Messy Independence

Little G has always been an independent eater. When he was an infant I tried feeding him baby food with a spoon and that lasted maybe 2 weeks. Let's just say I was tired of washing it off of and out of everything. Including my own hair.

So.... by 7 or 8 months I was just smashing and cutting food into small pieces and letting him go for it. And then everyone was cleaner and happier. (well I was clean, he was happy - whatever works).

To this day nothing has changed but the kid loves yogurt so even though he's not very proficient with a spoon yet, I have no choice. "Feast" your eyes on this (take note of the copious amounts of yogurt on the bib).

P.S. Go over to Burgh Baby's place for what she's calling the Biggest One Day Contest EVER for chances to win some pretty cool prizes. She's donating extra money for clicking around her blog to the Flight 93 Memorial Fund. How cool is she? Now go over there and do some clickin'! : )

I'm Feeling All Domestic Like

Yesterday I found myself doing something that I NEVER thought I would EVER find myself doing. It's not that big of a deal or even that ODD to some, I am sure, but it does seem a little antiquated to me. And this is my blog, so I am asking myself (and you)... who vacuums in their apron anymore these days?

Apparently, I do.

Let me rewind here a little and say that I bought this apron at Crate & Barrel "many moons ago" (phrase borrowed from my apron-wearing mother). I have never worn it. Ok, maybe once. I just don't think to put an apron on before I start cooking/baking.

On Saturday... I wore that thing for like 3 hours.

I had two lasagnas to make (one for a friend who just had a baby and one for us and some friends for dinner) and a few other chores to do. And, since I had JUST showered and put on nice, clean clothes when I started my cooking, I didn't want to get them dirty. It was then that it occured to me that somewhere I had possession of a nifty thing called an apron! Thankfully it didn't take long to hunt it down.

And now - I will be wearing it ALL. THE. TIME.

I mean I could wipe my hands all over it while I was cooking and didn't have to worry about getting anything on my clothes! : )

It has pockets so if I wanted to grab something and put it in there (rag, spice, spatula!) I could!

And guess what - my clothes didn't get dirty!! Genius!

All hail the apron inventor, whoever they may be (wikipedia doesn't tell me).

Anyway, once the food was in the oven, I needed to do some house cleaning and that is when I found myself pushing the vacuum while doning my apron. My old but newly beloved apron.

So now that I love them I need more than one right? And guess where I went to look for some (any good blogger should know the answer) - ETSY!

One of the first ones I found was this one. Now that is a cute apron people.

Unfortunately the title says "Everyday Housewife Apron" and let's be perfectly clear here: I am NOT an "everyday housewife" so perhaps it's not for me. (although it still may be...)

Also, there are A LOT, A LOT of aprons on Etsy so... I had to narrow it down somehow. I decided I prefer the ones that cover both the top and bottom (messy when I cook) and here is one I am seriously considering. So cute and great price!

Yeah so I spent all day a little time yesterday shopping for a new apron. I'll let you know when I make a decision.

Oh, and I am working on getting out of that funk I was in and I have to say it's going pretty well. I've been exercising (running even!), doing some of that retail "therapy,"(obviously - see above!) cooking, praying and eating some chocolate (works every time!). About the only thing I haven't managed yet is more sleep. What can I say, I'm a night owl.

And also, let me say "Thanks" to everyone who comments here - you also help to lift me up and that is worth SO much...

Weekly Winners - 9/28

September 21st - 27th

I only took a few pictures this week while on a trip to the park with some of our friends. We were supposedly on a nature hunt. We found some nice trees, a cool rock, a "flower" (a.ka.blooming weed) and a beautiful sunset. Oh and some cute kids! Unfortunately only one of them was still enough for a non-blurry picture...you'll never guess which one...

Tiny Prints Winner!

Just wanted to announce the winner of the $50 to Tiny Prints. Drumroll please...

It was comment #15 and here is what she Mrs. Staff Sgt. said:

You know what's funny? I was considering ordering birth announcements from them anyway come November :) They sure are cute!

She's due with a baby girl in November and I know she will find some great announcements since they have so many cute choices! Thanks to all who entered and congrats to the winner!

*Scroll down for Today's Post...

A Girl After My Own Heart

Today I received my special swap package from McMommy and let me just say that SHE ROCKS! I am not sure what I liked more, the goodies or her awesome note to me, explaining why she sent each item. But... included in the box (among other things) was some chocolate and a magazine (two of MY favorite things!!).

Now of course I am going to show you everything that I was lucky enough to receive but first I have to share with you an email exchange and part of the aforementioned note from McMommy.


Snippet of email from Elaine to McMommy:


Oh and I just wanted to let you know that a certain 4-year old helped me “wrap” the items so that’s why they are a little funny looking! ; )


Snippet of email response from McMommy to Elaine:


Elaine, you are going to DIE LAUGHING OF IRONY when you read what I wrote to you.I can't reveal anything else.......just you'll see. OMG, now I can't wait!!!! This is going to be the longest couple days of my life. I can't stop laughing!!!! And I can't even tell you why!!!


Snippet of first paragraph (after some really sweet salutations!) from McMommy's note included in package:

I apologize that it looks like Matty & Carter wrapped your gifts. (Shoot! Why did I just admit I wrapped them?! I could have just said right from the start 'My precious little boys wrapped each of your gifts with love! Aren't they just so cute?' and there was nothing you could have said about the hideous wrapping job at that point other than, 'AWW! They did a good job for a 4 year old and an 18 month old?' Geez. Sometimes I need to think better on my feet.)


Ok, so can I just tell y'all how funny I think this is because here's the pic of what she sent before I unwrapped it all:

Hello people, how cute is this?? Yeah, you shoulda seen what hers looked like (McMommy I don't know if you have received your stuff yet but if you haven't please accept MY apologies, really!)

Anyway, now that I have already shared too much, here are the items that were in those cutely wrapped packages.

1. The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot. I don't read a lot of books but I WILL be reading this one. An entire book in email format. How cool is that?

2. Two note pads, one for the fridge that says "When I get tired of shopping I sit down and try on shoes!" and another for my purse that says "High maintenance doesn't begin to cover it." (p.s. I also sent her a similar note pad for the fridge! great minds...)

3 & 4. Halloween candy corn garland & a spider dish. I was just thinking about how I don't have enough Halloween decor. Thank you!!

5. Sweets! Sour patch kids (LOVE THEM!), Starburst, Cadbury chocolate and Trident. It's ALL good!

6. The latest issue of First magazine. Which will be read from cover to cover.

Thank you McMommy! You are a wonderful swap partner and you are SO right, we must find a way to meet the next time you mosey on over to Texas! : )

And thanks again to Wendi for hosting this awesome swap - you can see everyone else's goodies here!

I Got Questions, Hopefully YOU Have Answers

So my friend Tina over at Golden Goodness did this the other day and I thought it was a great idea - some random questions for YOU! Nothing too deep, just some fun stuff. Answer away in the comments and have a good time with it! (my answers are at the bottom)

1. Do you eat breakfast every day?

2. How many times in a row do you wear jeans before washing them (if they don't get too dirty of course!)

3. What's your favorite holiday and why?

4. Do you hide certain foods that YOU like from you kids so that they don't get any?

5. Which celebrity would you most like to meet?

6. Do you shower at night or in the morning?

7. Do you clip coupons?

8. What's your favorite beverage these days?

9. Have you ever had to break into your own house like me?

10. Do you untie your shoes before you take them off?

Here are my answers:

1. YES! Must have at least a bowl of cereal.

2. Usually 2 to 3

3. Mine is probably Thanksgiving because there are no presents to fret about, not TOO much candy and stuff for the kids and, it's all about the PIE baby !! (well and some turkey too) Although it may be a tie with Easter because well, you know, there's lot's of chocolate then...

4. Yep! : )

5. Matt Damon. Love. Him.

6. Usually in the morning.

7. Not regularly but I just signed up to get the Sunday paper so that will change.

8. Non-alcoholic - Propel water. Alcoholic (no, I'm not one...) - red wine.

9. Obviously.

10. It depends on how lazy I am much of a hurry I am in.

Wordless Wednesday #34 - Pink & Blue

Here's The B Man on one of his favorite rides at the carnival at Oktoberfest. He dresses in all blue but HAS to be in the pink truck. He's versatile like that.

For more Wordless Wednesdays go here. For more Wordful Wednesdays go here!

Go here to win some moolah to Tiny Prints! Giveaway ends tomorrow night!

I Don't Like This "Funk"y Town

It's been a little bit tumultuous in my miss elaine-ous life lately and my emotions have seemed to get the better of me. Ever since I busted up my car (which I got back early by the way), I've felt a little "off."

Let's just say there's been a little crying around here in the past few weeks days and I am going to officially put it out there - I am in a "funk."

(and apparently I am going to put quotes around the last word of every paragraph).

I don't want to have a pity party or anything so I have come up with a few ways to help clear the fog and hopefully move back into my "happy zone."

(uh - there "they" are again...)

1. Retail therapy. While the kids are at school today I plan to find some new Fall-ish decor items for my house. I am armed with coupons and sale flyers to a couple of places. New pretties for the house always cheer me up.

2. Chocolate. Enough said.

3. Working out. (I know this doesn't really go along with #2 but bear with me). I had forgotten what it's like, that feeling you get after working out. There really is something to be said for endorphins. Too bad it doesn't last longer...

4. Cooking. I do like to cook things from scratch. I haven't been cooking very much lately. I haven't really wanted to for whatever reason. So today (also planning on going grocery shopping) I hope to gather the goodies to cook some decent meals again.

5. Sleeping. I've promised myself I will go to bed earlier this week. If this one works out it will be a miracle but I really do need my 7 to 8 hours and it's been a while...

6. Having lunch (kid-less) with a friend. This is the plan on Thursday. It's going to be a little surreal because it's usually us AND our kids, but since our kids are in the same pre-school we're going out by ourselves! WOO HOO!

7. Maybe a pedi after lunch? Yeah.... that sounds good! : )

8. Prayer. Never underestimate the power.

9. Less time worrying, more time taking it all in.

10. Some more chocolate.

Stay tuned for possible updates on how my Ten-Point plan works out...


Also, if you have yet to put a comment here for the giveaway I am doing get to it!

Short & SO Sweet

Just a quick little post for a Monday.

I met two special people yesterday. My friend Jodie's new baby Isaac Luke...

Isn't he just the sweetest (oh and so is my dear friend Jodie, btw!)? It's true, you really do forget how tiny the brand new babies are...

...and I also met Nicole. I mentioned week before last that her blog pretty much set me on the path of exploration into this craziness! When I saw that she had a blog (as noted at the bottom of an email she sent about Jodie) I clicked over and now look at me. Here we are at our first IRL meeting yesterday at Jodie and Isaac's "Sip & See."

It was so nice to finally meet her in person. And thanks again Nicole for having that great list of blogs on yours so that I could branch out and discover this awesome community!

P.S. Don't forget to go enter the giveaway I have goin' on if you haven't already!

Weekly Winners 9/21

September 14th - September 20th

Here are some pics of the kiddos (of course!) including our friend Anna who has eased into our routine (thank you for being so easy Anna! MWAH!)

We went out to a local Oktoberfest on Saturday and took in the beer, food and carnival and even some entertainment. It was fun but boy did it get hot quickly. Turns out Summer is hanging on just a little longer...

Snack time

Baby boy bedhead

Yeah, I'm running a school for the performing arts. Didn't cha know?

Love at first sight

Beer stein anyone?

In costume (don't know her but isn't she cute?)

Cheers!

I just like the colors in this one, how about you?

Ridin' the tea cups

Pensieve boy

Head on over to Lotus' place for more Weekly Winners.

Oh, and I have a giveaway going on for Tiny Prints. Go HERE to enter! : )

They May Call 'Em "Tiny" but It's A Big Giveaway!

I don't know if you all ever look at my counter over there on the bottom of my new lefty sidebar (who are we kidding I KNOW you don't!) but it recently cruised over the 20,ooo mark and I personally think that is cause to celebrate. I mean that many hits is pretty cool if you ask me. Of course a lot of them are because of my sweet hus and, my friend from college who says she reads every day (Hey Jen!) but hey - they all count!!

Plus! Tiny Prints contacted me and asked if they could be highlighted on my blog and I said sure, but have you got some goodies for my readers? And boy do they!! So let's Celebreate 20,000 hits with a GIVEAWAY!

Tiny Prints has genrously offered a $50 credit to their site for one lucky commenter! And I know their stuff is great because I got both Little G's birth announcements and his baptims invitations from them. And both were super cute!

Here are a couple more of examples of what they do. Aren't these precious?

So here's what you gotta do for a chance to win my friends:

Go on over to Tiny Prints and check out their site. Here are links to some of their great invitations and cards!

Birthday Invitations

Party Invitations

Thank You Cards

They also have holiday cards and other fun stuff.

Leave ONE comment on THIS POST about what you would most likely use the 50 bucks toward. (Any comment that does not mention one of their products will be deleted).

You DO NOT have to have a blog to enter, just a valid email address where they can send your "prize!" (that means you can enter too Jen!) PLEASE leave your email address in the comments if you do not have a blog. Otherwise, if you win and I cannot contact you I will move on to the next randomly chosen winner.

The giveaway ends on the evening of Thursday, September 25th and I will announce the winner on Friday, the 26th, one week from today. I will use Random.Org to choose the lucky winner.

Okay, click on over there and see all the cuteness and come back and tell me what you covet. Ready... Set... Go!

Your Pre-Emmy Awards Show - Right Here!

How is it that I continue to find new blogs/bloggers I like all the time? I mean I think I have got my favorites narrowed down and then out of "nowhere" (via comments or twitter or something else!) I find more I like. Then I have to go read them and well people, I love it, but it's getting harder to keep up, I have to say.

All this to say that one of the newer blogs I have found is Three Boys 1 Mommy and she is hilarious. She does these Photo-shopped bloggy "comics" and so not only is she a mommy of 3 boys but she is wicked talented too (and I mean that in a GOOD way!)

Anywho, she thought of me when passing on the "Oops Award" and here are the "rules."

The Oops Award was created and is to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their humor and their talents, also for contributing to the blogging world in whatever medium. When you receive this award it is considered a “special honor”. Once you have received this award, you are to pass it on to others.”
The rules for passing this honor on:
1) Pick 5 blogs that you would like to award this honor to.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Oops” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

So... I am cheating a little and only picking three "Oopsies." I am giving it to these ladies because they all make me laugh every time I go to their blogs and lately, that's worth A LOT!

The McMommy Chronicles

June Cleaver Nirvana

Burgh Baby


I also have another award to be thankful for and it is from Kimberly over at The Gav Menagerie. She literally passed the love on to me. Thank you Kimberly - I am honored! I actually found her blog because her posts come up under my BlogHer ad and I am so glad I did because I like her writing a lot.

This award comes with instructions:

You can put the award picture on your blog.

Link to the person who awarded you.

Nominate at least seven other blogs that you love.

Put up links to those blogs.

Leave messages with the blogs you nominated.

So here are my nominees. I 'love' a lot of blogs but I am trying to spread the love out a little and give this one to blogs I haven't awarded before (or in a while!)

Classy Chaos - She's funny, she's heartwarming, she's nostalgic, she's real.

lifelong playdate - such a sweet blog dedicated to her darling daughter and being a mommy. (notice - no caps amanda!)

These Small Wonders - Jaimee is a talented photographer & she also has 2 boys! (plus we plan to meet soon since we live in the same area!)

Kami's Khlopchyk - Kami is truly a friend, even though we've yet to met IRL (I am confident it will happen some day). And I most certainly love her blog! : )

7 Clown Circus - I JUST found this blog but I already love it! It may have been love at first "sight" actually because Angie's blog is SO cute! Plus she hosts Wordful Wednesday which is SO much more up my alley! : )

What Works For Us - Cool photos & quick wit - it TOTALLY works!

Blairs Boys - Hannah has 2 boys also (no, not a prerequisite) and just has a great attitude about life. She also scrapbooks and I can go there for some ideas and inspiration!

Lastly, I also received this award from Tina at Golden Goodness but because I have gotten it before I am just going to mention how sweet Tina is to bestow this on me. Thanks Tina, you are such a sweet bloggy friend!

Phew! That's all for today folks.

But please come back tomorrow - I have a giveaway you don't want to miss!

Wordless Wednesday #33 - 3 Boys & A Girl

I've posted this picture in honor of Steph over at Adventures in Babywearing. She gave birth to her sweet baby girl on Monday and she also has three boys. Congratulations Steph! : )

This post of hers reminded me of myself and my three brothers. I think I was around 2 years old in this picture so that would have made them 9, 14 and 12. And there's our dog Pepper at the bottom left.

The good ole days...

P.S. Come back THIS FRIDAY when I will have a GIVEAWAY! : )

For more Wordless Wednesday go here. For more "Wordful" Wednesday go to Angie's place, SevenClownCircus!

So Far This Week is Better

Last week at this time I had the accident. I know, sorry to remind you all (and myself) but I failed to mention how my week didn't get THAT much better. Oh and TODAY, I found out my car won't be fixed until the end of this month. It's gonna take three weeks people!! Lesson learned.

So after I dropped the car off and got my rental mini-van (that apprently I will now be quite attached to at the end of the month) I went to work out (yay! good for me!) When I got home I realized that I had left my garage door opener in the smashed up car and since I didn't have a house key, I was locked out of my house.

Yes folks, it only got better...

That is when I started cursing my own name for actually locking every door to the house, even the back one. I decided that maybe there was a window open somewhere. See, I would have simply driven back to the collision place but I had just made a lunch date with a friend and needed a shower in a MAJOR way. So unlocked-window-hunting I went. Turns out one of our bedroom windows that is low to the ground remained unlocked. (And yes all you potential theives out there - it is now locked so don't even think about it!) I bet I was quite the sight crawling through my own doggone window, all sweaty and smelly.

I did manage to retreive the GDO right before I met my friend for lunch. Phew!

And just so you know, all this was going on while all the kids were at school. If it had been with kids I might of just had to check out of life for the rest of the day.

Oh and then on Friday I went to get something out of the back of my the mini van and as I went to close the HUGE METAL "GATE" I clocked myself on the top of my head with it SO hard that I could see those little stars from the old Saturday morning cartoons and tears began to well up in my eyes. Pretty sure I had a mini concussion (Goggle THAT people!)

Luckily, yesterday (praise God!) we made it through unscathed.

Oh except I got "swindled" at the mall into buying these:

I got one 8 X 10 of The B Man's pic for free and paid for two 5 x 7's of the one of Little G. That's how slow they were at The Picture People. They were literally out in the mall, begging people to come get pictures of their kids taken and my friend Claudia and I obliged.

Oh and can you totally tell how The B Man was dressed for the occasion?? Yeah, that's one of the "junk" shirts he likes to wear that I mentioned in a post week before last. At least now it's on the blog for posterity. Don't you know that just warms the cockles of this mother's heart.

I will leave you with one other image from today that no, I did not purchase. What a shame, huh?

P.S. If you came over from McMommy's POW (or anywhere else for that matter) check out my GIVEAWAY that is going on now! : )