A Couple of FREEBIES

I thought I would share the 8 by 10 picture I ordered for FREE! I took some of Samuel's 4 year old pictures and made a collage.

If you're like me, you LOVE to get things for FREE or at a great BIG discount. Here's one from Wal-greens. Just click on the link below to get your FREE 8 by 10. (just type MOTHER in the coupon code box)

NOTE: MUST BE ORDERED BEFORE MIDNIGHT WEDNESDAY, MAY 6!

http://photo2.walgreens.com/home?tab=photo_home

And if you like eating at KFC, here is the link to print out a coupon for a FREE 2-piece grilled chicken meal. You can print up to 4 coupons. So, that's 4 FREE MEALS! Once again, this offer expires before midnight! Enjoy!

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090430-tows-kfc-coupon-download

Vacation----A Breath of Fresh Air

For the last 2 days I have been enjoying a much needed vacation with my husband. We left northern Ohio at 5:50PM on Friday. The 2 older kids are staying with Duane's dad. The 2 younger kids are staying with my parents. We arrived in Chattanooga, TN a little before 2:00AM. Saturday morning, my brother-in-law cooked us a yummy breakfast then we (Duane & I) were off to shop at all our favorite places! We found some wonderful treasures to take home to the kids. I found 2 cute jean skirts, 2 shirts & a dress for myself. The clothing choices are much better down here than in Ohio. I also found some more music books to add to my ever-growing collection. We bought some wonderful fruit & veggies from a farmer's market. We ate dinner at the Riverside Catfish House. We had a beautiful view of the Tennessee River from our table. The food was delicious! I stepped out and tried some catfish. I do NOT like fish, but this was actually pretty good. Tonight we attended Richard's Baccalaureate service. Tomorrow morning he will be graduating with a Master's of Divinity. We are very proud of him!!! I have tons of pictures to upload, funny stories to tell, but, right now, a vacation to enjoy.................. More later!

Don't know what to do......

Callie got into a bottle of lime green craft paint and decided to do a little painting. I called the Furniture Protection company. We paid extra to have our couch & loveseat protected. This is what it looked like before the guy came to clean it.

BEFORE........

AFTER....

Yesterday the loveseat looked great. I was very happy with the job he did. In fact, he even cleaned a small spot of lime green paint off the carpet. Today, I decided to take some 'after' pictures. Upon closer examination, I am seeing traces of the paint, not to mention the fuzzy things flying off the fabric. Now, I don't know what to do. Should I call the place back and complain? Should I have them replace the entire back panel of the loveseat? (that's what the guy said they could do if I wasn't happy with it) Or should I just live with the loveseat the way it is? I just don't know what to do? What would you do?

I do have 2 older boys!!!!!!

I thought I would share Seth & Simon's Spring School pictures. I have been posting so many pictures of my two youngest, I thought I'd better acknowledge the fact that I have two older boys! :) It's just easier taking pictures of Samuel & Callie because they're not in school yet.

Seth - 10 years old

4th. grader at Heritage Christian School

Favorite subject this year----Math

At the moment, Seth wants to be a policeman when he grows up.

Simon - 8 years old

2nd. grader at Heritage Christian School

Favorite Subject this year-----Math

Simon wants to be a pet store owner when he grows up.

Do hairstyles affect behavior?

I'll let you decide......keep scrolling to see the results! :)

The Spike.....

Tears......

I don't like my hair this way...
Heartbroken.....

Resigned......

The Middle Part.....

Lookin' good.....

The Side Part.................Uncertainty

Silly......

Happy....

Time for fun......let's jump on the beds!

Switcharoo......Happy kids!

Spring Sewing & Sibling Struggle

Mommy sews a pair of culottes for Callie. She is very happy with her "BIG" outfit!

The happy little girl shows off....the bottom half of her new outfit is completed!Less than 3 hours of cutting and sewing was all it took to make this colorful play outfit.

(Thanks to my sister-in-law, Tina, for sending the e-mail that inspired this creation)

The little girl's brother wanted his picture taken.

The little girl was NOT happy and began to push her brother out of HER spot!

She gives up, sits down in the floor & protests LOUDLY!

The little boy is enjoying this WAY to much. (Methinks he gets this from his Daddy!)

The little girl pushes and pulls, but alas......

the little boy, with chocolate on his face, wins the struggle!

The little girl is NOT giving up. She comes back for round 2!

(She definitely gets that from her Mommy---her determination!) :>

~Facts about Samuel & Callie~

They both like to be the winners.

They both struggle to be the center of attention.

Samuel enjoys annoying Callie.....

and even though it doesn't look like it, she enjoys it! Cause it gives her an excuse to annoy him back...... :)

A Beautiful Sunday Afternoon

After church, Callie & Samuel decided to pick some dandelions. I ran and grabbed my camera and here is where my daughter sat when I got back outside.

I think Samuel's favorite flower is a dandelion! :) He loves picking them for Mommy.
As brothers and sisters do, they started fighting over who was going to pick the flowers. I pointed out to them that there were plenty to go around! :)

Samuel collected quite a large bouquet of dandelions. We put them in a glass jar for our Sunday Dinner's centerpiece. He was thrilled!

A view of my tulip flower bed. There are a few holes in the border that I need to fill in. The trick is remembering to plant the bulbs in the right spots in the fall. Maybe this year I'll remember. :)

Yellow tulips.....

Orange tulips.....

A Purple tulip...

One of my favorite hostas.....It looks blue when the leaves are unfurled.

My special hosta. This was planted from a start from Duane's grandma Caldwell who passed away a few years ago. I dug it up from our old home and planted it here when we moved. My husband dug it up by accident a couple years ago with an excavator. I feared for it's life. I'm happy to see it coming up for another year! I love perennials!!!!

My kids are growing cabbages this year. They each received a plant from school. We were a little worried about how they were looking. The boys were so sad because they thought they had died. :( I was happy to report to them that new leaves were growing.

The next couple of pictures are of my favorite plant to grow ever! Sedum!!!! I absolutely LOVE this plant. You cannot kill it! It survives anything! Another bonus is gorgeous blooms in the fall! I collect every single variety that I can find in the stores around here.

This is a new variety I bought 2 years ago. I transplanted some into a new flower bed on the side of our home. This was just a little tiny piece when I transplanted it last fall. Now it is a decent sized plant.

My new sedum flowerbed. Each one of these plants was a tiny twig last fall. I actually bought 2 containers on sale and broke them all apart in small pieces, planted them, and am pleased with the results. Each year they will keep getting bigger! YEAH!!!!

Back to my 2 youngest.....posing in front of a huge ugly pine tree in the front of our house. The bark is beautiful, but the tree itself........AWFUL! The power company has been trimming the branches for years. Let's just say, we have a pine tree that looks like a palm tree! I should have taken a picture of what the top of the tree looks like! Very sad......

Samuel wanted me to take his picture with his bouquet of dandelions.

Where's Callie? ...here she is!

Where's Samuel at.......

Samuel found a bird's nest. He's looking in the tree telling me that the nest fell down from the tree.

Samuel's bird's nest.

~The END of a VERY long picture post~

~The START of a Sunday afternoon nap~