I ♥ Faces - Week 47 "We ♥ Tooshies"

I ♥ Faces is a photography site focused on the art of capturing faces and their various emotions. Each week, people from across the world have the opportunity to enter their favorite face photos into two categories ~ kids and adults, and sometimes pets!

This week at I ♥ Faces the challenge is not faces at all...but tooshies! So fun! I had a few choices and it was so hard for me to pick {as always...I can't make a decision!} In the end...so to speak...I decided on this one of Emily getting ready to pass the pigskin!



We had just returned home from ballet...and I love her little cheeks under her leotard! She's such a petite little girl...but she loves to be rough and tumble too!

Be sure to check out all the amazing entries over at I ♥ Faces and if you'd like to join us just click here! It's easy to enter, not so easy to win {so many great photos}! But lots of fun!

"Not Me!" Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and so many others have not been doing this week!

Wow...we did not have a busy week! {Don't I always say that? It feels that way!} I did not get enough to eat at Thanksgiving {really!} I was not busy stuffing myself all week with pumpkin cookies {mmmmm!} because I did not make enough for an army! That is not my traditional contribution to the Thanksgiving feast...because I have never cooked a turkey before {really!}

We were not busy decking the halls and making some fun little Christmas trees to hang in the windows. {Not a great picture, but during the day, the beads catch the light and they are really pretty!}


I have not been busy shooing Whiskers out of the Christmas tree daily...and finding ornaments under couches and fake pepperberries scattered around the house!

We have not been busy cleaning out our basement...whew! There have not been tons of garbage bags going to the dump and to the Goodwill and sawdust flying, and plastic bin filling going on down in the dungeon! Here is glimpse...



{I know...so not pretty...yet! But we could not even see the floor at all before this! Really! We have big plans to finish the bigger space for a media room and keep the finished side for the kids to play in and still have a little bit of storage...I know...big plans...lots of time...some day! But such a good start for us!}

I was absolutely not busy trying to be crafty and practically super glue all my fingers together! I did not find an old lamp shade and broken base while cleaning out our basement and decide to make this by gluing some old napkins I had to the shade and gluing the shade to the base...



{...but I was able to seperate all my fingers and will try to glue some ribbon around the edges for trim...not too bad for some junk in the basement!}

Dan and Alex did not go to Grandpa's to borrow a circular saw this weekend...and come home with not just one of these...


...but two!


{I'm not sure who was more excited...Dan or Alex! Good grief...does anyone even remember these? We are so lucky to inherit these back! hee hee!}

Emily did not make it to the I ♥ Faces photo collage! I was not so surprised to see her little scrunched-up face! {How fun!}


And because we were not so busy enjoying Thanksgiving and inhaling sawdust this weekend...I did not forget to post my Moment again over at Pam's! So I am not taking this opportunity to do double-duty on this post!

I am so going to miss cooking and baking with Alex and Emily. We had so much fun measuring, stirring and tasting the batter when making our pumpkin cookies for Thanksgiving!



Alex even helped me make cheesy garlic bread one night and set the table for dinner! I will sure miss the fun memories we are making right now hanging out around the kitchen table and baking some fun treats! Pretty soon they will just be grabbing a cookie on their way out the door with their friends.

How about you? What have you not been doing or what will you miss someday?

Happy Monday!

Wordless Wednesday {Sun}day

I ♥ Faces - Week 46 "Sun Flare"

I ♥ Faces is a photography site focused on the art of capturing faces and their various emotions. Each week, people from across the world have the opportunity to enter their favorite face photos into two categories ~ kids and adults, and sometimes pets!

I luckily have a photo with Emily capturing this week's challenge over at I ♥ Faces, Sun Flare! And luckily I did mean to capture that in the photo, not knowing this challenge was coming up! It's no winner because of the sun flare...but it's a winner to me, because I just ♥ that sweet, little scrunched-up face!


Be sure to check out all the amazing entries over at I ♥ Faces and if you'd like to join us just click here! It's easy to enter, not so easy to win {so many great photos}! But lots of fun!

"Not Me!" Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and so many others have not been doing this week!

It is not time for Christmas...there is still another week to celebrate Thanksgiving and give thanks for so many things around us...therefore...I would not, ever, never, have pumpkins on my front porch, "Give Thanks" signs or even cute little turkeys around the house...as well as a fully decorated Christmas tree in our sun room and stockings on the mantel! I always wait to celebrate one holiday before I get excited for the next! {Who does that? Not me!}



The kids did not insist on getting the tree up and decorated and have to twist my arm to say yes!




Emily cannot even believe it's that time of year, either! {But that truly did not stop her from practicing her ballet in front of the tree!}



This is not the first year since Dan and I have been married that we will not have a fresh-cut Christmas tree {frown} but since we are traveling over the holidays...we certainly did not want a dead tree plus lots of needles on the floor when we got back! {true!} But we love our little tree and are not so excited to have it up already!

Alex did not tell me that I might need another brain...because I cannot seem to remember anything {Boy, that's too true...what?}...and Emily absolutely did not follow up that comment with the reason I can't remember anything is because I have gray hair! {At least I have those two little cuties to help me remember things and tell me like it is...sigh...}

Have a marvelous Monday! {true!}

"You're Gonna Miss This...Moment" Precious Afternoons & Silly Stripes

Time to join Pam and share the moments we're going to miss one day...because life is so short! Sometimes it's hard to find those moments among our busy schedules, but that's what I love about participating in this...it makes me stop and think about it and appreciate them so much more!


Yes, I will really miss this sweet, silly little face and the chances I get to act silly with her!

Emily and I have so much fun "girl time" spending our afternoons together after I pick her up from Kindergarten eating lunch, shopping or going home to hang out. I will miss these precious afternoons next year when she starts first grade...and I truly miss it with Alex gone all afternoon too! Who is going to sit with me at Chili's next year...and visit the birds, guinea pigs and kittens at Petco...and beg me for ice-cream at McDonalds?

We are getting ready for a winter holiday vacation this year and Emily and I bought some silly {but warm} hats yesterday! It actually looks really cute on her and I love the stripes, but I'll admit I look pretty silly! But she wanted us to have the same kind of hats...and I really want to keep my noggin warm!







I'm overwhelmed at how fast this year is blowing by...and I'm going to miss these silly, fun, precious afternoons with Emily...pretty please make it slow down...just a little bit!

And do yourself a favor and stop by Pam's to share your moments with us too! I bet you're already missing it!

"Note to Self..."

"...Do not go to the grocery store without a list, and hungry at the same time..."

"...or with your child who insists, insists, insists sweetly asks to get something sugary, sweet, unhealthy a little treat."

"...Do not go to Target if you're on a budget..."

"...or when you're in a hurry...because you'll go down every aisle and fill up your cart...and next thing you know, you've just spent well over a $100 for that gallon of milk and loaf of bread...and you only have 10 minutes to get through the checkout and pick up your daughter from Kindergarten."

"...Remember to clean up all the dishes from breakfast, lunch and dinner before leaving the kitchen...or Skipper, Whiskers and Snowball will clean it up for you...and then you might have to clean up an even bigger mess."

"...When you get up to transfer the wet clothes from the washer to the dryer, do not stop to answer the phone, use the restroom, get a snack, check your email, Facebook or blog...because when it's time to get the clothes out of the dryer to fold them and they're not there...you remember that's what you were on your way to do when you got up....oh yeah...I'll be right back..."

"...Remember when you're rushing around every morning in your 'eat breakfast, get dressed, brush your hair, wipe your face, the bus is coming' frenzy to close the garage door when Alex and Emily leave for the bus stop...or you will be spending the next 10 minutes coaxing Whiskers out from under the riding lawnmower."

"...Make sure that a certain little girl is completely asleep before you decide to open up packages for Christmas and CHECK CONTENTS FOR ACCURACY...or she might catch you...whew...that was a close call!"

"...Don't ever blink...because when you do, the day is done {and the laundry is not} the kids will grow {and so will the pile of dishes}...

...I think I'm going to need more paper...I have a lot more notes to write!

Wordless Wednesday {Standing Out in the Crowd}

I ♥ Faces - Week 45 "Autumn Beauty"

I ♥ Faces is a photography site focused on the art of capturing faces and their various emotions. Each week, people from across the world have the opportunity to enter their favorite face photos into two categories ~ kids and adults, and sometimes pets!

This week at I ♥ Faces everyone is capturing the beauty of Autumn! My favorite time of year! I've taken so many pictures of the leaves, it's hard for me to pick just one...but I'll try!


I love the colors in this one because of the red! It's too bad that shortly after I took this photo, all the leaves dropped! That just means Winter's closing in...brrr!

Be sure to check out all the amazing entries over at I ♥ Faces and if you'd like to join us just click here! It's easy to enter, not so easy to win {so many great photos}! But lots of fun!

"Not Me!" Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and so many others have not been doing this week!

I don't even understand how it can be Monday again...really I don't! That is true!

What haven't I been doing all week to let all that time get away? You certainly would not have found Emily and I eating lunch at Chili's again...and we did not hear the waitress ask "Where's Alex?" when we sat down. {But don't tell Alex we go there often while he's at school. He would miss it...and the waitress misses him!}

I have not devoured at least one box of Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes already {but who's counting, Not me!} I do not love those and crave them all year long until the holidays! Yummy...so not delicious!

I was not so busy doing this and that...and some more of that this week, that Alex did not skip his tennis lessons this week so we could head to the season opener IU basketball game! {Well, we still could have made it if Alex went to tennis...but don't tell the coaches that!} Dan and Alex will have season tickets, but the girls were able to go this time too...and I did not see this most of the time...



Emily was not shaking those pom-poms every time Indiana scored or whenever the cheerleaders stepped foot on the floor! She did not love those cheerleaders!


We did not have a great time and hope that Emily and I get to go back again soon!



{don't mind Emily...she's just eating her Cracker Jacks waiting for the cheerleaders!}

I was not hoping to get a glimpse of John Mellencamp while I was there either...but maybe next time! He is a regular attender of the IU basketball games...and I won't keep trying!
And because I did not get a chance to participate in Pam's "You're Gonna Miss This...Moment" I am not using this as my moment too!

I will not miss these days of sitting at these basketball games with Alex and Emily...watching Emily be a cheerleader and Alex flip through the program eating popcorn...knowing that soon they will be attending these games as college students and cheering from the student section with silly red wigs and painted faces! {sigh...} Until then...we will not keep going and be on Mellencamp Watch!

One more thing...it was not me who did not even change out of her pajamas on Saturday, or take a shower or even go outside on a beautiful day! It was not me who just wanted a day to relax, do a little bit of laundry {even though there's lots} take a cat nap and have nowhere to be! Not me!