The Friday Five

As most of you probably know I love to take pictures. And it's always amazing what pictures you can get just by going out into the backyard! So, that's what today's Friday Five is- 5 pictures I have recently taken in my backyard...

1. A cool butterfly

2. You might have to look closely-A hummingbird! Good thing it was sitting in the tree -they are fast!

3. A grasshopper 4. A snail 5. Pretty flowers! -Crepe Myrtle
That's it for now-Happy Friday -Enjoy!

And so it begins...

I've debated about writing on this -But, here goes... Now that my daughter is in middle school -It has begun. Not that she hasn't had some tween/teen attitude and all but -Ugh! The whole puberty thing. She started her period the other day and as usual she took it in stride. I was semi-prepared for this although it's all kinda making me freak out! You see this brings up another subject I've debated about writing about. I grew up mostly in my dad's custody and wasn't always the best at "girly" things. I have been motivated to be there for my kids cause I know how it feels to not have a mom around so much. But, this is uncharted territory. I'm not sure how to deal with all of this -Having to talk about makeup, puberty,pads/tampons(I plan not to talk about tampons for a little while at least) and shaving legs and all that!! I suppose this is all pretty normal but, all I can say is Ugh- Here goes! -It has begun! And I plan to be there to help as much as I can even it means I'm the "embarassing" mom picking my daughter up from the bus-stop ;)

Kreativ Blogger Award

Happy Monday! I want to Thank Annita at Thrifty Southern Mama for presenting me with the Kreativ Blogger award!! Ok here's the rules for this:

1. List 7 things that I love

2. Link back to the blog that awarded it to me

3. Choose 7 blogs to award as ‘Kreativ Bloggers’

4. Comment at each blog to let them know they’ve been chosen

So here we go -7 things I love:

1. God/Jesus/Allah -Whatever you call the all mighty above

2. My husband -I'm so glad we've been married for over 10 years now!

3. My kids -I can't believe they are growing so fast!

4. My pets -Also the ones that are no longer here

5. Being creative -Writing;Taking pics -etc.

6. Family time -I love when we have a nice day spending time together

7. Me time -As much as I love my family and spending time with them it is also nice to have me time

And here's 7 blogs I will pass this award along to:

1. Amayzing

2. Bet's Best

3. Mama Notes

4. Penny Princess

5. Stepmom Extraordinaire

6. Things Mommies Love

7. Write Moms

Congrats and enjoy!

The Friday Five

Before I get to the Friday Five I wanted to mention that you may have noticed a new badge over there ----> for Examiner ! Yes I'm excited to announce that I have an ongoing gig to write articles for them as the Tulsa Frugal Family Examiner! Please read my articles-you can even subscribe to get emails when I write a new 1 (Probably a couple times a week). The more people that read them the more $ I get! And if anyone is interested in becoming an Examiner you can see if there's any open position you like and apply online and please put me down on the reference part so I get the referral bonus. Ok so after you read the friday five check it out! -You can even see my "real identity" ;)

Now for the Friday Five -5 funny things my son has said/done recently...

1. The other night we had 1 of our usual dinners- Taquitos and we usually have Mexican rice to go with it. Unfortunately when we were at the store they didn't have that kind or another kind we were looking for- So we got dirty rice. While we were eating dinner my daughter asked "What kind of rice is this?" We said "Dirty rice" Then my son didn't want to try it because - "It's dirty" We then called it - Clean rice ;)

2. My son and I were out in the backyard when he said he'd "be right back he had to get something" I thought he was getting a popsicle but he grabbed a metal spatula and said "I got a garden dig thing" I guess it did kinda look like a garden spade

3. We've still been trying to get my son all potty trained -he has been doing really good lately! But, he seems to alternate saying "I don't want to wear underwear -I don't want to be a big boy"

4. And sometimes he gets excited saying "I'm a big boy-I got underwear-See!"

5. And it's so cute/funny when he notices how other people or even pets go potty -In fact the other day my son said "Shadow a big boy- he went pee and poop in the cat potty!" Shadow being our pet cat of course. =D

And that's it for the Friday Five until next time...

The why stage...

Yep my son is in the who,what,when,where,and WHY stage! It's seems everyday there's lots of questions! For awhile it was where did this come from? And I'd answer from grandma,from whichever family member,or my favorite -From the store! -Because just about everything came from a store sometime-Right?!

Now it's why to EVERYTHING!
Take this conversation we had the other day :

DJ: "Where'd sissy go?"
Me: "Remember she went on the bus to go to school"
DJ: "Why?"
Me: "To go to school to learn"
DJ: "Why?"
Me: "So she can get smarter"
DJ: "Why?"
Me: "Because it's good to be smart"
DJ: "Why?"
Me: "It just is-Ok!" -Me getting a little pertubed about all the whys ;)

I know it's a normal stage and he's growing and learning. At times it's so cute but, other times it's a bit annoying =P -Just wanted to share.

The Friday Five...

For those that may not know- My birthday was yesterday and not just any birthday but my 30th Birthday!! And as part of the usual summer traditions my family had a small combined B-day party for me and my sis (her B-day is the end of July). So we had this little party a couple weeks ago. Not that we have to have a party or anything but, it is usually 1 of the last hurrahs for the summer -A little get together; have some party food and go swimming! So, Here's 5 things I got for my birthday (with pics)....

1. Birthday Cards -(Pic at top ^) I got 2 that play music. The 1 that says with sympathy for the loss of your 20's plays -Another 1 bites the dust =D And the Polar Bear;Penguins 1 plays -Can't touch this by MC Hammer ;)

2. Giftcards -Woohoo!

3. $ Money -Yay! I have already contributed some for back to school clothes shopping and got a few clothes for myself too. And hoping to keep a little $ for when I want something really bad ;) 4. Reusable Shopping bags - 5. Top Gun -Yes it's true I had a crush on Tom Cruise after that and some of his other movies were so popular "Back in the Day" and even though he can be a little crazy sometimes -I'm still a loyal drooling fan :)

Last days of Summer

The end of summer is here and it's always so bittersweet! I've noticed the different ways I see it when I was working and now a Stay-at-home mom. When I was working it was like -Yay! Back to a schedule/not having to worry about finding summer childcare. Now being at home -it's like -Ugh! Back to a schedule/Having to get up early again =D So here we are again and going to have to get up even earlier now that middle school starts earlier.

And thinking about what all has or has not been accomplished during the summer. I always have big plans to do a lot of Crafty things and get organized but, it rarely happens like that. And I think about all we DID accomplish -Like finally taking a good family vacation-Yay! (see Atlanta vacation back in June),some fun food experiments making our own popsicles-etc,making Amish friendship bread, Cooking more in general as in "Real" breakfasts-etc.,going around town experiencing new things,going swimming a few times,and general summer hanging out. All in all not too bad. But now it's the Last days of Summer *Sigh*

The Friday Five

It's Friday again-Yay!! And while I'm still in the Back to School bonanza haze- here's 5 things we've bought for my daughter to go back to school ...

1. Pens -although we need to get more now

2. Pencils

3. Erasure

4. WIDE-LINED paper! Wooohoo finally found some! ;)

5. Clothes -So, ok we haven't got a lot yet. Been waiting for this weekend-Tax free weekend on clothes-Yay!! So guess what we'll be doing soon?! Yep more shopping-Here we come!

Back to School Bonanza

It's almost that time of year again-Back to School! We've been getting prepared since school starts here-Next week! I know it seems kinda early-Huh?! I remember when school would start late August- almost Sept. now it's just been creeping up earlier and earlier!

So here we go again shopping the aisles amidst the blue,black,and red pens. Trying to find the wide ruled paper in what seems a never-ending sea of college ruled -I mean really! Where is the dang wide-ruled paper?! =D I know it took us a few trips to the store to finally find some and when we saw a few lone packages of wide-ruled paper-We snatched it up! =D

Now today we just got my daughter's school schedule -we figured out what "group" she's in. And walked to all her classes-Ah -yep the start of different classes in Middle School. I think we got most things figured out-Of course there's still a few things she'll have to figure out once school actually starts. And I'm glad we went after my hubby got home since I am admittedly directionally challenged and got turned around a few times ;)

All in all so far so good -Now just have to shop some more because of course after the initial School Supply list there's a few additional items we just became aware of while getting her schedule- So still getting there -Trying to survive the Mayhem ;)