Mini Christmas Ornaments 2

Mini Christmas Ornaments

Each of my sons has a 24 inch fiber optic tree.  It is easy to store and put up. The hard thing for us has been finding small ornaments that are nice, boyish, and easy to store.  Nothing breakable. We've tried making little ones. This year I have an idea. I found some cute, cheap dimensonal stickers from Jolee's Botique. The Classic Nutcracker stickers. Found them at evil WW.  Got home and attached wrapping paper to the sticky backs and trimmed it to match the edges. Then I poked small hole in each one and strung small ribbon through for hanging. Easy, pretty, already glittery ornaments that will store flat and not break. Also good-they are very lightweight.

Inspired: 31 Days 31 Ways

I am participating in 31 Days 2012 that The Nestor is sponsoring!!!  My 31 days will be:

Click this button to join 31 Days.

I will be sharing something that has inspired me to be creative each day in October, 2012.  I often see things - sayings and quotes - that I like to "set to visual music" by finding an image and then adding the words.  Can't wait!  I actually made a graphic this morning before I found this link party.  So, here we go...  Because I'm so visually inspired, there won't be descriptions. 

 October 1st

October 2nd

October 3rd

October 4th

 October 5th

October 6th

October 7th

Oct. 8th

October 9th

October 10th

October 11th

October 12th

October 13th

October 14th

October 15th

October 16th

October 17th

October 18th

October 19th

October 20th

October 21st

October 22nd

October 23rd

October 24th

October 25th

October 26th

October 27th

October 28th

October 29th

October 30th

October 31st

Hello, Again...Hello

I'm a big Neil Diamond fan.  It has been since June since I updated.  We've been busy busy busy!!!  Summer was full of swimming and activities.  We were bums for sure.  The boys didn't do any sports - we hung out and swam and did our thing.  The guys camped in the yard.

School started back in August.  JC is in the second grade this year.  AR has been a journey of wills.  He doesn't want to do it and we want him to do it.  Now that he has some points on the board, he is more motivated.  JW is in his last year at GS preschool and he is doing well.  Lots of hugs and hellos and goodbyes from the other kids.  I will be so sad to let GS go - they have been so good to both our boys.

I'm giving lessons and have been up to 7 students, though some of them have been temporary.  I have 5 regulars right now.  It is a lot of fun. 

Soccer and Scouts also started back in August.  Lots of fun stuff going on!  The boys are growing like weeds.  Keeping them in jeans and shoes is going to be interesting this Autumn.  October is going to be a full month, with Halloween and the Komen walk coming up.  Fun times!

 One Blue Knight and one Shark!!!

Yes, they are both in need of hair cuts, but that's a whole'nother post.

Goings on this Summer

Some swimming, some bike riding, some ball playing, dressing up and having fun.  We are also dealing with some five year old attitude a few weeks early.  JW has gotten quite the mouth on him, with an attitude to match.  We've had cookouts on Georgia Mountain and bike rides on Lake Guntersville.  Lots of fun summer stuff to come.

 We have a mugger in the house.

 With electric blue eyes.

 John Campbell got mugged.

 He's unconscious after his mugging.

 Then Mario and Luigi showed up.

 Sliding in.

And landing.

Summer Lovin'

We've been swimming, playing baseball, hanging out in the house, bike riding, going to the library and doing a little gardening.  The boys are getting on each others nerves.  Jackson Wynn follows John Campbell around and "looks" at him.  John Campbell gets all tore up.  Jackson Wynn giggles and "looks" some more.  John Campbell gets mad and hits/screams/kicks/throws something.  Then more crying screaming, accusations and general snarkiness.  There isn't enough swimming, games and stuff to keep them occupied and out of trouble.  It is summer.  They will adjust. 

We have birthdays coming up.  Elaborate lists have been made and instructions for cakes have been given.  I will soon have an 8 year old and a 5 year old. 

 Swim Buddies

Cutest.Darth.Ever.

SLAG Smoothie

Boys withhold when they are young where the potty is concerned.  It isn't uncommon for them to wait days before finally doing their business.  I wonder when the magical transformation happens where they start camping out in there daily.  But for now, one of my boys isn't that regular and he was up all night with a tummy ache last night.  So, I decided to get some Miralax in his system.  To do this takes more then mere milk, juice or even ice cream.  He picks up the texture in all of them.  Today I made my own smoothie, the SLAG (shit like a goose) Smoothie.  Turned out really good, though I could only try a spoonful because I don't need to be running to the potty...  I looked on allrecipes.com and picked some that sounded good, then went from there.

SLAG Smoothie

1 medium sliced banana
1 cup Boathouse Farms strawberry banana smoothie
1 dose of Miralax
1 cup of vanilla ice cream
2 cups crushed ice

Put banana, smoothie, Miralax and ice cream in a blender.
Pulse until smoothly combined.
Add 2 cups crushed ice and pulse until smoothly combined.

It tastes great and I will be changing it up, using fresh fruit instead of ready-made smoothie liquid, maybe back off the ice a bit and increase the fruit and/or ice cream.

I would love to try strawberry kiwi with all fresh fruit, also strawberry peach, or strawberry-peach-kiwi-banana-whatever else.  The possibilities are endless!

As I typed the last sentence, GUESS WHO ran to the bathroom saying, "I gotta go pooooop!" as he went down the hall.  Mission accomplished.

Last weekend in April, 2012

We put some finishing touches on Elmer's grave.  He has a stone over his grave and I plan to get a stepping stone kit so we can put his name on it.  Thanks to my private student's mom for the idea.  We planted a rose bush on either side of Elmer.  The boys helped and got good and dirty.  When they weren't helping, they were climbing fences and tees and rolling around as much as possible.  We also went to the church parking lot to ride bikes - Jackson Wynn is weaning off his training wheels.  The big back church lot has the perfect grade for coasting and learning balance.  Hopefully, a few more tries will have him riding free.

Once we got in last night, they were both filthy.  I had to chisel the dirt off of them in the bath - they were even too dirty for showers.  JC's knees, elbows and feet were black with dirt.  I had to scrub him like a dirty carpet.  Jackson Wynn wasn't so bad, but he got a good scrubbing too.  Once the pool is open I won't have to worry so much about keeping them clean.

I've been playing with more gardening projects - starting a bunch of forsythias to add on one side of the yard and a bunch of begonias for this summer and hopefully to winter over in the house.  I've also got to find a spot to put last year's crepe myrtles and a couple of butterfly bushes that have sprung up.  My rose of Sharon bushes have come back strong and there is one spot in the yard where they have sprung up.  I'll have to eradicate them from there, as they are invasive.  I have them in big pots and so far, that's the only ones to wander into the yard.

 My rockabilly baby.

 JC's hair is too curly to stand up, but I think he looks like John Kennedy, Jr. 

Also, my roses have started blooming in my little rose garden.  So beautiful.  As usual, I've taken a zillion photos of all the blooms.  Here's one of the last ones before the rose wilted.  Loved each and every hour of this bloom...

It just keeps changing and getting better. And here are three of my ultimate favorite blooms...