The Paisley Magnolia

Cricut Expressions 2

2011-05-05T10:31:00.002-04:00

Go enter the Cricut giveaway at http://www.favecrafts.com/sweeps/Cricut-Expression-2-Anniversary-Edition-Giveaway
or better yet, don't enter that way I have a better chance of winning!! LOL

Giveaway!!!!

2011-04-13T14:37:00.001-04:00

I wanted to let you all know about a giveaway going on at one of my favorite blogs!! Head on over to www.luluanddaisy.blogspot.com and check out her fabulous Lilly P giveaway!! You have until midnight tonight to enter to win a monogrammed tray from The Mongram Merchant. Be sure to follow @LuluDaisy on twitter and facebook and do the same for The Monogram Merchant too in order to get some extra entries and if you have a blog go blog all about the giveaway too!!!

Good luck!! I'll have you all over and serve you off of my new Lilly P tray very soon!!!

Almost time...

2011-03-29T10:36:00.004-04:00

Friday is the BIG DAY!! That is the day that Bamboopink launches and you will be able to start ordering jewelry directly from me!!! I am so excited to be able to get in on the ground floor of this awesome opportunity!!!

I am excited about the group of ladies who have signed up underneath me and I can tell you it is NOT TOO LATE to join us!! You can join on my website www.bamboopink.net/paisleymagnolia and be sure to go to my team's Facebook page "Bamboopink Team Paisley Magnolia" Here are some pics of the gorgeous, moderately priced jewelry!! Enjoy the sneak peek!!

Come Bamboo Pink with me!!

2011-03-06T22:00:00.001-05:00

So all across the internet, mostly through blogs, you'll find a little button that may look similar to the photo above, saying Join My Team. First, I'm not really into network marketing. I like to tell people that because I really don't have the time between my family, work, crafts,and church activities. All of that said....I think this is a TREMENDOUS opportunity for a ground level entry into a network marketing jewelry company who has already made a name for themselves through Bloomingdales. Want to try it for FREE? You've got one more week to sign up. Here's the skinny:

Join what is expected to be the fastest growing women’s internet start-up company in history with Bamboopink.

Bamboopink is a new fashionable, yet affordable jewelry line made and designed by a famous, high-end designer whose current line is sold in upscale department stores, is all over the red carpet and worn by Oprah! This company is the first of its kind, an internet launched company with virtual trunk shows…there are no parties to host and no phone calls to make.

Sign-ups are free, with no risks or obligations. The free signing period is only through March 15, after that you will have to pay to be a consultant.
What sets this company apart from other direct sales companies:
• GROUND FLOOR opportunity (probably won’t ever happen to you again!)
• Strongest company plan in the industry
• We have a very successful designer, multi-million dollar jeweler making & backing this jewelry, so it's sure to be successful.
• Instead of growing one sales rep at a time, this business model using the free sign-up period – we can grow fifty sales reps at a time – but the time to do that is NOW!
This company is going to explode in a few weeks with a national press release and official launch in April. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So be one of the first to sign up!

Then you can do the same as me and get credit for signing up your friends, which is what we are compensated for with jewelry, cash and/or an ipad. It is not about selling the jewelry at this point, but networking and creating interest. If you decide not to sell, you have lost nothing and your name is dropped from the list.

It’s simple to sign up, go to my site: www.bamboopink.net/paisleymagnolia

Copy this email (text and picture) into a new message and replace my webpage link with your webpage link and send it to your friends. You could win some awesome prizes and you could be building a fabulous network for yourself very quickly.

Disclaimer:
This page and its links are provided as an independent training resource for Consultants. The articles and resources provided at this site are for educational purposes. They may not have been evaluated by Bamboo Pink, Inc., and no endorsement or approval of the content is stated or implied.

THESE MATERIALS ARE NOT SPONSORED BY, ENDORSED BY OR AFFILIATED WITH BAMBOO PINK, INC.

Pics from commercial shoot

2011-01-21T22:43:00.003-05:00

Lights, Camera, Action...

2011-01-21T22:31:00.002-05:00

I have so much to catch up on here in Blogland but all of our Christmas fun will be in another post. This post is about the whirlwind week my kids and I have had.

Since moving to ATL last April the kids have been on several auditions and they have had their pictures and info submitted for several things that come up. Well, this week they were both asked to audition for a print shoot and a commercial that Children's Healthcare Center of ATL was filming for a campaign they have coming up. The audition was Tuesday and while we were there the casting people asked me to get up there and audition for the mom role with Camden. I was surprised on Wed when I got a call asking for Camden and I to do the print shoot and commercial on Thurs and Fri. By Wed night though the director and ad people decided to go a different route but to continue to hold Fri open for the commercial.

Thursday afternoon my phone rang and it was the casting people, the girl they decided to use freaked out in front of the camera and they wanted Grace as soon as we could get there. Off to school I went and got the kids and headed into ATL. Once there Grace did AWESOME, they loved her so much they decided to use her for the commercial, meaning Camden didn't get to do it :( He handled it pretty well, already trying to get a manager fee out of Grace.

Today for the commercial shoot she did AWESOME again, right up there in the camera and got her line done in basically 1 take...what a natural!!

This ad will only be shown in the south Georgia area so no one we know in ATL or in NC or FL will be able to see it and I believe the billboards and print ads will only be seen down there too. We will be able to get some pics from the photographer in a few weeks so we can start a portfolio for her. I am so proud of the DIVA!!

Remembering...

2010-11-23T23:55:00.003-05:00

Mid-November has not been my favorite time of year for quite sometime, 13yrs to be exact. What should have been the best time of my life...3 weeks before my wedding was rocked with an unforeseen tragedy.

When I was in high school one of the first people I met in Wake Forest was E. E was a couple yrs younger than me but we clicked instantly. She never met a stranger and everyone in town knew her and her family. She was loved by all who met her.

A couple years later I graduated and went off to college, my parents moved to Greensboro and then back to Wake Forest and we continued to keep in touch through letters (this was before email existed) and phone calls and we would see each other whenever I came home on weekends at football games,etc... The church my dad pastored in WF at that time just happened to be the church that all her extended family attended. Once she graduated and went to college she got in touch with me and said that one of her suite mates was dating a guy that I had dated a couple years before, small world. (I knew the girl, we had all gone to church together and been in the youth group together years before)....during this time she had contracted severe mono and had to be hospitalized on a couple of occasions, it looked really bad for her but she pulled through and made a complete recovery.

My parents moved back to Florida for my dad to Pastor a church closer to our hometown and extended family,Chris and I got engaged and she was one of the first people I called, she was sooo excited and could not wait to attend and we made plans to get together one weekend. That weekend never came...I was busy with wedding planning, work and showers. She had school and exams.

My dad came into town for the ordination service for Chris' uncle in Nov 1997, this was 3 weeks before my wedding. I had just moved into a new townhouse and had not gotten the cable turned on yet so we did not have access to the news that weekend and no one had my new phone number since I had only been in the place a week at the most... That Sunday morning we arrived at church in Durham went through the customary introduction and then the Pastor got up to do morning announcements and prayer requests...he began by talking about praying for the ex-boyfriends girlfriend and classmates of hers at Meredith College...at this point I got a pit in my stomach, he continued that if anyone had seen the news about the car accident in Rolesville (this is right next to Wake Forest where I am from) that the girl killed in the accident was the suitemate to the girlfriend...I never heard E's name, although he did say it, but it was already obvious to me it was her and it was obvious to the pastor and those around us that something was wrong.

I don't remember much after that except that Chris and my dad had to take me out of the service...it was an out of body experience to say the least. I am soo glad my dad was there with me that morning because it took him and my dad to get me out of the sanctuary. We spent the afternoon with my dad calling E's extended family to find out what had happened,etc...

Apparently on Sat morning E's dad went hunting and she and her mom were going to the nursing home to visit a family member. They had just left their house not 5-10min before when a lady in a car coming toward them had a heart attack, lost control and hit her and her mom head on. E didn't make it and her mom was severely injured.

The next couple of days were a blur, my dad had to go back to Fl and Chris and I went to the visitation. We got there early and still had to stand in line outside and then wrap our way through the funeral home before getting in to see the family. As soon as I got in the room I lost it, her cousin's wife who is a good friend of mine came and got me and walked with me to see E. Her mom was there in a wheelchair, bandaged up. The funeral the next day was just as hard as it was at Meredith in their big chapel.

It has now been 13 yrs...her mom is still in WF, her dad passed in Nov 2008 from cancer, I attended that funeral as well, such loving tributes to E at his funeral as well. I pray for her mom often as she has lost 2 kids (E had an older bro that passed when he was very little) and her husband. Although I think of E often throughout the year, this time of year is when it really hits home...I know she is in Heaven with my daddy, her dad and brother and our dear former "coach"...they are the FAB 5 up there right now, E knows what that means ;)

Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin...

2010-11-14T10:10:00.002-05:00

Goodness!! My last post was mid Sept, I honestly thought I had posted since then!! In that time fall baseball has come and gone, tennis lessons are still going strong thanks to the awesome weather we have been having and hopefully this weather will stick around b/c I am soooo not the cold weather type! I am working 3 mornings a week and then there are the church activities and my crafts (find me on FB at The Paisley Magnolia)...keeping busy helps me get over the fact that we have no family or friends here. Then we get one or two Saturdays with nothing to do except stay home and I start to miss my friends. Don't get me wrong, we have "met" people here and gotten to know some people a little but no one that we can just hang out with and I miss that terribly. Being lonely (hubby and kids don't count) just plain SUCKS!

Add to that that we are not going back home for Thanksgiving b/c even though the kids and I have the week off Chris only really gets Thurs and Fri so we wouldn't get to spend a lot of time with anyone in such a short amount of time. So that means for the first time ever I will be making dressing for our Thanksgiving dinner. I can make a mean turkey and everything that goes with it but for all my 36 yrs the dressing has been made by either my mom, my Granny or my Mother in Law but this year since we will be in Ga w/o family if we want dressing I have to make it! Fingers crossed it will turn out good, I had my mom give me her recipe, I will let you know what happens.

Christmas will be here before we know it, I am not ready for "Christmas" but I am ready for the break b/c we will be going home to NC for at least a week. I am ready to see friends, family-especially my Addy-O and new nephew James (I call him Jimbo much to my sisters chagrin), ready for some NC bbq, ready for my fave mexican restaurant, ready for the For Sale sign to go back in the yard of our house if our renters decide not to buy the house (they have til Dec 31 to make up their mind), just ready to get out of Ga for a bit and forget about all that we have had to deal with since moving here...I am sooo going to write a book oneday!!

Gotta get back to the craft table...currently taking orders, if you want something customized let me know. Get your orders in soon to guarantee arrival before your Christmas parties and get togethers!! Again, find me on Facebook at The Paisley Magnolia, there are pictures of some of my things.

If I were, I would be...

2010-09-14T17:32:00.003-04:00

Cute questions I came across on Southern Belle Simple 's blog via her Facebok page, thought I would give it a whirl!!

If I were a month, I would be October because you get the late summer warmth with the crispness of the approaching fall.

If I were a day of the week, I would be Saturday cause in the South that equals cookouts, tailgates and College Football!

If I were a time of day, I would be late afternoon/early evening just as things are cooling off so you can enjoy a dinner on the patio.

If I were sea animal, I would be a clown fish because everyone needs to be silly every now and again!

If I were a direction, I would be South of course!!

If I were a piece of furniture, I would be a wicker rocker on a porch on a summer day!

If I were a gemstone, I would be a sapphire because everyone else will say diamonds!

If I were a tree, I would be a Magnolia of course, as Southern as Southern can be!

If I were a flower, I would be a blush colored rose because that is what I carried on my wedding day!

If I were a kind of weather, I would be a sunny day with low humidity and a gentle breeze.

If I were a car, I would be an old Jeep Grand Wagoneer w/wood paneling that I would use to get around my southern plantation.

If I were a place, I would be a big ole front porch attached to a true Southern Plantation mansion.

If I were a fabric, I would be a cool, crisp linen

If I were a scent, I would be gardenias and fresh cut grass

If I were a song, I would be Sweet Tea by Cravin Melon

If I were a pair of shoes, I would be a pair of blinged out sandals that match my linen fabric that I can enjoy on the front porch of my southern plantation while rocking in my wicker rocking chair on a crisp, warm sunny day drinking sweet tea of course!!

Now I am supposed to tag more of you to answer these cute questions. Instead of "tagging" you I will just say, if you come across this and read it, answer them and let me know where to find your answers!!

Tennis anyone?

2010-09-02T23:40:00.002-04:00

Today was a bittersweet day. After 5 yrs of non stop dance lessons that included tap, ballet, hip-hop and jazz the DIVA has started a new venture. She started taking tennis lessons and I must say she did pretty darn good for never having played before!

As I watched her run her little heart out and hit the ball over the net I half expected her to get in the car afterwards and tell me she was done but she climbed in and talked about how much fun she had and how she can't wait to get back to practice next week!

I am sure we will hit our neighborhood courts for her to practice some before then, especially now that the evenings are cooling off a little. Like I said, it was bittersweet knowing that I won't be watching her dance this year and deal with hair and make-up and costumes and recitals but I am glad she is trying something new, the last 6 mths have been filled with new experiences so why should we stop now?

So...

2010-08-20T22:14:00.002-04:00

you know that little audition I mentioned in my last post that Camden went on? Well, even though they said they would call with a "Yes" or "No" answer we were kind of thinking that since it had been 11days with no word that was a sign that he had not gotten the part. We were ok with that, just the fact that the director wanted to see him was enough for us.

Well, I got a phone call this afternoon that Camden GOT THE PART!!! The movie is going to start filming here in Atlanta within the next couple of weeks. I am not sure how many days he will shoot but more than likely it will be one or two days. Once we know when it will air I will post all the information.

He is sooo excited and we are sooo happy for him, even Grace, although a little miffed it isn't her in a movie, is happy for him. They are both ready to go to church Sunday and to school on Monday and tell everybody about Camden being in a movie. Hopefully his teachers will be understanding and willing to give me his school work to take with us so he can do it on-set and not miss anything.

If he enjoys this and wants to continue then I guess our next step will be finding him and Grace too, an agent. There are sooo many here in the ATL area that I don't know where to start, it makes my head spin!!

Go ahead and request your autographs now and put them away for safe keeping in case you want to Ebay it someday!!

Get your autographs while they're free...

2010-08-09T20:41:00.002-04:00

If you know my kids then you know that the DIVA dreams of HOLLYWOOD and California and getting that Big Break! If you know Camden, he is all about the video games and sports. So you may be surprised when I tell you that today Camden had an audition for a movie that is being made here in ATL for Cartoon Network.

I saw a posting for 8-11 yr old boys last week and took his pic and sent it in not really expecting to hear back from them, but you never know unless you try, right? A couple of days went by and then I got a phone call from one of the casting directors who had shown Camdens pic to the films director and they liked his "look" and wanted to see him. Camden was super excited, the DIVA was super miffed to say the least. This was the first, real audition we had been to, Diva has tried out for The Nutcracker with the Carolina Ballet several times and then there was the fateful audition that was really a John Robert Powers sales pitch but this was a full fledged audition and he did great!! We are just waiting to hear back if he gets the part, I pray he does get it, it would do so much at building his confidence and I think he would have a lot of fun.

I'll keep you posted when we hear something!

Taking a swim...

2010-08-01T23:20:00.004-04:00

Tonight we celebrated the DIVA's baptism at church!! She did so good, not one bit of nervousness came through tonight while she was up in front of the church with Dr Cox. We were so happy that my mom was able to come in for the weekend and celebrate with us, the only thing better would have been if my dad was still on this Earth and was able to preside over her baptism just like he did with Camden several years ago. Although he was not here on Earth with us I know he was looking down with a big smile on his face tonight.

The bottom pic was taken before church when I told her to do a cannonball into the baptism..sadly she did not do it :( LOL!! We are sooo proud of her!!

Childhood friends...

2010-07-27T23:16:00.003-04:00

I am so excited! My childhood friend, Shannon Moon is coming through ATL next weekend so we are going to try and get together while she is here!!! I have not seen her since she was in my wedding almost 13yrs ago!!!!!!!!!!

We grew up in Lake Wales together, first starting out at First United Methodist Pre-school (who in LW didn't go there?) and then we went through the youth group at First Baptist LW and after my family moved to NC I would go back during the summer to visit family and friends and always end up at her house for a couple of days here and there. What fun memories!!

She now lives in Kentucky with her husband and kids so we keep up through letters, emails, Facebook, etc... Can't wait to see her, I am sure there will be kid pics to post!! This should help me get out of my funk for a little bit!

Working through my frustrations...

2010-07-24T17:23:00.003-04:00

So,as I have said before, this move has not been the greatest! With this time that I have on my hands I came up with a way to vent my frustrations and pour out my feelings..a new blog! I have been working on it for a little over a week now, set up a new FB page for it and a Twitter acct. too. Because I want to remain somewhat anonymous I will not be publicly announcing the name of the new blog and if you come across it I would hope and pray that you not reveal the name to anyone if you figure out that it is me. (Chris doesn't even know the name of the site so don't try to get it out of him either) It is just a way for me to get out all these feelings that I have going on, so far I have been met with positive comments from people who have come across the blog and FB page. It has helped me deal with all the emotions better that a move like this brings,especially when you have no one around that you can talk to in person. Who knows, maybe one day I will turn that new blog and it's posts into a book!! LOL

Such a comedian...

2010-07-24T14:36:00.002-04:00

One thing I hate during the breaks from school is when I have to go grocery shopping with kids. I end up so frustrated by the time I leave b/c they won't stop touching each other, picking things up, begging for this and that and just over all irritating one another that. I feel like all I do the whole time we are there is constantly stopping to get onto to them with stares from others shoppers.

This week was no different except that after I had had ENOUGH towards the end of the shopping trip Camden proceeds to say out loud for all to hear "It's so hard to get a good crowd thses days!"

UGH! Can't wait for Aug 9th to get here so I can shop in peace!

A Bit of "HOME"

2010-07-17T15:15:00.002-04:00

I was soooo excited to get to spend just a little bit of time today with my friend Whitney and her momma from NC!! They have been here for the ATL Markets this week and we were supposed to get together last night but the DIVA had other ideas like "let me hurl all over the downstairs bathroom an hour before mom leaves and let mom spend the night up to her elbows in Lysol and PineSol cleaning it up"...so I spent the night cleaning a bathroom and watching Wife Swap...What...a way to spend a Friday night, a home and high on disinfectants!!

At least being on the N side of ATL Whitney had to come by my house on her way up 85 so we were able to grab a quick lunch and catch up! If anyone else from "home" wants to come down and visit my door is open!!

Bringin back my Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-14T11:16:00.001-04:00

Do you ever wonder...

2010-07-10T23:33:00.002-04:00

when you see the eHarmony or Match.com commercials on TV if you and your spouse were sign up for it would it match you with each other? Chris and I discussed that tonight...we have just enough differences and similarities that I will let you decide what the answer to that question would be. LOL

It would be a cool experiment to try sometime.

And the Winner is...

2010-07-08T14:50:00.002-04:00

ME! I was able to snag tickets to the free preview screening of the movie "Despicable Me" from Entertainment Weekly magazine for last night. So, the kids and I headed out to Phipps Plaza in ATL and since it was not too far from Chris' office he was able to meet us there after work.

I don't tend to care too much for 3D movies, mostly because it gives me a nauseous headache but thanfully last night I was fine and the movie was REALLY cute!! There were lots of laughs throughout the movie and there were even several heart tugging moments but over all it was funny!! The kids loved it and were wanting to know when they could see it again, since we have still have free tickets to the new theater in Alpharetta that just opened we may just head out there this weekend!!

Thanks Entertainment Weekly!!

That job I mentioned

2010-07-06T13:49:00.001-04:00

in yesterday's post....I got it!!!

Hotlanta...not all it's cracked up to be

2010-07-05T15:30:00.002-04:00

We have now been residents of Atlanta for just over 3 mths and I must say...I want to be just about anywhere other than here!

When we moved here I had all these grand ideas of how things were going to be and instead it just plain stinks! The hubby's company immediately slashed hours from 40 hrs a week to 32hrs which also brought a 20% pay cut. It's not hurting most of the others in the office b/c they have all been there 15-20yrs and they don't have kids that they need to feed and clothe much less just coming off a 9 mth stint of unemployment and job hunting and still paying part of a mortgage on a house in another state!! So, we are back to job hunting for something that will actually be 40hrs a week, with no pay cut and excellent benefits! If any structural engineering companies out there are reading this please shoot me an email if you need a Cad Manager and are located in the Greater Atlanta area, Raleigh Durham area or even Florida as we have friends and family there that would make that move easier than this one.

July 4th was hard for me. This was the first year in many yrs we were not with family or friends or at the lake, etc... celebrating. We had nowhere to go and no one to hang out with on Sun. while all our neighbors were celebrating with their own parties or off at their friends.
Saturday night the we did take the kids to the church festivities and fireworks. They had a lot of fun while I just sat there wishing I was somewhere else. If I got this low about 4th of July I am going to hate to see how I am at Thanksgiving and Christmas and even Halloween! Praying that someday soon we will have some friends that we can hang out with here, I am tired of the loneliness that a move to a new state and new city brings:(

I have been trying to find a job here, so far no luck. I did interview last week for a position that I pray I get and I pray I hear something from her tomorrow.

We do have renters in our home in NC. Praying that they buy it soon as that would be a BIG RELIEF for us! I found out that they have let a stray mother cat and her kittens into the home. Is it wrong of me to have them take them to the pound? I don't want to be mean but if you feed a cat it will never leave and it is sooo hard to give away cats these days. I don't want to drive up there oneday and there be 15 cats in and around my house, because it is still my house and they are just renting. Who knows what diseases,etc...a stray cat carries and I don't need the house infested with fleas on top of everything else. Especially if they decide not to buy the house then I am stuck cleaning up and dealing with whatever the cat may have done inside the house. UGH!

Sorry this post has been such a downer but I just needed to get this off my chest. I pray that no one else has to go through the stuff that we are going through. I pray for the economy to pick up, jobs to be in abundance, pay to be good, and for all who read this to have friends close by at all times!

Whole Foods Johns Creek and The Budget Mommy

2010-05-21T09:37:00.002-04:00

If you live in or around the Atlanta area be sure to enter this great giveaway from The Budget Mommy (www.thebudgetmommy.com) The Whole Foods in Johns Creek has donated to her a $100 coffee, wine and gourmet snack basket to be given away on May 26th. Start entering and Good Luck!!

If you are Baptist(or any other denomination that does this) then you know that...

2010-05-10T21:52:00.004-04:00

Monday nights for the most part equal visitation, where groups from the church go out and visit those people who have recently visited that particular church on one or more occasions. You would think being a ministers daughter I would have remembered this tidbit. As you also know, we have recently moved to Atlanta which means finding a new church. Having visited in the past and having friends there we have been attending North Metro First Baptist, Big Daddy has been attending since last Sept when he moved down ahead of the kids and I for his job and the kids and I have been attending since the end of March when we FINALLY joined Big Daddy in the land of the "Dawg" (that just makes this Gator shudder)

Anyways, we have been attending the church for sometime now and the thought had never crossed my mind that one quiet, rainy night there would 2 ministers ringing my doorbell just after dinner. For one, we never filled out a 'visitor' form for this very reason.

Somehow they found us!! As Big Daddy was making sure the kids were bathing and getting ready for bed and I was on the phone with Little Momma (my sister who is with child #2) the doorbell rang, Tebow (yes, for those new to the Paisley Magnolia, we (I) named our dog after "Superman" Tim Tebow) went nuts and who does Big Daddy find at the door but 2 ministers from NMFBC. Now let me just sayagain, we have been in our house a little over a month and there are still boxes in the "Christmas Tree" room that have not been unpacked, the dinner dishes were still in the sink and once I get home in the afternoons the clothes come off and the comfy pj's go on so there we were in our pj's...I have never been so embarrassed!!

So, this incident has now taught me that on Monday nights I must stay in my clothes until at least 8pm and it would be a good take out night so as not to have a dirty kitchen and it is time to get the cardboard out of the Christmas room...check back next Monday and see if it happens!

Another Preppy Giveaway

2010-05-10T10:50:00.002-04:00

You MUST go to www. lwhelan.blogspot.com and enter her giveaway for a fabulously preppy apron!!
Follow her on Twitter, "like" her on Facebook (lwhelandesigns) and invite your friends and check out her Etsy store (love me some Etsy and her drink cozies)...the more you do the more entries you get!!
Good luck all you Paisley's out there!!

Getting acclimated...

2010-05-08T21:03:00.002-04:00

that is what we are still in the process of doing here in Georgia. We have been here since the end of March, all 4 of us under the same roof.

We had to put the kids back in public school since there were only a few weeks left in the school year. The kids have adjusted well, both immediately had to take Ga's version of the end of year testing and both seem to have done very well on it. I am disappointed that they will be losing out on foreign language classes here due to "budget cuts". Both kids have been in spanish classes since kindergarten and now they will not be able to take them again until at least middle school if not later. All the private schools I have contacted for next school year are already booked so unless I opt to homeschool the kids will be back in public school come the end of summer.

We are getting plugged into things at North Metro First Baptist in Lawrenceville. The kids have made new friends and I have been attending the Thursday morning Ladies Bible Study with Jenna and have met several ladies through that.

Chris has spent the last 2 weekends at our home in NC getting it ready for our renters that are moving in next week. I pray that they are able to buy it very, very soon as I have come to realize I am not cut out to be a landlord!!

The first month of summer vacation will be spent tearing up the asphalt between ATL and Wake Forest. We are going back for the DIVA to dance in her dance recital at the end of May and then they kids are in camp at the end of June on beautiful Lake Gaston!

We are looking forward to experiencing all that HOTlanta has to offer this summer as well, from baseball games to festivals and more.

I am in the process of setting up a new website, as soon as it is ready I will post more about that on here. I love being able to be home with the kids but I need to start bringing in some money right now too. Since we are away from family that can help with the kids I am having to find something that will pay enough to cover daycare.summer care expenses and still bring in some money and that is hard to come across right now so I am looking into doing something at home on my own. Pray that this is the answer we are looking for.

P.S.

2010-05-07T12:02:00.001-04:00

It is my Birthday today..WOOT WOOT!!!

Fantastic Mother's Day Giveaway from The Preppy Mafia

2010-05-07T11:45:00.002-04:00

Head on over to www.thepreppymafia.com and enter for their Mother's Day giveaway!!! Be sure to follow all the directions so you can get the maximum number of entries!! Good Luck!!!

Fabulous Giveaway from Shopaholic in Alabama

2010-04-26T08:46:00.003-04:00

Head on over to Facebook, Twitter and "like" and "follow" Shopaholic in Alabama!! She has a great giveaway today thanks to Caroline Grace Jewelry!! They are giving away a gorgeous silver charm necklace valued at over $300!! You can also go to www.shopaholicinalabama.blogspot.com to find out how you can earn up to 8 entries into this great giveaway!! Good Luck!!

Thanks Shopaholic and Caroline Grace!!

Well, Hello Strangers...

2010-04-21T23:31:00.002-04:00

We have finally moved to Atlanta and I am no longer playing mommy and daddy because we are all back under the same roof...WHOO HOO!!!

So much has happened since the last time I posted and I promise to fill you all in SOON!!

I hate doing dishes, taking out the trash and washing dogs...

2009-11-12T19:16:00.006-05:00

I mean it, I loathe washing dishes...I would rather be non-PC and use plastic and paper for everything or better yet, eat out every meal in order to avoid washing a dish. The other thing I hate is washing the dog and he doesn't like it too much either, probably because when the kids have done it they end up chasing him all over the bathroom and just terrorize him trying to get him back in the tub...not a pleasant experience for any of us. Then there is the trash issue, since we are in a more rural setting we decided to save some money and start taking our trash to the local dump ourselves instead of paying for someone to come pick it up. Well that was fine and dandy when it was not going in my car and I was not the one having to do.

I say all this because I am now having to do all of the above because I am 2 mths into an undetermined stint as a single parent. Chris started his new job in Atlanta a little over 2 mths ago so I am having to adapt to my "new" jobs that Chris normally did as well as do the stuff I always did, laundry and cooking, etc...

I will confess the first week was not too bad, I actually got some sleep because Chris was not there snoring in my ear every night and the kids were on their best behavior ever because not having dad around 24/7 like he had been for 9+ mths due to his layoff was a new experience for them. But after that first week the winds of change began to blow through our house...the DIVA was waking up everynight when I went to bed wanting to sleep with me...a wiggly 7 yr old is not condusive to a good nights sleep, Camden started bringing home C's on some of his schoolwork which is unheard of for him, the kids were arguing more and more, dishes were piling up b/c not only do I hate washing them I hate having to load and unload a dishwasher too...I cooked so someone else needs to clean only there was no one else to clean, around this time I noticed the dog, Tebow, acting funny...I think he is depressed that Chris is not around and feel he needs some doggie Prozac...he lays around a lot more than usual and will only play for a minute before he collapses to floor with a big "SIGH" and he is not trying to sleep on my bed at night either, ever since Chris left Tebow has slept in the DIVA's room or he has stayed in his bed all night...literally unheard of when Chris is home. The kids also started getting their fair share of the illnesses floating around school and then they so kindly shared them with me and that has been a vicious, unending circle and just when I thought the circle had been broken who gets ill, THE DOG!!!! Add in there that I am also dealing with a house that is for sale that is not selling and that is adding even more stress to my life.

I know many single parents and I have always admired them and all that they do and wondered to myself "How do they get it all done?" especially one friend of mine who is a single parent of 3, works full time and volunteers for just about everything, has a side business and helps her mom with her business ventures, and now that I am getting a small taste of the single parent life I have decided that it is definately not for someone like me who was already stressed because once the stress gets to be too much I become apathetic. That in turn causes the dishes and unfolded laundry to pile up, the dog to start looking like an Ewok and smelling like a bag of Doritos (I swear, he gets a Eau de Dorito smell after he has gone 2wks w/o a bath) and the trash...well, I can't let the trash sit around because it will stink.

Will be happy when we are all together again and I have my dishwasher and dogwasher back!!

Ummmmm

2009-11-05T21:02:00.001-05:00

did not realize how long it has been since I posted an update!! Things have been CRAZY around here to say the least...

I promise to update this weekend!!!

BIG CHANGES AHEAD!!!

2009-08-24T20:58:00.002-04:00

It has been forever and a day since I posted anything!! The kids had their 5 week break for the summer and they are already half way through the first 9 weeks of school, time flies!! They love their teachers this year and reconnecting with friends from last year and making new ones with all the new students at Thales this year.

We took a long weekend trip to Columbia,SC a few weeks ago and while Chris was working the baseball games at USC the kids and I headed over to the Riverbanks Zoo the first day and then the 2nd day we were there we headed to Spartanburg to see my friend Kellee, her hubby Patrick and their kids, Eli, Ethan, Emilee, Elliott, and the new twins Eden and Evan. We had a great weekend away and it was great to spend the afternoon with great friends!

Now on to the news...it has never been officially announced on here but lots of people already knew that Chris was laid off from his job last Oct after being with the engineering company for 13 years. After 10 + months of looking and interviewing everywhere from Houston to Norfolk to DC and right here in Raleigh he has been offered a job!!! He will be working for a structural engineering firm in Atlanta and we could not be more excited!! That means we are now purging our house and packing things and preparing to put it on the market as soon as possible and trying to do as much stuff around here as we can while Chris is still here.

My friend Jenna and her hubby Brent are in the Atlanta area and I am so excited to moving close to them!! Jenna has even hooked me up with a fabulous realtor already!! Chris has to be there to start work on Sept 8th and we will be hunting for a corporate rental for him this weekend. I pray that our house sells quickly and for the amount that we need it to sell for. The kids are excited that daddy has a new job and Camden is excited about being able to go to Braves games, the DIVA is not too excited about this impending move but I know she will handle it like a pro! I really like Atlanta and I look forward to turing a lot of my new friends into Gator fans, lol!!!

I have zoo pics to post and pics from the Cogdill's visit so be on the lookout!

Summer, Summer, Summertime...SUMMERTIME!

2009-06-30T14:47:00.002-04:00

Did not realize it has been just over a month since my last blog! Since last checking in we had Thales Academy Field Day, one final First Grade Field Trip, A/R parties, End of School parties that included bowling and Dan the Animal Man, Grace has been to see HSM2 on stage with her friend Caroline and Camden spent a week at Camp Willowrun at Lake Gaston. I have pictures galore to share from most, if not all of these activities too!!

Let's start with Field Day...it was held at Beaver Dam on Falls Lake here in Raleigh and it was a day chock full of activities. The morning was spent with the whole school divided up into groups and learning from the Park Rangers about animals that can be found in the park and lake areas, learning Woodsman Safety and having a scavenger hunt. After lunch each grade level participated in Field Day Games that included an obstacle course, sponge toss, pizza box race and more... The kids had a blast, although it was extremely HOT the day went beautifully and ended with a Tug o War of Teachers vs. Parents and the teachers won.

Grace's class took one more field trip to Lake Crabtree the week before school got out. While there the kids enjoyed a picnic lunch, playing on the playground and then learning about the animals of Lake Crabtree from one of the Park Rangers. She showed the kids a cornsnake and had several other animals on display that had been "stuffed". It turned out to be one of the HOTTEST days for the first part of June but thankfully we had a lot of shade to keep us covered.

Both Camden and Grace met their A/R goals for the last nine weeks and got to enjoy the A//R parties the teachers had planned out. One of them had a Luau theme party and one had a ice cream party. Camden also received class awards on this day and he brought home quite a few from the "Babe Ruth Award' b/c of his love for baseball to several for Music and Character Club. Grace got a "Lifesaver" award from her class and a reading award and got one of the 3 Spectacular Spanish Awards from Spanish class. Both of them did so good this year and we are so proud of their accomplishments and can't wait to see what this next year holds in store for them. Camden even finished the year with a Straight A average in all subjects!!

For the end of year parties Camden' class went bowling and Grace's class had fun with water games. Before all of that started though the whole school got to enjoy a presentation by Dan the Animal Man. He brought a few of his animals for the kids to enjoy, there was the porcupine, the lemur, the owl and the python. The kids had a blast!! He promised that next time he would bring his alligator for the kids to see.

The last day of school also included Grace spending the night with her friend Caroline and going to see the stage musical of HSM2 here in Raleigh. The girls had the BEST time!! They got to sit on the front row and during intermission Caroline's mom bought them a poster and they got the cast signatures on them after the show. During the finale the cast throws out beach balls into the crowd and both Grace and Caroline were able to get one. They had such a great time and a great end to first grade.

Camden spent last week at Camp Willowrun up at Lake Gaston. This was his second year going and I think he had an even better time this year. He knew a couple of the kids in his boxcar from VBS at Enterprise where last year he did not know anyone in his bunk. He was SOOOOOO ready for us to leave him when we went to drop him off. This year he signed up for swimming, fishing and low ropes. Grace will get to go next year, the same week as Camden. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

Now that both kids are home for a few days they have gotten the typical summer colds. Thankfully they seem to be on the mend and should be raring to go when school starts back on July 20th!!

SQUIRREL!!

2009-05-28T20:29:00.004-04:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post we won tickets to see a preview of the new Disney movie 'UP' that opens tomorrow. Tuesday evening we headed out to see the movie at North Hills and thought we were doing good getting there at 6:15pm for the 7pm movie...were we wrong!! There was a line that went through the lobby of the theater out the door and down the through courtyard area to the street!!! We got in line and that is when I noticed the "fine print" on the tickets..."Seating is limited to first come first serve, no rainchecks will be given...yada, yada, yada" I looked at Chris and told him I would be surprised if we got in from the looks of that line. Finally at 6:30 they started letting people in and we slowly made our way into the building and through the lobby and turned in our tickets only to be given new tickets and told to go stand in line again. Just before 7pm they started letting us in the theater and thankfully we got in!!

Chris and the kids and I found some seats and waited for the movie to start. It was a really cute movie, funny and sad at times. The animation was really good but of course it is Pixar so there was no doubt that it would be good. The kids LOVED the film as did Chris and I. There was only one thing that I had a problem with and that is how did the kid get on the porch b/c he clearly was not there when the house takes flight!! I would definately go see it again and suggest that everyone take their kids to see it too. It was nice to get away for a couple of hours and enjoy some time together at the movies. Thanks to WTVD for having the contest!

Won't you take me to Funkytown...

2009-05-23T21:55:00.005-04:00

It's Memorial Day weekend and that means it is dance recital weekend for the DIVA. After several yrs of being in the 2pm recital we got to be in the 10am recital this yr...not sure if I liked the earlier time better but it sure helped this yr since Camden had a 12:45pm baseball game.

This yr Grace was in hip hop, ballet and tap again and I must say she did a FABULOUS job!!! All of the girls (and 2 boys) did a great job as usual, we so enjoy dancing at Dance Dynamics and highly suggest that if you are looking for a place for your kids to dance that you enroll them at DD! A big highlight of our 10am recital was when a group of the little itty bitty girls got up to dance one of them decided she was not going to participate. Before the lights even came up she took off across the stage running, they got her back and set her on her spot. The music started and lights came on and off she went again across the stage 2 times w/ one of the teachers right behind her and flustered. It was so cute and everyone got a great big laugh out of it!

(all the pics are from picture day at Dance Dynamics)

Camden had 3 games over this 4 day weekend, the team came from behind on Friday and won and then when I got to today's game they were winning 10-6 before the game was called not 15 min after I got there. We have one more game Monday night and hopefully we will be able to pull out a win from that one too.

We won!!

2009-05-20T22:00:00.002-04:00

We won a Family 4 Pack of tickets to a preview of the new Disney movie 'UP' for next Tuesday. I entered on channel 11's website and lo and behold we won :) The kids are excited to see the movie next week and I will post my thoughts on the movie afterwards so you know if it is worth taking your kids too, really, what Disney animated movie is not worth going to?? Hmm??

Movin movin movin...

2009-05-17T19:24:00.003-04:00

I have been on the move for weeks now with school activities, getting ready for Relay for Life, Grace's dance, Camden's baseball, etc... Since last Sunday (Mother's Day) we have had 3 baseball games, dance practice, Thales Academy's 1st Talent Show and the North Raleigh/Wake Forest Relay for Life weekend and Chris had an interview with a company here in Raleigh that seemed to have gone pretty well.

Camden's ball team won 2 of the 3 games they played this week and then had team pictures at 7:45 AM on Saturday. In the first game this week Camden stole 2nd and 3rd and scored a run!!

Grace had her last dance practice for this season because this week is dress rehearsal for her recital this coming Saturday.

On Thursday night we were entertained for a couple of hours by the students from Thales Academy during their first ever talent show. All the kids that participated did a FABULOUS job and I can't wait to see how they top themselves next year! Grace and 4 of her friends from Hip Hop did their recital dance and wowed the crowd. She also dressed up as a monster for a skit that her friend Savie did for the show, too cute!! There were kids that played the piano, guitar, sang, told jokes, hula hooped, played the clarinet, the violin, and 4 little kindergarten boys who breakdanced! Everyone brought a picnic dinner and had a great time!

Friday night and Saturday morning was Relay for Life for N. Raleigh/ Wake Forest at Wakefield High School. What a great night we had. The Opening Ceremonies was very nice, after the Color Guard from the Fire Dept presented the flags and Angela Hampton from WTVD channel 11 said a few words all the Survivors on hand got up and stated their name and what kind of cancer they had/have and how long they have been a survivor. My mom was one of them, she is now an 8yr survivor of colon cancer! The Survivors lead the first lap around the track to claps and whistles, so special. It was also nice to see and old friend from high school who lost her mother in March to lung cancer after having been a Survivor of breast cancer for many years. Her dad carried her mom's portrait around the track, such a special moment to witness. During the luminary ceremony they turned out all the lights in the stadium so the only thing lit is the luminaries that line the track that are purchased In Honor of and In Memory of loved ones with cancer. Kathrine, Grace and I went to look for the ones I bought for my mom and dad. We found my mom's first and then Grace found some in memory of Kay Yow (NC State Women's basketball coach who passed in Jan after fighting breast cancer for decades) The theme of this year's 25th Anniversary Relay was HOPE and on the bleachers they had luminaries that spelled out HOPE that were lit during the ceremony. We kept looking for my dad's luminary and finally found it, during his treatment his "theme" was Choose Hope and he had buttons made up that were passed out to his church members, etc... How neat it was that his luminary was on the track under the HOPE luminaries!! I know he was there looking down on us Friday night. This Monday the 18th would have been his 60th birthday, what a great way to spend the weekend leading up to his birthday, helping raise money to find a cure for the cancers that have stricken both my parents and my grandmother and the loved ones of others! The kids enjoyed the games and activities and the rest of us walked the track throughout the evening and caught up with other friends that we had not seen in a long time. Saturday at 8am Grace and I were back out there in the rain so she could participate in the Kids Walk. It was wonderful to see so many kids out there walking for a cure for cancer. Wool E Bull from the Durham Bulls was out there along with Swoop from the Carolina Railhawks and the Sonic Hotdog dude was out there as well. (I have tons of pics from the weekend that I will post soon and some from the Talent Show)

Right as we were leaving the house Fri to go to Relay we noticed some water on the floor by the refrigerator and water dripping out of the ice dispenser on the door. Our freezer and fridge had stopped working, not what we need right now!! It had apparently just happened so it was still cold enough that with us gone and the door closed things would keep until the next morning when we could deal with it. We called Sears who said that they could not have anyone out til Monday between 8am and 5pm...really!!! Could we not narrow that time frame down a little more?? So I have spent the weekend throwing food away, it makes me sick at how much food is GONE!! We loaded up the meat and headed to my sister's Sat night and cooked up chicken and hamburgers and hotdogs and pork chops and had a feast so it would not go to waste. We barely put a dent in it but at least she has a deep freeze that we could put it in after cooking it. I shudder to think what our grocery bill will be this week after the fridge is fixed. I will say that I had been meaning to clean out the fridge and freezer for awhile this just is not the way I wanted to do it much less the week that I needed to do it!!

Pray that Chris hears back about this job tomorrow, the interview went well and it sounds like a great opportunity. Although I would LOVE to move back to Florida this job would keep us here in NC, right now we will take anything!! I have been looking as well to no avail, yet, hopefully that will change soon too!!

I am ready to sit and stop movin for awhile!!

The Many Uses of a Thong

2009-05-12T18:37:00.002-04:00

I spent Saturday with my mom and Miss Maidie, an elderly lady from one of my dad's former churches. We went to breakfast at Brigg's in Wake Forest and then headed out for some shopping at North Hills and Cameron Village in Raleigh. Our first stop at North Hills was at JC Penney and then a few of specialty shops across the street at The Lassister.

Upon entering Penney's, at 10am, we were hit with a wall of heat! It was so hot in the store that within 5 min we had sweat pouring down our faces. We forged on to the kids dept and then to lingerie dept. While waiting for my mom and Miss Maidie to get what they were looking for I sat down in the chair at the checkout counter and began to fan myself while the VERY LARGE lady behind the register was ringing up customers. After she was finished she began to tell Maidie and I about how the air conditioner was broken (I figured it was either that or Penney's was going to start offering Bikram Yoga classes) and how she was trying to stay cool. She proceeded to lift up the back of her shirt to show us that she had a wad of paper towels stuck to catch sweat but the best was when she told us about her sweatband on her head. She said she came in that morning, bought this red lacy thong, cut out the crotch and stuck it on her head and pushed the lining underneath the lace and was using it as a sweatband...I kid you not!!!

I never would have thought of doing that much less admit it to complete strangers if I did!! So, I ask this, Do you have any strange uses for a thong??

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-29T10:34:00.002-04:00

Stampin Out Cancer

2009-04-26T21:48:00.002-04:00

If you are in the Wake Forest area on Tuesday May 5th please come by Thales Academy and participate in Stampin Out Cancer. From 4pm - 5:30pm we will be making cards to send to cancer patients at Duke, UNC and Duke Children's Hospitals. We will have a card for the adults to make and a card for the kids to make and then sign. Cost will be $3 for a parent/child and each additional child will be $1 with all money, after supplies, going to Relay for Life North Raleigh/Wake Forest. We will have a door prize of a retired Stampin Up stamp set to give away as well so be sure to register for it when you arrive.

I will also have information available on Stampin Up and how you can become a hostess or sign up for a club and will even take orders that day if there is anything you just have to have :)

Thales Academy is located at 3106 Heritage Trade Drive Wake Forest, NC We hope to see you there!!

We are still signing people up to participate on our Relay for Life team as well. The walk is Friday May 15th and Saturday May 16th at Wakefield High School. Contact me if you are interested in joining our team!

Relay for Life

2009-04-17T13:22:00.002-04:00

As you know my family has had several members afflicted with cancer. My grandmother had lung cancer, my mom had colon cancer, her borther had prostate cancer and my dad passed away from esophageal cancer. Every year we have participated in Relay for Life to pay tribute to my grandmother and my dad and to honor my mom. It is hard to find anyone these days who has not been affected in some way by this awful disease and that is why I Relay.

This year I am the Team Captain for the Thales Academy Relay Team for the North Raleigh/Wake Forest event on May 15th and 16th. We are currently recruiting team members to come out and help us walk the track and support cancer research. If you are interested in joining us you can sign up at www.tinyurl.com/teamthales If you have any questions feel free to send me a message.

We will be collecting spare change at school the week of May 4th to donate to Relay for Life on behalf of the school and on May 5th we will be making cards to send to cancer patients at Duke and UNC. I will post more info about that in the next few days.

Looking forward to Relaying with you!!

I am Twittering!

2009-04-17T13:06:00.002-04:00

Well, I actually started Twittering a little over a year ago. I Tweeted one or 2 posts and then did nothing with it again until a few weeks ago. I still love my Facebook though and have no desire to give that up like some people I know have talked about doing. So come follow me on Twitter @karenpartin.

Have you ever lost a tooth from a Blizzard??

2009-04-07T22:27:00.002-04:00

It is currently April 7th, baseball is in full swing, flowers are blooming and pollen is coating everything!!! The only problem is that our high today was only 53 degrees, yes, 53 degrees!!That is INSANE!!! What is even more insane is that after meeting my mom and sister and niece for dinner we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream!

Chris and I along with my sister are starting a new diet this weekend. This week has been spent weaning ourselves from caffeine, if you know me you know I have a DIEHARD Diet Coke habit, so this has been interesting. I brewed up the last of the coffee this morning and used up the last of the chocolate caramel coffee creamer and on the way to dinner polished off the last of my diet coke stash from home. Tomorrow is COLD TURKEY on the caffeine for me and this weekend we start our 14 day detox where we are not allowed caffeine, sugar, sweetners, dairy, oils, etc... I figure I will be curled up in the fetal position by Sat. After our 14 day detox we can start adding some things back into our diet, we will see how long I can hold off the diet cokes.

I say all of that to get back to our DQ trip. Right before we left for dinner there was a commercial on TV for the new Midnight Truffle Blizzard at DQ. I told Chris I needed one last treat before this diet starts and Kathrine agreed she needed one too. While we were eating our ice cream the DIVA jumps up from the table screaming and runs to the bathroom yelling that she is bleeding. Thanks to the fact that it is so cold outside there was only 1 couple in the place besides us. I go check on the DIVA and her mouth is covered with blood, no paper towels anywhere in the bathroom, got some napkins out front and in no time she pulled her tooth out on one yank! After that there was no going back to the ice cream for her, she walked around DQ with napkins hanging out of her mouth looking like a rabid animal. The other couple got a chuckle and now the Tooth Fairy has to make a stop. So I ask, have you ever lost a tooth from eating ice cream?? The DIVA has!!

Did anyone watch today's Oprah?

2009-04-06T16:54:00.002-04:00

I am not a devout Oprah follower but will watch on occasion. Today was a hour long show about how mom's today feel overwhelmed and alone as well as some funny confessions. I must say this was an hour that I definately needed!!

There is a new book out called "I Would Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper" that they were talking about and they were also discussing the new show "In The Motherhood" which is written from real life mom stories. I watched ITM when it was a online show and loved it and now am watching the TV series and find it quite funny as well.

It was trying to teach mom's not to be so hard on themselves and how we as mom's tend to judge other mom's to harshly. Also, how we see these "perfect mom's" on TV and try too hard to make ourselves like them only we disconnect from the fact that that is on TV and not real. I will say that I don't try by any means to be a perfect TV mom but I do get frustrated and overwhelmed often.

Some of the "Mom Confessions" included a mom who admitted to making her kids an entire lunch out of the snacks she found in the car, another admitted to driving with her sleeping kids and not wanting to wake them to stop so she could use the bathroom so she used a diaper for herself (that is not one I have personally done but there was a time when I probably would have). I will admit that I have made my son pee in an empty diet coke bottle in the car so I did not have to stop on my way to wherever I was going at the time. Some other confessions I will make is that I got tired of making my daughter a different dinner than what we were having and in trying to get her to eat what we were eating she pitched a fit and cried at the table until she fell asleep at the table with her blanket, long after we had finished ours. I am also guilty of not jumping up everytime they cry b/c as their mother I can tell a difference between a cry of being "really hurt" and a cry of "I bumped my head". Both my husband and I are guilty of sleeping in on the weekends and letting the kids watch TV in the living room or play video games in their rooms until we get up.

Let me know if you saw the show today as well and what your thoughts were on it. Us mom's need to stick together and not try to bring each other down.

Ok, so there are some of my confessions. Please leave your own and maybe I will post some more in another blog soon! One more confession before I sign off...there are times when I would do ANYTHING for a housekeeper, sometimes even trading my hubby for one, but only for a couple of hours each week!

I must have lost my mind!!

2009-03-29T11:27:00.004-04:00

The Diva's birthday cake that Aunt Kiki made, the Diva designed it herself!

The Diva's birthday ALWAYS falls at the beginning of track out or right at Easter or both! This year it fell during track out, since we had just been to Florida we thought that we could get away with that being her "Birthday" but no such luck of course, being the Diva that she is. We looked into several options for parties and then she decided that she wanted a sleepover party with her friends. Yes, I said SLEEPOVER!! We agreed and started making plans to be invaded by 7 yr old girls.

Camden hightailed it out of the house for the night and went to stay with Kiki and Jared who also had Levi (Jared's nephew) come down. Chris tried to hightail it out of the house but that was not happening!!

Grace brought me a list of at least 20 girls she wanted to come which I promptly whittled down to 5 plus her. We sent out invites and had the girls meet us at Milton's for pizza before heading home to party. This was Grace's first sleepover and all the girls had never stayed anywhere except at grandparents or aunts/uncles so we were in for an adventure. One little girl came to dinner with us but just was not ready to stay away from home so we ended up with 4 coming home with us and I know Milton's was glad to see me leave with all these loud, squealing little girls, LOL!!

We came home and had cake, opened presents, got on jammies and then I held on tight to see what the night would bring. There was bed jumping and bumped heads, snacks, snacks and snacks (who would of thought that little girls would eat like teenage boys!!), crafts,movies, Barbie's, Wii and Zubber...all that was in the first hour and half, seriously!!

They all were very good, no fights and one was asleep by 10:30 and another by 11:30. Leave it to mine to be up with the other 2 until 2am...yes, 3 7yr olds STILL up at 2AM!!!!!! Then everyone was up and awake at 7am...are they insane???

All in all it was a good night, the girls had fun and Chris and I survived...but it may be awhile before we do this again!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-11T11:18:00.001-04:00

Wintering in Florida

2009-03-10T16:26:00.003-04:00

That is what we will be doing from now on! We were able to go to Florida Feb 25th thru March 2nd. The weather was beautiful and we had a good time seeing family and friends in Lake Wales and staying out at Crooked Lake.

While we were in Lake Wales I was able to catch up with some old friends that I have not seen in 20 yrs!! I have known Angel Goodman Bowen since we attended First Methodist Preschool and then we both went to Babson Park Elem which is where I first met Jennifer Jacobs Mueller. We all attended middle school together in LW but went to different high schools before I moved to NC. We have all recently gotten back in touch through Facebook so when I found out I was coming to LW I told Angel to get Jennifer and that we needed to get together. We had a great time reminising about old times and people and stuff we did as kids, it was just like 20 yrs had never passed. They brought their kids out to the lake and they all had a blast playing on the beach and playing ping pong and getting to know each other. Grace loved hanging out with Angel's daughter, Blair and was begging for a sleepover. It was great to see them hang out and have fun just like their mom's did with each other all those years ago! I so wish that I lived close enough to see them more!

We also went to see my grandfather while we were in town. He looks good and seems to be well, except for the cold he was getting while we were there. We went to church with him on Sunday and it was good to see some old friends at First Baptist. It was so good to see him and I hope that we can get down again to see him this summer or early fall. We were also able to see my aunt and uncle, who graciously let us use their lake house and one of my cousins while we were in town.

We spent one day in Orlando because Chris had a convention to go to. Before we dropped him off we went to Downtown Disney and took the kids to lunch at Planet Hollywood and then took Camden to the Lego Store. It was VERY HARD to get Chris and Camden to leave the Lego Store!! We are getting in Raleigh this summer so I now know where Chris and Camden will be every free moment we have :) On our way back from Orlando we met up with my friend Jaime and her husband Bill and kids for dinner. It was good to see them and catch up.

Since we had such beautiful weather during our trip we took Saturday and headed to the beach!! We toook the kids to Sanibel Island where they were able to swim and collect shells. The kids and I got a little sun, Chris got A LOT of sun and he survived the drive to the island! If you know Chris you know he really does not like bridges and if you know Sanibel in order to get there you have to go across 3 miles of bridges! I did not tell Chris that until we had already gotten in the car and well into our trip that day, he handled it very well!! There was a lot of traffic that day but thankfully the beach was not too busy. On our way back to LW we ate dinner at Sonny's BBQ (a must whenever I am in the area) and we got Plant City strawberries to bring back to NC, yum!! We also had to make a stop at Spook Hill for Grace, she loved going the last time we were there and BEGGED all week until we finally went. I don't know if I ever got that excited about it when I lived but it is fun to see her so giddy!

Since NC had snow and schools had a snow day when we left FL on Monday we decided to stop in Savannah and continue home on Tuesday. We made our way to dowtown and went by The Lady and Sons and Paula Deen's store adn we got some pics of a couple of the town squares. It was chilly when we arrived, not too bad though. We got a room down on Bay St. and could see the river from our room. At dinner we walked over to Lady and Sons and took a chance that we could get in that night and as luck would have it we GOT IN!! We did have to spend some time walking around sight seeing prior to dinner but it was SO worth it, thankfully we had missed lunch while on the road b/c everyone was sleeping. The kids got the buffet and I got Paula's famous chicken pot pie and Chris got shrimp and grits. We could not finish our meals, SO GOOD but TOO MUCH of it!! (the cheddar biscuits are to die for!!) It was freezing on Tues when we got up to leave but we did manage to take a quick stroll along the river before heading home. I am already scheduling a Girls Weekend to Savannah for later this year!

The majority of the snow was gone when we hit Raleigh late last Tues afternoon and then Wed was back into the swing of school and dance and now baseball is starting back. We had a great time on our trip and hope to get back very soon, I pray that we can move back down there sometime in the near future.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-04T08:28:00.002-05:00

Wordless Wednesday a day early

2009-02-24T13:31:00.004-05:00

Since I will be on the road tomorrow here is tomorrow's picture today.

A Trip Through a Wax Museum

2009-02-20T23:18:00.006-05:00

Today Chris and I had the opportunity to tour a "Living Wax Museum" For the past several weeks Camden and his class have been researching historical figures. They were able to choose the person they wanted to research and then wrote a speech and a poem about the person. They also drew a portrait of the person, made a timeline of important dates in the life of their chosen figure. All of this information was put on a tri-fold board to display in the classroom. The researching culminated today when all the kids dressed up as their figure and the parents got to tour the wax museum and learn about the historical figures. The kids even made their own buttons with "play", "pause" and "stop" for parents to push to start speeches the kids had written. Some of the figures the kids chose were Lou Gehrig (Camden's chosen figure), Abe Lincoln, 2 Jane Goodall's, Elvis, Duke Ellington, Christopher Columbus, Anne Frank, Annie Oakley, Sally Ride, Teddy Roosevelt, Julie Krone, Kerri Strug, Amelia Earhart,Florence Nightengale, MLK Jr., and Sacagawea.

The kids did a GREAT job with their presentations and boards and they had a lot of fun doing the research and dressing up. This is just one more praise I have of Camden and Grace's new school. I don't think any of the teachers at their old public school would have done anything like this. I feel that they are allowed to be more creative here at Thales and they have taken to the direct instruction so easily. I look forward to what the rest of the year has in store not only for Camden and Grace but for the rest of the students!

Pics, pics and more pics

2009-02-17T18:56:00.009-05:00

I have more pics that are on my laptop but it is currently under repair. Once I get it back, hopefully this week I can post some more.

Much to Kathrine's dismay I have taught Addy early that there is nothing like a diet coke!!

I'm Back!

2009-02-17T12:48:00.002-05:00

It has been forever since I posted anything and I really don't have a lot to say today. We are busy with school and dance and baseball is getting ready to start back in a couple of weeks. The kids are doing great at Thales, Camden made straight A's on his last report card and on this 9 weeks interims that just came home they both had straight A's! I am so proud of them!!

We are going to Florida next week and I can't wait! We are leaving on Wed which also happens to be the 2 yr mark since my dad passed. It is good we will be gone next week, not sure I want to be around here for that. Chris has a convention he is going to in Orlando and I am going to try and catch up with old friends and family. It seems like everyone will be down there except for my mom and Kathrine, Jared and Addy. Next Wed is also Kathrine's birthday so I know that will be hard for her.

I pray for warm weather too while we are there. We got a taste of it here last week with 70 degrees days but it is back in the 30's and 40's this week, ugh!!!

Chris is still looking at job opportunities down there and I pray that something comes up interview wise while we are there.

We have started The Biggest Loser Bootcamp DVD and I handled the first day wonderfully, day 2 kicked my butt!! I hate Bob Harper but I know I would dislike Jillian even more!

I do need to post some pics, I have some of Addy that I took the other day when I got to babysit and I took her to the kids Valentine parties at school. I will get those up later today.

Thank goodness...

2009-01-03T19:51:00.002-05:00

The holidays are finally behind us, whew!! Bet you thought we had fallen off the earth since I had not posted in awhile.

We had a good Christmas here at home this year with my mom and Kathrine, Jared and Addy. Camden got the coveted weight bench he has been asking Santa for for a couple of years now. He also racked up on Lego sets of Star Wars and Indiana Jones. The DIVA got a karaoke machine and cds and a cupcake maker, nothing like the taste of a cupcake that takes 25 seconds to cook, mmmm! Both kids got ipods for Christmas too, Santa figures it will save us on batteries for the portable cd player since we were changing them at least once or twice a week.

The kids also got enough movies between them to occupy us every night during break. We have watched the Hulk, Kung Fu Panda, Indiana Jones and Wall-E. There are still a couple of others around here we have not gotten to yet but I am sure we will since school doesn't start back until Jan 12th.

The New Year was rung in quietly at home with Chris and the kids. The kids made it to midnight with the DIVA getting a power nap in at 11:30 only to catch a second wind just before midnight. There was no getting her to bed after that, ugh!!

I have set a whole new record on encountering my first Most Embarassing Moment of 2009!! Yesterday my mom and sister and I went to the movies, after it was over I took a tumble down the stairs of the darkened theater and busted up my left arm and elbow and my pride. I am brusied and sore but nothing is broken. Thnakfully it was dark in there so no one could see my face so I should not get recognized around town...Ha! Ha!

This week will be spent finishing taking down the Christmas decor and praying for a phone call letting us know if Chris will be heading to ATL for another interview. Keep us in your prayers as we anxiously await any type of good news right now! We would love to go to ATL and pray that if that is the Lords will that He will act quickly!

Hope everyone has a healthy and happy 2009!

Word(full) Wednesday

2008-12-10T22:00:00.005-05:00

I am skipping this weeks Wordless Wednesday. As you all know by now I love Facebook! In the year and a half I have been on there I have reconnected with lots of people from FL and NC, elem. school and college.

Tonight I found a really old friend from Fl. that I have not seen in probably 20 yrs, at least 18 I know since that is how long I have been in NC. We grew up together in Babson Park, went to elementary school together, birthdays, playdates, etc... It was so good to find her after all these years and hope we continue to keep in touch. Hard to believe that we are both married with kids now!!

In other news, today would have been Brent and Jennas due date. I have been praying for them leading up to today and today especially. I got a message earlier that they had a really good day so that is a great answer to prayer! Continue to lift these special friends up in your prayers!

The kids at Thales had a treat on Monday. The Mayor of Wake Forest, Vivian Jones, came and spoke to them about Community Service. They were on their best behavior and really enjoyed her visit. (I have pics to post later) Tuesday the kindergarten and first graders went to a local nursing home to bring some Christmas Cheer. They sang several songs for the residents and then gave them a little gift from the students. Everyone had a great time! Tomorrow (Thurs) the 2nd-5th graders are going to another local home to do the same for their residents. Friday I will be chaperoning the 3rd grade field trip to Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. Camden's class at their previous school went last year and we had a great time, I hope this trip goes just as well!! We are also gearing up for class Christmas parties next week and then track out til Jan 12th!

Chris' trip to DC went very well and now we are waiting to hear when he will be going to ATL to meet everyone in that office. I will let you know as soon as we hear something. Pray that we have an answer regarding moving, etc...SOON!! Can you tell I am not a patient person!!??

Life

2008-11-30T15:13:00.002-05:00

We have had a lot going on and a lot not going on all at the same time, if that is possible. The kids had an enjoyable Halloween dressed as Sharpay and Indiana Jones. I have been doing stuff at the school leading up to Thanksgiving...Grace's class took a field trip to the Poe Center for Health in Raleigh and we had Thanksgiving Feasts in both Camden's class and Grace's class. The school also collected canned goods for the Tri Area Ministries here in Wake Forest. We ended up taking 2 van loads and 1 car load of food that the kids brought in.

We had Thanksgiving at our house with my mom and Kathrine, Jared and Addyson on Wed. since Kathrine and Jared were going to his mom's on Thurs and Chris and the kids went to his mom's.

The kids have been out of school this past week for Thanksgiving and will go back to school tomorrow. The Christmas decorations are being put up and my mom and I have finished most of the kids Christmas shopping...I am done way early for once!!

Chris has been talking to several different companies. He drove to Norfolk a couple of weeks ago and last Tues he flew to DC for the day for an interview for a company in Atlanta. Hopefully we will have some kind of answer soon. It would be great to go to Atlanta and be closer to friends in the area and catch up with childhood friends who live in the area too!!

I will post pictures from the field trip and Thanksgiving feasts at school soon.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-26T20:55:00.001-05:00

Just a brief visit

2008-11-11T09:10:00.002-05:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have not been around in awhile but wanted to give you a little insight into how crazy things are right now, thus my scream!

Hope to be back soon with lots of news.

Halloween Festivities

2008-10-24T18:34:00.005-04:00

The kids were invited to a Halloween Party at a neighbors house. They have been eagerly awaiting tonight ever since the invitation arrived. Camden decided weeks ago that he wanted to be Indiana Jones this year which suited me because we basically had everything he needed already...khaki's, leather jacket, hat...all we had to get was the whip that he has been begging for for sometime now. Somehow I think this was his way of getting the whip!!
I so wanted Grace to be Dorothy this year so she could walk Tebow around as Toto but she was having nothing to do with that. She wanted to be Sharpay, if you don't know who that is you ust not have kids or you live under a rock, she is from High School Musical. Here are few pics I took before they left tonight and I will take some more next week when we go out for real. Enjoy!

(I also thought that Grace looks like Kim from The Real Housewives of Atlanta )

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-22T07:42:00.002-04:00

Looks like we are...

2008-10-15T20:02:00.002-04:00

in for some BIG changes in the Partin household. Chris has been interviewing for new jobs and had talked to several companies over the past couple of weeks, the only issue is that none are here in NC. There has been one in Memphis and one in Atlanta but the most promising has been with a company in Houston, TX. He had 2 interviews with the recruiter last week and one yesterday with some management from the company. Today he got the call that they want to see him for a face to face interview next week. That means he is flying to Houston on Tues. of next week. It is with a very large company and it sounds like a great opportunity and from what I have been told and read, the cost of living is A LOT cheaper out there than here.

Keep us in your prayers and I will let you know what happens next week!!

Fall Baseball

2008-10-11T16:39:00.004-04:00

Camden has been playing fall baseball and it is his first season being on a minor team, meaning that the kids pitch in this league and not the coaches. He has done well and he still has a way to go in other areas too. This team has been one of the winningest teams Camden has been on since he started playing baseball several years ago so that has been a nice change of pace.

One of the things Chris and I have enjoyed this season is Camden's coach, Coach Craig. I had heard a lot of good things about him from my friend Holly whose son had been on Coach Craigs coach pitch team back in the spring. Chris has gotten to know him a lot better than I have because he goes to Camden's practices and helps out occasionally. I really only know what I see at the games and one thing is that Coach Craig prays with the team before every game and after every game. I think that is the best thing the kids can be taught, win or lose!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-08T23:25:00.000-04:00

Leave a caption

You can call me...

2008-10-07T23:28:00.002-04:00

Red Mary Rackham

That my friends is my Pirate Name! You can find out yours at www.piratequiz.com
According to the quiz the meaning of my name is...

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Hmmm! I guess it could be worse ;)

Hill Ridge Farms pics

2008-10-05T11:54:00.010-04:00

These are just a few of the pics from the pumpkin patch yesterday. The kids had a great time playing and looking at the animals and picking out their pumpkin on the way out. I think I am going to open a pumpkin farm...with what they charged for admission, etc... and the number of people out there you can make enough in 1-2 months to live for the whole year!! He definately doesn't have economic troubles!!

Stalking through the corn...

2008-10-04T17:18:00.003-04:00

Camden had a double header early this morning. Sadly his team lost both games but we had been warned ahead of time that this particular team we were playing was really good. My take is not that the other team was all that good we just needed to step it up a little more, which we did in game 2. Game one the score was 13-0 but game 2 was 14-4.
Addy got to come to her first baseball game this morning too and was the star of the section where we were sitting.

After the games my mom and I took the kids to Hill Ridge Farms here in Youngsville to do the hayride, trainride, pick out a pumpkin, etc... They had a lot of fun going down the giant tunnel slide and panning for gems too. We also go to see a Major League Baseball player!!! His name is Josh Hamilton and he is from Apex, NC which is right here on the other side of Raleigh. If you do not know his story I will paraphrase...he was a rising star in the baseball world who got mixed up in drugs, lost his shot, cleaned up his life and this year had an AWESOME season with the Texas Rangers! Josh was there at the farm today with his wife and kids and no one bothered them the whole time we were there. I pointed him out to Camden who thought it was cool just to see a Major League player and then me and my zoom proceeded to try and get a picture of him the rest of the afternoon. So there you have it...I spent my afternoon stalking Josh Hamilton through the corn field and hayrides and pony rides.

I will get some pics of the afternoon up soon. Please continue to lift us up in your prayers!! This is a really trying time and I am trying to fully rely on God to get us through and quickly!!

What A Difference A Day Makes

2008-10-03T20:37:00.002-04:00

We have been sailing along, going about our daily business with a few hiccups here and there and then all of the sudden today the bottom fell out. I am not ready to go into details but I ask that you please lift us up in your prayers!! Please pray for our entire family and for the Lord to show us what he has instore for us and that we do what is in His will. I will keep you posted on how things go and eventually I will share the circumstances we are experiencing. I am looking for the Lord to do great things.

Get on your knees!!

One of those days...

2008-10-02T15:27:00.002-04:00

where you just stay home in your pj's and do nothing!! That is what today is. The kids are still tracked out and today was a day where we had nothing planned, no dance or baseball, nothing. We are just hanging out at home with the windows open enjoying the cooler weather and trying to get the kids (Grace) to clean their stuff out of my room and pick up their (Grace) rooms. (Do you see a theme? Camden will immediately get up and get stuff done where Grace will procrastinate procrastinating)

Right now we have a bet going on with Grace and so far she is losing!! My friend Holly is wanting to give Grace her daughters hamster, Sparkles because Caroline is the always busy middle schooler. Grace jumped all over this, especially since the cage and accessories are PINK!! We told her she to get her room picked up and KEEP it picked up for at least 2 weeks and then we would consider the hamster. So far the room is not clean, it actually looks worse than it did 2 days ago. Not looking good for Sparkles and Grace to live happily ever after so if anyone out in blog land wants a hamster with a pink cage and accessories let me know and I can hook you up.

Well, I think this expelled just enough energy for today, gotta get back to vegging out!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-01T11:00:00.002-04:00

I missed last week because baby Addy made an early appearance so I am back!! You may have seen this on my Facebook page, if not this is one of oldest and dearest friends, Kellee Boyd Cogdill. We grew up together in FL and went to college together where we lived together, and on and on and on.

An Observation

2008-09-29T22:52:00.002-04:00

First let me say that I am sorry if this offends anyone. I have been trying to figure out for months now who Barack Obama reminds me of, everytime I see him I start wracking my brain because I know I have seen that face somewhere else before. Well, during the debate the other night it finally came to me...he looks like Weird Harold from the old Fat Albert cartoons!!

I have a friend who is a diehard Obama supporter and she couldn't believe how "sassy" my comments were about him the other night. Several of us were going back and forth about his hair and makeup just waiting for her to show up and egg our houses during the night...she took it in good form, no eggs were harmed this weekend except for her omlet:)

Just an observation!

If you like suspense then read...

2008-09-27T17:46:00.002-04:00

View my page on Wendy Corsi Staub Community

Tidbits

2008-09-26T16:41:00.006-04:00

I got this email the other day and decided to make it a blog. If you have any questions you are dying to have answered just send them to me.

35 ODD THINGS ABOUT ME

1. Do you like blue cheese salad dressing? nope

2. Do you own a gun? no

3. What's a favorite drink at Starbucks or other specialty coffee house? Venti Cafe Mocha no whip

4. What do you prefer to drink in the morning ? COFFEE

5. Do you do push-ups? Used to in gym class

6. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? depends on what I am wearing

7. Favorite hobby? photography, crafts

8. Do you have A.D.D? I think I do a little bit

9. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? easily distracted (hmmm...ADD)

10. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: I am tired, the dog is nuts and Grace better get her room clean!

11. Name 4 drinks you regularly drink. Diet Coke, coffee, water w/ special k pink lemonade packet, sweet tea

12. Current worry right now? too many

13. Current hate right now? Grace not cleaning her room!!

14. Favorite place to be? the lake

15. Do you like to travel? yes...I will go to Italy at somepoint even if it is by myself!!

16. What color shirt are you wearing? grey with paint stains from all my craft projects

17. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? nope.

18. Can you whistle? not like the guy from Andy Griffith

19. Favorite color? I bleed orange and blue

20. If you could would you be a pirate? only if I got to spend the treasure and not bury it

21. What song do you sing in the shower? nothing...I am usually still trying to wake up

22. Favorite girl's name? Grace...Georgia Grace and Grace Sadler, I love Harper but it did not sound good with Partin

23. Favorite boy's name? Camden...

24. What's in your pocket right now? lint

25. Favorite bedsheets as a child? Holly Hobbie

26. Worst injury? hematoma from a car accident that stayed on my leg for several years

27. Do you love where you live? yes but would love to be in Florida

28. How many TVs do you have in your house? 4 (5 if you count the broken one in the attic)

29. Who is your loudest friend? Holly (she is from Texas) and Whitney W. though I really don't characterize them as loud just a lot of fun to be around!!

30. How many pets do you have? one dog, Tebow

31. Does someone have a crush on you? not that I know of, at one time I guess Chris did

32. What is your Favorite Book? anything by Jennifer Weiner, Debbie Macomber, Nicholas Sparks, Wendy Corsi Staub, Jodi Picoulet and the list goes on

33. What's your favorite candy? Hot Tamales and Caramel Creams

34. Favorite Sports Team? Florida Gator Football (refer to fav color question)

35. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Is it still raining?

Addy pics

2008-09-25T22:14:00.003-04:00

Baby Addy got to come home today!! Here are a few pics...I think she looks like my dad, I can't stop looking at her. I told Kathrine I was going to bring her home with me :)

Announcing...

2008-09-24T20:10:00.002-04:00

the arrival of Addyson Olivia Gay (Addy) She arrived after 36 hrs of labor and a slight scare weighing in at 6lbs 4.7oz and 19in long. Kathrine is doing good and ready to get home! Enjoy the pics of my new niece:) How come Addy comes 16days early and is 6lb 4oz and Grace comes 16 days early and was 8lbs 7 oz...not fair!!! Her next baby better be a big one!

I am experiencing technical difficulties so pics will come later or you can check out my facebook page.

Like Mother Like Daughter

2008-09-21T15:40:00.008-04:00

Pictures say it all...

I have been going through some old photos lately and discovered these and thought I would share since everyone says The Diva is so much like me. What is your opinion?

Community Service

2008-09-18T13:48:00.002-04:00

After being heavily involved in the PTO the last few years at Youngsville Elementary I have enjoyed a little break in the action since the kids entered their new school. This week things are back to being busy, busy, busy. Thankfully the kids will track out tomorrow for a few weeks so we will have a little rest.

I have had my orientation this week into the committees at Thales Academy. Since we are a private school, our founder stated from the very beginning that there would be no fundraising which is wonderful...who needs 15 rolls of wrapping paper!? Anyways, I am on the Donation Committee and the Community Service Committee this year and have been designated a co-chair of the Donation Committee, apparently my reputation followed me from YES to Thales. This week has been filled with 2 meetings and another tonight, everyone at a different coffee shop in the area and I think I have had my fill of Cafe Mochas for the week...never:) One thing that I figured I could do was the soup labels, box tops, water bottle labels, etc...that generate money for the school, well, that is something that our founder is against. Imagine my shock when I was told that!! That is literally thousands of dollars in free money sitting there for the school to use and we can't! Instead we will go to area businesses and generate donations of goods and services for various activities.

For our Fall Community Service project we are joining with the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) to raise awareness and join in the walk on November 1st in RTP. We have a kindergarten student that was diagnosed 2 years ago so we are calling ourselves Team Ryan/Thales Academy. We will be holding a silent auction starting Oct 16th thru Oct 31st, right now we are asking for donations that can be auctioned off, if you would like to help please let me know. We will also be holding a Spirit Week the last week of Oct and a coin drive. I invite you to learn about Ryan at http://tinyurl.com/ryanstory and to join Team Ryan/Thales or to donate to Team Ryan by going to http://tinyurl.com/teamryan. We should have people beginning to sign up today so if you want to donate to a particular walker keep checking in to see when they sign up. Our silent auction will be listed online once we start getting items donated and I will post a link once that is ready. Anyone anywhere can bid on the items, not just Thales Academy parents. Please join us as we support JDRF!

Wordless Wednesday ( a little early and a very old pic)

2008-09-16T22:15:00.002-04:00

Old Friends

2008-09-16T08:38:00.002-04:00

I may have mentioned before that over a year ago I discovered a little thing that has become an addiction for me...facebook! When I first signed up there were a few people from high school (the one in NC) and college that were on there but not many. Now in the last 2 months the number of old friends on there has jumped increasingly!!

It has been especially great to see the old friends from Florida that I grew up with. It has been great to catch up with everyone and see pics of their families, the last time I saw a lot of them I was 15, now I am 34 and the majority of us have kids. I have kept in touch with and seen a few of these people over the years and rest I have heard updates on through family over the years. This surge of old friends appearing on facebook has only made my addicition to it worse!! I have so many fond memories of my childhood in Florida and being able to reconnect has only made my desire to move back worse.

I have told several people that I really feel like Florida is where we need to be. Chris and I have talked about it and we have both looked ( I look and forward to him) at jobs for him down there. Don't get me wrong, I love NC and the Wake Forest/Youngsville area and we have family and lots of friends here but there is a strong pull right now to Florida. I told a couple of old friends that I feel like I need to "get back to my roots" if that makes sense.

When we spent 2 weeks in Fl last Oct the kids fell in love with it and they are up to moving if we find something and the Lord works it out. On previous trips they had been to young to really care but last year changed that for them. Grace would have stayed if we would have let her.
Pray for us and that if Florida is where we are to be then the Lord will open job opportunities and close the loose ends that need to be closed here to allow that to happen. It would be great to be back in GATOR COUNTRY!!

I am so proud:)

2008-09-15T17:54:00.001-04:00

Jenna and Jen both made their blogs so pretty today! (not that they were bad before) Yeah!!!

This weekend was busy for the Partin's. First we had Camden's baseball game at 9am Sat morning, he had to be there between 8-8:30...I feel that there should be no games before 10am!! The team looked good and even though they lost by 2 runs they had a lot of fun!
The rest of the day was spent doing yard work, still trying to get rid of those ants (my feet look like I have measles from all th bites), picking up the house and Chris finishing the painting in the kitchen.

Sunday was homecoming a Oak Grove Baptist here in Youngsville. My dad was the Pastor there for several years while I was in college. Our dear friends, Dan and Beth Southern and their children Hannah and Nathan came so Dan could deliver the message. They were the youth ministers while my dad was here and then they went on the mission field and served in China, Thailand and India. They have moved back to Mt Airy, NC to take care of Dan's parents who are ill. It was so good to see them. Beth's daddy was a pastor and she lost him several years ago so she knows just what we are going through and continue to go through daily.

While I was at church with the kids Chris was home finishing the painting since I was having a Stampin Up workshop at the house at 2pm. He got everything done just as Jessie pulled in the driveway! Now that the painting is done it is time to sell the house...just kidding:) I got some great ideas for teacher gifts from the workshop yesterday that Iwill share in a later post. Jessie is going to do some at her house so once I make some I will take some pics...I am so excited! Another project I am working on is scanning in all our old pics and I will post some on here as well as Facebook (another addiction) once I get going good.

Kathrine is ready to pop...she is hoping to get through this week of work so she can finish training her temp and then she is ready. I am rethinking Addy's weight. I told Kathrine I was guessing 8lbs 3oz but now I am lowering it to 7lbs and some change. The nursery is ready for Addy and looks really good, I will take pics the next time I am over there.

The kids have their first track out for this school year starting Friday. While they are out we will be busy with dance and baseball as well as Open House for the new building for the school and baby Addy's arrival. I guess I need to go take a nap and rest up for all the busyness ahead of me!

Ants!!!!

2008-09-12T19:41:00.002-04:00

I really should not complain too much because in other homes we have had cats/kittens dropped off and take up residence in the crawl space (in 2 houses) and we have had mice in a couple of houses we lived in the past. So far in the 3 years we have been here there have been no stray animals (Chris would beg to differ on Tebow) and no furry little creatures scampering in and out of walls. Instead we have ants, many ants.

Our problem started last summer while I spent 3 weeks at the lake and Chris was gone to World Changers. I happened to come back to Raleigh one day and decided to stop in and check on the house before heading back to Lake Gaston. Upon entering the house I saw a thin black line on the living room carpet. Upon further inspection we realized it was ants coming from the back door across the living room, into the master bedroom and under the dresser and up to the window sill. I stayed for 2 hours spraying and vaccumming up ants. We continued to have little infestations throughout the past year either at the side entrance by the kitchen or at the back door again. We would spray, suck em up, spray some more, etc...

We have also tried grits (found that on the internet) and that seemed to work until last weekend.
Chris went out to do yardwork and when he opened the storage room there were ant hills all around the inside of the room and when he ran the weedeater they had gotten into some mulch in the back yard and made homes in there. Now we have several huge mounds in the yard.

No matter what we use on them they keep coming back and just won't DIE!!! If anyone has any suggestions of how to rid our lives of these little pests please let us know. My feet got eaten up tonight while I was trying to sprinkle yet another ant killer on them and Idon't think my feet can take it anymore...please help!

Remebering...

2008-09-11T21:19:00.002-04:00

all those that lost their lives in the Attacks on 9/11/01. It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years since that day changed all of our lives.

I remember that I was working at a Dr office and we immediately turned on the TV and the internet and watched all day what was happening in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania as well as all over the country. I was pregnant with Grace and Camden had just turned 2 two weeks earlier. Isaved all the newspapers from that day so the kids will be able read about it when they start studying it in school but I have not been able to look at them since that day/week.

Many things have changed and occurred over the last 7 years but one thing remains...we will never forget the lives lost and sacrifices made on September 11, 2001

Horses

2008-09-11T13:52:00.002-04:00

This morning Chris took the kids to school so I was able to sit here and watch the news with my hot coffee. While sitting here I noticed something go running past the window in our backyard. It doesn't usually bother me to see something run by quickly because we have a lot of deer that come through from either side and if you remember my wordless wednesday post a couple of weeks ago, we have had some turkeys strut through the yard.

What really grabbed my attention this morning though was the fact that whatever ran by was MUCH larger than a deer and darker. As I got up to investigate I heard the kids out at the bus stop carrying on loudly and noticed that what was in the backyard was coming back...a HORSE!!

Yes, I said a horse was in the backyard this morning. Don't know where he came from because the closest people I know with horses are several miles away in the opposite direction. So unless he had been loose all night, who knows where he belonged. Before I could do anything else he took off toward the middle school that is about 1/2 mile from the house and I never saw him again. This was all during a busy traffic time near the school too so I hope he was found and returned safely home.

If he comes back maybe I can start offering horse rides in the backyard!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-09-10T21:27:00.003-04:00

I am running behind today so here is my post, better late than never:) Leave a caption!

Thought...

2008-09-09T20:39:00.002-04:00

So Jen Jordan asked today on her blog "What would you do if you were not afraid?" I commented to her that there were so many things that I would do, so rather than fill up her comment section I felt a blog coming on. She will probably come up with some AWESOME response to this question when she posts again but I am just going to list what I would do, so here goes...

1. I would take a dance class...I danced MANY years ago and love it and would love to do it again. Where Grace takes lessons they have an adult class that meets once a week but I am just not ready to sign myself up.

2. Finish school (I am not afraid to finish) and then go to Law School . What I am afraid of is spending so much time away from the family to take the classes and study. I don't want to miss anything and I know that by going back I would have to miss a lot

3. Become a realtor...I love house hunting!! I am on the real estate websites all the time. With the over abundance of realtors out there right now I am afraid that I would not make any money.

4. genetic testing for cancer...since both my parents have had cancer it something that I have wanted to do but I am also afraid to do it because, eventhough I resigned myself to the fact that I will more than likely get the BIG C someday the thought of actually seeing it on paper before it happens scares me.

As I am doing this I realize that I am not afraid to do these things or the other things floating around in my brain. What I am is apprehensive and lack the self confidence I feel I need to do the things that I want to do. Because here are a few things I would love to do and I am not afraid to try them if given a chance..

1. Bungee jumping...I should be afraid but I would give anything to do it just once.

2.Kite surfing...saw it on the Today show and it looked awesome and I immediately told Chris I had to do that. I would parasail too if given the chance.

3.moving to a new state (or an old one)...I would love to move back to Florida or to the Atlanta area or to the Spartanburg area. I have family and friends in all those places and my first choice is Florida. Chris knows this and we have looked into jobs in the areas of Florida that we like but so far nothing has come up. We'll see what happens...

4. plastic surgery...there are several things I want done and if given chance (with the right doctor) I would hop up on that table and get things done:)

5. Go to Ecuador in Feb with the group from church. I would love to go see what Michael and Cindy are doing in their mission work down there and to help in any way possible and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know if my dad was here he would be the first name on the sign up sheet! If I had the money available to go I would be right there with the group.

6 Ok, since I have to have even numbers (yes, I am a freak!) I needed one last thing that if given the chance I would do. We have a small airport near us and every weekend they have skydivers that camp out and dive all day Sat and Sun. I would love to skydive! Grace even wants to skydive! When she gets older, if she still wants to do it, then we will go together!

So, we learned what I would do, not if I was not afraid, but if I had more self confidence in myself and was less apprehensive. Yet we also learned the things I would do no matter what if I was given the chance and I must say that I like that list MUCH better because there is some great stuff on that second list!

Christmas...

2008-09-09T20:26:00.002-04:00

is just around the corner! Can you believe it?! Now that I am done with the crafts for Baby Addy it is time to turn my attention to Christmas.

I went to Michaels last week and they had the wooden ornaments out and a plethora of other things. I came back with a couple of ornaments to get the kids started, I am thinking teacher gifts, and a cut out snowman. Grace started on her star ornament yesterday and I started on the snowman. Hopefully I will have him done within the week and will post a picture when he is complete. I am going to Michaels later this week to get some more things to do and will let you know as I progress through my Christmas crafts.

I am having a Stampin Up workshop on Sunday. If anyone is interested in placing an order let me know and I will let my Rep know. You can checkout the fall catalog at www.stampinup.com I have started doing stamp projects and cards, have tried scrapbooking but just can't get in to it. They have some great stuff for Christmas and other holidays. Let me know if you are interested in anything!

Baby shower

2008-09-08T09:32:00.004-04:00

Sunday morning Grace and I traveled up to Lake Gaston and went to church at Enterprise (where my dad was pastor) and then after church we decorated for Kathrine's baby shower. Stacy (Jared's sister), myself and several ladies from the church threw a baby shower for Kiki and it was very nice. Quite a few ladies from the church came as well as friends from outside the church. The theme was a bed and bath shower since baby Addy has A LOT of clothes already thanks to myself and my mom. We also asked that people bring Addy a book to get her library started and I must say she got some good ones and ironically there were no repeats!

She got what every girl needs, bubble bath:) Along with lots of diapers, lotions, gowns, washcloths, burpcloths, several handmade blankets, an heirloom Bible, and lots of other neat stuff.

Kiki has all the crib bedding and Stacy and I gave her the pack n play so now the only big things she needs are the car seat and stroller and with the money she got at the shower she can go get those this week. She is currently 36 weeks and had an appt today and hopefully we will have a baby by the end of the month unless she is stubborn and holds out to her due date or later.

Kiki is hoping for sometime between the 28th and 30th of Sept and some lady at the shower guessed that she would not have the baby until the 24th of Oct! That will not be the case even we have to help her birth the baby at home ourselves.

Camden and Grace track out of school Sept 19th and don't go back until Oct 13th so hopefully they will get to be at the hospital to see baby Addy the day she arrives. I will keep you posted on the impendig arrival. In the meantime enjoy the pics of Kiki from her shower, don't tell her I put them up or she will shoot me:) I will try and post some more shower pics later.

arts and crafts

2008-09-06T21:42:00.003-04:00

Today I have been finishing up the stuff I am making for Baby Addy, my niece that is due at the end of the month. I took a couple of pics, one is of the door hanger that is going on the outside of her bedroom door and the other is a picture frame I made that will match the decor of the pink and brown nursery.

Ok I admit it...

2008-09-05T18:20:00.002-04:00

I watched the new 90210 the other night. Chris looked at me and just walked out of the room and went and did a podcast. All I can say is that it definately is not your mothers 90210, wait a minute, I am the mother ! It had the same music only updated, of course Brenda and Kelly were there and then Kelly's little sister, Erin is there too. All I can say right now is "Hmmmm..." If I watch it again I will let you know my thoughts.

I was disappointed in the season premiere of Prison Break, anyone out in blog land watch it? It was very predictable throughout the entire episode. I am glad Sarah is back but I have a feeling this will be the last season of the show unless it gets REALLY good from here on out.

We are currently getting rain from TS Hanna and watching to see where Hurricane Ike decides to go later this week. I have been so busy this week that I have not had a chance to go to the grocery store so I went today. Actually I went to Wal-Mart, let me just say that I have not been to Wal Mart in months because I hate going there and dealing with the mass of people. I had to go today because I had a couple of things that I could not get anywhere else. You would have thought we were getting ready to have the STORM OF THE CENTURY there were so many people there, have I mentioned I hate WalMart? It took forever to get the groceries and then I stood in the check out line for an hour, yes, an HOUR!!! Only 1/2 the lanes were open, per the usual, with 20 people at least lined up in each one. Have I mentioned that I HATE WALMART!!
If Ike does decide to come this way we will just go on vacation so we can eat out because I will not be dealing with those crowds and then some.

Grace is supposed to tryout for the Nutcracker tomorrow afternoon but we have had some issues today that may prevent her from doing that. I will let you know if we release her to go audition, right now it is not looking good. Camden has his first game for Fall baseball next Sat morning and then next Sunday afternoon I have a Stampin Up workshop. If you are into stamping or scrapbooking check out their website www.stampinup.com and look at the online catalog. If you want anything let me know and I will let my consultant know.

I better go "batten down the hatches"!

Whew!

2008-09-03T22:13:00.002-04:00

I made it through today!! Last night at 9:30pm the phone rang and it was the Headmistress of the kids school (Thales Academy). Anyways, they needed a substitute today for one of the 2nd grade classes and she wanted to know if I would be able to help out. I said "Sure!" and then went to bed and prayed all night.

Over all it was a good day. They teach by direct instruction so it was a bit different than what I am used to when the kids were in public school. I was no where near as fast as their usual teacher and I had one little boy, who hugged me everytime he walked past me, tell me he was so glad I was slower than the teacher because he could actually understand everything and grasp the concepts we were studying. The kids were well behaved but I did call down 2 boys toward the end of the day and then from somewhere in the room I heard a voice say "OOOH! She's getting serious now!"

Grace was excited to have her mom right next door all day, Camden was not as enthusiastic but they survived. The dog, who was home all day by himself, was beyond excited when we finally got home this evening. Not only did I "work" today but it was the first day of the new dance season so we went straight there after school, Grace danced her 1 1/2 hours and then we came home after 6pm.

It was a long day but a good day and I look forward to substituting more often at the school. Tomorrow it is back to all my craft stuff I started this weekend. I am back to doing my decorative painting and will post some pics when I get finished, hopefully tomorrow but maybe Friday.

We are also getting ready for TS Hanna (Ike is right behind her) so keep us in your prayers. Hopefully it will not be too bad and will not affect Grace's tryouts for Carolina Ballet The Nutcracker on Sat or Kathrines baby shower on Sunday up at the lake.

Whew! Glad I can finally prop my feet up and that this busy day is over!

Wordless Wednesday x 3

2008-09-03T19:37:00.003-04:00

Tractor-trailer plows into restaurant; town loses power :: WRAL.com

2008-09-02T10:50:00.001-04:00

Tractor-trailer plows into restaurant; town loses power :: WRAL.com

Excitement in Youngsville this morning!

2008-09-02T10:34:00.006-04:00

I took the kids to school this morning and as I came through town all the lights were on as usual, less than 5 min later I come back through and everything is off. No traffic lights (we have 2), no lights on in Gigi's Coffee Shop and nothing happening at Griffins Restaurant.

When I got home I found out what had happened...a tractor trailer ran into one of our Sunday after church restarants just outside of town (they have fabulous fried chicken) and took out all the power for the whole town. Who knew that one little restaurant was the power source for the entire town!!

The kids are now home because no power means no school, we took a little detour on the way home to check out the restaurant (see news pic in previous post) and it is a mess down there. The truck is still inside, news crews EVERYWHERE and new helicopters too. No one inside was hurt except for the driver of the tractor trailer and they do not know what caused him to run off the road right now.

I know the family that runs the restaurant and I ask that you pray for them. They have had the place up for sale for several months and from the look of things I don't know if they will rebuild or not.

Birthday weekend pics

2008-08-31T09:31:00.009-04:00

I realized I had not posted any pics of last weeks Birthday Celebrations.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

2008-08-29T08:58:00.002-04:00

No it is not Christmas, it is the kick off of College Football!! Not just any college football but FLORIDA GATOR football, WHOOO HOOOO!!!!! (can you tell I'm a fan?) Anyways, I love this time of year...football and fall.

I have been a Gator fan my whole life and I have taught my kids to love the Gators too:) Although we have had a few times where a nasty Georgia Bulldog fan tried to turn my daughter against them (Amy Bailey) but it did not work. There was also the time where we met Paula Deen at a book signing in Raleigh, we were at the end of the line and when it was our turn Grace walked right up there and told her "Go Dawgs!" How horrifying, I had to wash her mouth out with soap when we got home!! (not really) But my kids know who to cheer for and they loved their trip to The Swamp last year when we passed through Gainesville.

So tomorrow for the 12:30 pm game against Hawaii, Grace will be wearing her Gator cheerleader outfit with her Gator flip flops:) and when Camden gets home from his baseball practice he will don his Tim Tebow jersey. We will get our Tebow (the dog) and sit around and watch the Gators and cheer them to victory!!

If Urban is reading this, Camden is ready to play football for you, he graduates high school in 2018 so be sure to scout him out and have that scholarship ready:)

The day after...

2008-08-27T13:05:00.002-04:00

After having celebrated Camden's birthday yesterday I wake up today knowing that 6years ago today my grandmother, Grace passed away. She was a woman who you did not want to cross but she was a lot of fun too! She was not the nuturing, grandmotherly type but she taught me lots of things through the years like never go out without make-up (although there are days where I let that one slip), and through her actions and humor she taught me not to take any crap from anyone and she loved us all in her own way. I remember that she always used Ponds Cold Cream on her face and I remember the first time I saw her take off her little hair piece- I got off her lap sooooo fast, she would roll her hair in pin curls every night while watching Johnny Carson in her flowing white gown and the bottom drawer of the kitchen was the snack drawer :) She never left the house before 11am because she was in bed until 8:30 or 9am, she had a great style and she had great sense of humor. I have been told that I am a lot like her, so much so that one of my elementary school teachers used to call me Grace. (he grew up with my uncle and knew her well)

I hate that my kids will not have any memories of her. I have pictures of her with Camden on his first Thanksgiving and she got to see him again when he was a almost a year old but she only saw pictures of Grace. Camden was 3 when she passed and Grace was only 5 months old. My Grace is every bit like my grandmother in her attitude, fashion sense, sense of humor and outlook. I guess God knew I would need that reminder of Granny everyday when my Diva was born.

Gobble, Gobble...that is turkey for Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-27T08:14:00.003-04:00

Send me a caption...this was taken in my yard one Sat in April.

12:01 am August 26, 1999

2008-08-26T09:44:00.002-04:00

That is the day and time my little boy, Camden Wheeler Partin was born! ( a month early and weighing 8lbs 2 oz) So that means that today that baby is 9, yes, 9 years old!! I remember that day just like it was yesterday...I was scheduled to have a c-section and told to arrive at Duke by 7:30am, only when we got there the L&D floor was completely full and they sent us home and said to come back at 3pm. They ended up having to kick out a patient so we could have a room and we were finally put back into a room after 4pm. The nurses blew out my veins trying to get an IV started so they had to get the anesthesiologist to come do it (he got it the first try, why couldn't we just have him from the beginning) and after a lot of waiting around and "trying" to induce me which did not work, I was taken into the OR. I was sooooooo sick the whole time, I never felt the epidural and poor Chris had to hold a bucket next to my head the entire time. Once I was taken back to my room I got sick some more and PASSED OUT until the next morning with the exception of one moment I kind of remember where I was asking for the baby and then out again. After a few days in the hospital we went home and the rest is history...

He has become a big brother, started school, played baseball, been to Disney and accepted Jesus in his heart and been baptized by his late grandfather. In his 9 short years he has done a lot and there is still a lot left for him to do. I have not been the best mother but I have tried and I have loved him the every step of the way. I miss the baby days and sometimes think of having another but I like the fact that they are at the age where we are not having to lug around 4 car loads of stuff just to go to the grocery store and that we are not having to worry about formula and feeding and diapers. Pretty soon Camden will be the one buying formula and diapers but I hope that it is not too soon, I want to live in this moment for as long as possible.

Tonight it is dinner out, Camden picked Texas Roadhouse (even though I pushed hard for Fiesta Mexicana) and cupcakes this afternoon for his class:) Happy Birthday Camden, mommy loves you:)

This week!!

2008-08-25T23:04:00.001-04:00

Anyone up for 80's night at Koka Booth in Cary on Wed? Belinda Carlisle, Human League, ABC, Naked Eyes and Flock of Seagulls..whoo hoo!!!

Let me know!!

Hard to believe...

2008-08-25T08:59:00.002-04:00

that today is the first day of school for lots and lots of kids not only here in NC but all across the country. Yet for my kids we are starting week 6 of the first 9 weeks of school! We got interim reports this weekend and I am pleased to say the kids are doing WONDERFUL!! in their new school. Just 3 weeks until we track out and that means just 4 weeks until baby Addy arrives (hopefully).

It is hard to believe that a year ago during track out we were in Fl and enjoying Disney and visiting family. This year there will be no Fl because there is so much other stuff going on. Hopefully we will get back down there very soon, that is one of the joys of year round school, vacation comes every nine weeks:)

Fall baseball is in full swing now too. Camden has moved up to the minors and he got to pick the name of his team. He decided on the Durham Bulls:) They will practice 3 times a week (that is the most any of his teams have ever practiced) until games start in about 2-3 weeks. Chris has been to the first 2 practices and says that the team looks really good this season.

Grace starts back to dance next week after Labor Day. We are doing 3 classes again...tap, ballet and hip hop. Not only that but we are trying out on Sept 6th for the Carolina Ballets "The Nutcracker" again. Last year she did very good in her tryouts but was too short. Hopefully this year will go just as well and she will make it as a mouse for this year's production.

We are almost done with the painting that we started several weeks ago. All we have left is another coat or 2 of the red on the accent wall and the kitchen. I really want to do a backsplash of some kind in the kitchen but so far I have not found anything I like. Keep your fingers crossed we get the kitchen done this week.

Well, tomorrow is big day here at the Partin house but you will have to wait until then to hear all about it. I am sure it will involve cupcakes and dinner out:)

Color me...what!?

2008-08-23T12:43:00.002-04:00

Here is a conversation between my Diva and I this morning.

G: Can I have Color Me Gems?

Me: What is that?

G: These gems that you can color and stick on stuff for decoration. I saw it on TV.

Me: We'll see, maybe we can put it on your Christmas list.

G: I have the number for you, here. (pulls out a scrap of paper with the phone number and proceeds to call it out to me)

She then adds: "You know if you would just go ahead and buy me that pink cell phone I want I could order it myself and then decorate my phone with them!"

Uh...no I will not buy my 6 year old a cell phone and now I am taking away the TV:)