photos ~ 4 inches of snow on our back porch ~ at 11:30PM.  I've enjoyed watching the snow fall and accumulate on our lawn.  I've got to go to bed.  I've been watching the chat room in Huntsville and thus far they've received close to 8 inches of snow and it's still coming down.  Whoo Hoo!

Watching the Snow!

A live U-Stream video from Huntsville WHNT 19.

South's Winter Storm 2011

FUN!  We just thought a White Christmas was awesome and a wonderful gift, we are expected to receive anywhere between 4-8 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow.  YAY!  Doug measured our snow level at 10PM and we show to have received 3 inches of snow already and it started snowing at 6PM.  It's suppose to snow all night into tomorrow.  Areas south of us are to expect most of the ice along with the snow.  I think there will be ice and freezing rain as far as Mobile.  The news has been reporting some travel problems and wrecks in Birmingham area.  The State started closing roads and overpasses as early as 8PM because of the ice and snow.  Lots of area schools and businesses have gone ahead and closed for tomorrow.  As soon as I told Katie that she was out of school at 5PM, she began dancing and screaming.  Shocked, I asked her that I thought she liked school.  She said that she does, but she gets to stay home and play in the snow tomorrow.  HAHA! 

Some people really hates snow, well I'm not one of those people.  I LOVE SNOW!!  I think it's because we don't get to see it much.  The last time we've had a BIG snow storm like this was in 1993.  I remember drifts of snow that were as high as my head and I'm 5' 7".  It was great!  At the time, I was working part time at Bookland aka Books a Million and going to college.  Now, I get to watch my children build their own memories. 

Katie was biting at the bit, wanting to get out in the snow.  We bundled both kids up real good and let them get out in it for approximately 2-3 minutes.  It began snowing around 6PM and we let them out in the snow by 8PM.  They had a ball.  This was Colton's first time to actually get to play in the snow.  I think he liked it a lot because he didn't want to come back in the house.  In the house, he kept pointing to outside and talking jibber.  Of course, Katie had to make a snow angel and throw snow balls to Colton and her daddy.  We had to get on to her because she was throwing the snow right in Colton's face.  Of course, she thought it was hilarious.  SIBLINGS!  I hope you enjoy the pictures.  We'll have lots more in the morning.  I can't wait to see how much we'll end up having. 

I want to tell you, I had to get a few groceries Thursday night and yeah there were quite a few people inside Walmart, but the shelves were still stocked pretty good.  Friday, I took Katie to Walmart to do a little shopping (as a reward for such good DIBELS scores).  The crowd wasn't that bad and the shelves were still stocked.  Yesterday, Doug and I went to see my niece play ball.  On the way home, Doug mentioned that we were low on milk.  So, we wheeled into Walmart's parking lot.  OMGosh!  Doug ended up dropping me off at the door.  I grabbed a gallon of milk, bread, lunch meat and some junk food because it just goes great with a snow storm.  I mostly grabbed things that I knew the kids liked to eat.  Looking around, I was so shocked how empty the shelves were of EVERYTHING.  And the people that were crawling all over the place grabbing and snatching food and drinks.  It's amazing. 

Pictures are supplied by Shutterfly in the post below.
:)

2011-01-09-Winter Storm 2011

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Heart Felt Wreath and More . . .

Heart Felt Wreath

I first found this great crafty decoration from Eighteen 25, they got the idea from The Idea Room.  I just think this is a great craft and it sounds so easy.  Katie and I went ahead and purchased our heart shaped styrofoam from Hobby Lobby for a little over $3.  It's not as big as I'd like for the front door, but it was the only large heart shape available.  They had several different smaller sizes as well. I found some cute pink ribbon with glittered Fleur-de-lis accents.  Katie and I really liked it.  I didn't feel like paying $5.99 a yd for the pink felt at Hobby Lobby.  I'll just wait until I get back to Walmart and pay a little over $3 a yd.  

Instructions to make this wreath, go HERE! 

I'll do a show and tell as soon as we get our's finished.   

Valentine's Topiary

Here's another precious craft from The Idea Room that I had to share with you. CLICK HERE for instructions. 

Happy crafting! 

Way To Go Katiegirl!

Auburn Fans arrive in Glendale for the big game next Tuesday.  ROLL TIDE!

Katie School Update
I received Katie's DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) report today.  Can I just say Wow!  I currently can't find her DIBELS score from August, but they were nothing close to the scores I'm going to give you tonight.  I'll break it down, so you can understand it.  This test was just taken for the month of January. 

• Initial Sounds (identifies a picture by its beginning sound by pointing to the picture or naming it.  The student says the beginning sound of a given picture) - it's recommended she know at least 25 by January.  Katie knew 40.
• Letter Naming (recognizes upper and lowercase letters out of order) - its recommended she know at least 40 by May.  Katie knew 55.
• Phoneme Segmentation (tells all the sounds heard in spoken words) - its recommended she know at least 35 by May.  Katie knew 58.
• Nonsense Words (blends sounds together that make nonsense words) - its recommened she know at least 25 by May.  Katie knew 35.

Katie has worked very hard and having to put up with me badgering her about her school work.  She did it!  Yay!  We are soooo proud of her and I couldn't show her enough of how excited I was for her.  She gets mad at me when I push her a little further.  Hopefully, now she sees that practice does make perfect.  For that, I and her daddy think she got that perfect score today.  Her daddy and I will have to do something very special for her.  We want her know that it does pay to try your best and work hard.  Mrs. M sent home her weekly parent/teacher note.  We should receive Katie's Progress Report aka Report Card on either this Friday or next Monday.  I'm so excited to see if there are any improvements.  After seeing the DIBELS report, there should be a significant changes to her literacy score.  Mrs. M has each student to write letters/notes to one another.  Katie brought home some computer made stationary for her letters to her friends.  It was cute watching her writing letters to two of her friends.  She is to turn the letters into Mrs. M in the morning.  Mrs. M will give the letters to the children that they are addressed to.  Mrs. M will be having the children do this for a while.  I think it's a great idea.  Katie had quite a bit of homework this afternoon.  Not only did she have to write her two letters, but count to 100, go over her new sight words for the month.  This month, her sight words are the names of colors (black, brown, pink, purple, etc.).  I just went over them twice tonight because she was able to fire off the names almost instantly.  I was shocked.  I thought maybe she just memorized the order, so I mixed it up.  Nope, she got them through the first run.  She read through her assigned books (approx. 5 books).  She's been reading through these for about a month, so I'm kind of hoping Mrs. M will give her the next set soon.  Mrs. M mentioned in the weekly note that they will be bringing in a little more math into their lessons.  They will be starting with addition this week.  Alright!  I've been working with Katie and adding for the past few months, but I do it in form of a story.  You know, if you have 4 apples and buy 2 more from the grocery store, how many do you have now?  Most of the time, she nails the answer.  Well, now she's going to have to get use to seeing it written down on paper.  So, this afternoon I sat with her and our little white board.  Oh my gosh!  I blew her mind when I wrote down the numbers with the "plus" symbol.  What's that? I'm sure she was thinking.  I worked with her for about 30 minutes on how to read a problem and then how you count your fingers to get the anwer.  I'm hoping it will help her for when she starts her addition at school.  Katie told me that they didn't work on math today.  Mrs. M may wait until next week since it's so late in the week. 

"Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" by James Patterson Review

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It is a short read, just what I needed. I've never read a James Patterson, but this was pretty good. There are some twists and turns, but somehow predictable. I think. In the last twist, I had to grab the tissues. As I was coming up with my own solutions at the beginning of the book, I had nailed the ending, but hoped that it wasn't the case. Unfortunately, it did happen and my stomach and heart fell straight to the ground. Absolute heartbreak! Thankfully where there is sorrow, there is a happy ending. I believe God was looking over Matt and answered his prayer, to love again.



It is a sweet love story between two very loving parents that adore each other and their child, Nicholas. How they've had to face some tough struggles, but are so blessed to have each other. How two people can love each other like the way they've loved each other just for a short while, it makes you stop and think about all you have been blessed with and you hope to grow a better appreciation for what you have, no matter how big or small. These love notes to the child from his mother, Suzanne, can be complete tear jerkers. I didn't have to use the Kleenex until towards the end.



Throughout the book, you begin to notice the saying "Isn't it lucky?" Luck had nothing to do with it. I believe in divine intervention from God. I think He wanted Matt to be able to feel love again after the lose of his father. He allowed Matt and Suzanne's pathes to cross and what a blessing it was. Katie asked how God could have allowed something this horrible to happen. I believe God allows us to experience these tragic events, so our spirit might grow for the greater good. Look what Matt would have missed out on, if he never met Suzanne? What a blessing he would have missed? Love is the key. Their love for each other grew to be so strong that the love itself will NEVER die. Isn't that awesome! Matt's appreciation and love for Suzanne probably helped him to grow more; therefore, showing a better appreciation and stronger love for Katie. There are reasons for everything.







View all my reviews

2011 Recipe Challenge

Kitchen Belleicious has challenged all cooking bloggers to a 2011 Recipe Challenge.  I think I'm going to try it.  The rules are that we are to try a new recipe each month.  Whether it is something that we've always wanted to try, but were too intimidated to cook or never got around to doing it.  She will have a selection of new recipes available on her website . . .
                                                                HERE! or you can try one of your own.  No matter if the recipe turned out to be a flop or fab, take a picture and send it to her through the website.  She will go through the pictures and post them every 3rd Wednesday of each month. 

I'm really ahead of the game because I've always wanted to bake an apple pie from scratch, but never got the nerve to do it until this past Thanksgiving.  I used a Paula Deen recipe and I have to say that it was delicious.  I went home that night with an empty pie plate.  So there!  Now, I would like to make a homemade chicken pot pie, chocolate souffle and chocolate croissants.  Yum!  

If your interested in joining the fun each month, go over to Kitchen Belleicious and grab her button and post it on your blog. And let the party begin! 

 

Katie and Colton Story

I have to share these stories.

A few days ago, when Millard and Peggy kept Colton and Katie overnight, Doug and I did a little shopping the next morning. I planned to start introducing the potty to Colton this Spring. I'm not going to let it drive me crazy like I let it when Katie was potty training. Anyways, I've noticed that our Walmart has had a hard time keeping their potty seats (the ones I like) in stock for little boys. I don't think he would appreciate (on down the road) sitting on Dora the Explorer's potty seat. So, when I saw Go Diego Go potty seats in Target, I grabbed it up. I also had to purchase another step stool for the bathroom. Ugh! The other one didn't break, it's just that both Katie and Colton don't like sharing the same one at the same time. They both feel that they have to stand on the same step stool, while I'm getting Katie ready for whatever (school, bed, etc.). Colton is at the age where he has to do everything Katie does. While she is brushing her teeth, when she spits the toothpaste in the sink, Colton feels he has to spit as well. It's pretty funny. So, now they both have a step stool for each of them. Katie was so happy, but of course, it's a little more cramped in the bathroom. I don't think Doug was too happy, but he'll get over it. The potty seats now come with hooks that you hang from your toilet. Pretty handy. Well, Colton and Katie spotted the potty seat the other day. I asked him if he wanted to try it out. He shook his head "yes". So, I let him try it out for the first time. Of course, I made Katie leave because this was a private moment. She wasn't too happy with me because she wanted to see him seat on his new potty. I think he likes his potty because he sat up there and giggled. He knows he is supposed to do something, but I don't think he knows what yet. Tonight while I was getting him in his pjs and changing his diaper. He started pointing down there and then pointed to the bathroom, while grunting. I asked him if he wanted to go potty. He shook his head "yes" again. I put him down, to see what he would do and sure enough, he went straight to the toilet and pointed to his seat. I sat him up there and all he did was giggle. He let me know when he was ready to get down. I ran the water to see if that would affect him, it didn't. This time, I told him he had to wash his hands. He knew what I was talking about because he went straight to his stool and put his hands under the water. He seemed proud that he went to the potty. Let's hope it will continue.

Ever since the passy went "kissa goodbye", Colton has been talking up a storm. It's amazing. He won't really say words other than ball and paw-paw, but you tell him what to say and he'll say it. Yesterday, he said "Roll Tide". Will he say it again? Maybe not. He clobbered his sister on the nose with his sippy cup, he threw it right at her. I know it had to hurt. I spanked him and told him to tell her he was sorry. The little stinker, gave her a big hug and said "sorry". Plan as day. Tonight, Katie was teaching Colton how to play "Duck, duck, goose". Yeah, including the running in the house as well. I was in the middle of paying bills when all of this was going on. I scolded her for running in the house and agreed that it would be okay to walk, but no running. It wasn't long before I heard Colton saying "duck, duck, goo". I asked Doug if he heard him. It was plan as day and he even had the hand gesture down pat while saying "duck, duck, goo". After reading the kids a bedtime story, I told Colton to give sissy a kiss. He gave her one of his kiss smacks. You know how you can make a smack sound with your mouth to represent a kiss, well that's what I'm talking about. He likes to do the other kind of smack, right across her head with ball or some toy. I even heard him say "goonight" to Katie when I told him to. It's amazing, if you don't tell anything to say, he'll just grunt and point. I guess it's the man in him to grunt and point. LOL! {grunt, grunt - me man, me hungry, grunt, grunt} He is a typical boy with the terrible two's right behind him.

Katie asked me again if it was Tuesday. She can't wait to go back to school. At this point, neither is momma. LOL! Joking aside, I've enjoyed watching my babies play with one another this past week. I too have tried to spend as much time as possible with Katie. Get on her level and make memories and build on our mother/daughter relationship. She likes for us to hang out in her room and go shopping together. Day before yesterday was daddy/daugther time. Doug spent most of the day with her. He took her to the store with him and later they played Barbies together in her room. I love to watch memories being made between them two. I know these are things she will always remember. I hope.

Blurb
I haven't been blogging as much because I've been working on Blurb.  I'm hoping to be able to publish my journal from 2007.  It's been a joy working with Blurb and so far I like the fact that I can edit my text and pictures just the way I like it.  I may have to have two separate volumes for the year 2007 because so far I've got over 200 pages.  I'm currently weeding out all the unnecessary writings.  I'm hoping it won't be too expensive.  I'll let you know how it's going. 

Books
I'm currently reading a book by James Patterson "Suzanne's diary for Nicholas".  It's one of those back and forth stories between the past and present.  I don't mind reading those just as long as there is not too much going on at the same time.  I can pretty much keep up with it.  I just started reading this book Saturday night and I'm already on page 198 out of 289.  It's hard to put it down, I'm always curious to find out what happens next.  I don't want to give too much away other than it about a women whom finds herself pregnant and alone, living in New York City.  Her boyfriend, the baby's father, broke up with her before she had a chance to tell him that she was expecting and she has no idea why he broke off their relationship.  She slowing finds out his past through his wife's diary to his son, Nicholas.  Now, the girl, Katie, is so upset because he lied to her and said he wasn't married and her parents want her to come back home to North Carolina.  They love her and want to support her in everyway, but she's torn and she's determined to read this diary and find out why Matt cheated on his wife Suzanne with her.  Some of the letters in the journal that Suzanne writes to Nicholas will choke you up.  They are basically love letters to her baby boy about how much she loves him and his daddy to life's lessons.  What happened between Suzanne and Matt? Did he really have an affair behind this wonderful woman's back or is Suzanne dead?  I found out that Matt is a very private person and keeps things bottled up inside.  So far, it's been a great read and I've never read a James Patterson book before.  I just like the title and it was a New York Times #1 Bestseller.  Before I purchased this novel, I had in my hand a couple others "Roses" by Leila Meacham, which sounded like a great read.  Based in Texas, in one review it said that it was compared to a modern day "Gone With The Wind".  I'd like to read Fannie Flagg's new novel "I Still Dream About You".  Us Alabamians have to support one another and plus I just love Fannie's humor.