Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!!

As in my parents! They've been married 9 months longer than I've been alive--HA! Dad was in the Army and stationed in Washington DC, Mom was working for the FBI (during J. Edgar Hoovers tenure--who knew they liked to dress alike?) when they met. Married 7 months later, hows that for moving quickly? The city girl came to live a more rural life and here we all are to show for it =)
Kurt and I--and a couple of tax deductions, took them to a Supper Club (big in Wisconsin, folks--Google it!) for dinner. As you can see, the little boys took their meal selection quite seriously...

Wordless Wednesday

So, where's the blue light?!?!

Beckett told me this weekend:
Mom!! Green light means go! Red light means stop! Blue light means go backwards! Yellow light means slow down!
Hmmmmm, 3 out of 4 isn't bad--but I have NO CLUE where he picked up the whole blue light idea. I am pretty thankful that he's going with "yellow means slow down" rather than the other meaning: PUNCH IT! HA!

Menu Planning Monday

Yes, yes--it's that time again! I'm actually still up and will get this post linked before I'm number 400+, yup, THAT'S how many other blogs regularly link up, so you really want to head over to Laura's blog: and see the other great menus! For us this week:
Monday: I have class, no cooking for me
Tuesday: Chicken in the crockpot, veggies and taters are in there too.
Wednesday: Tacos, Spanish Rice, corn muffins
Thursday: Ham primavera (leftover ham from last week!), crusty bread
Friday: Turkey Legs in the crock pot, stuffing, veggie
Saturday: BBQ spareribs, coleslaw, baked beans
Sunday: Still undecided!!!

Picasso never had a Glo-Doodle!!

Can you imagine if he had?! Oh what masterpieces could have been created on this childs plaything....
Well, no Picasso lives here, just Beckett. And check out that look of pure concentration on his face--tongue out and everything! So far his portfolio contains Smiley Faces. Lots. Of. Smiley Faces. Each of which he insists I take a picture of. Each of which I do. For a while =)

Flashback Friday!

Awww, look how YOUNG they look!! Arielle and Parker, obviously--FIL came to the house shortly after we bought it and did a ton of pictures of these two (for those that don't know, FIL is a professional photographer [yet ya'll are forced to look at the stuff I shoot--hardly seems fair, does it? HA!]) They would have been ages 10 and 7--where did the time go?!?!?!

Truthful Thursday--New Year's Resolution Update part 2...

Keeping myself accountable again--what better way than to spill in front of the eyes of the tens of readers that I have, right? HA!
First of all, weight loss: I am down 6 from the first of the year, so just about back to where I was before those durned holiday pounds came creeping about, so YAY there =)
Next: DECLUTTERING!! And that brings me to explaining the photos that go with this post! Obviously, this would be my darling daughter all dolled up for her Jr. Prom. Well, Parker's Jr. Prom will be next Spring, but as I'm pretty sure I will not be able to convince him to wear Prom duds that we already own, I needed to chase this piece of pretty out of my house! Enter a local clothing store near where I work. Last year they held an event where you could bring in previously worn Prom attire and they would sell it on consignment. A co-worker did it and had a fabulous experience, so I was all over it this year!
They ask for $5 to take the dress, you fill out a form with the HS that the dress was worn to, how old, designer, original size, any major alterations, etc. They've been displaying some of these dresses all week in the window--lots of pinks and purples, some blues--the 2 ladies gasped when I unzipped the bag on Arielle's lime green dream! (Now, they may have totally been blowing smoke in my ear, but I SO fell for it--HA!) They were excited to see something besides the "usual" shades of dress =) You set the price of the dress and an absolute minimum that you'll take. I had to ask for guidance on that one, I am no expert =) They said usually the rule of thumb is half of what you orginally paid, BUT they both thought of the $400 that her dress retailed for I should ask $275 and go no lower than $225 and they stopped short of guaranteeing that it would fly out of the shop at the $275 price! They take 30% of the final price, leaving 70% for me =)
Honestly, the decluttering and getting that dress on another HS girl is the BEST part of the whole arrangement, but I sure will enjoy some bones in my pocket as a bonus!!!!
One last note about the pics--these were ACTUALLY taken on the day AFTER Prom, I had SO few of JUST her in that dress I made her put it back on so I could get some more, so her hair is all undone--but I still thought it was pretty all curly-like =)