My Favorite Flower

My beloved Camellia... I used to have several bushes outside my Sacramento house. Oh! how I miss that house.

What is your favorite flower?

Exhaustion

So I've been in MI for a little over a month and it has been BUSY! I finally got a bed today, which I plan on jumping into around 7pm after getting Tate to bed.

My days are full and we haven't been "home" hardly at all. Tate even grabs his shoes after breakfast and says "Bye, Bye?" The Chin kids (brothers and Catie) keep me hopping, which I am not complaining about. I missed them.

Last night, I finally got a babysitter and got my laundry done. Have you seen the scary people in the laundrymat at 10pm? The ones I encountered kind of gave me a Adams Family side glance, to which I responded by folding faster. Yea--a babysitter to go to the laundrymat...livin' the sweet life!

My babysitter was my brother, Mikey, who did a great job, though I was a little hesitant that if a WOW (World of Warcraft) raid was occurring, he might forget a baby was in the other room. He decided to stay after I got home, and I couldn't kick him out. I love hanging out with that kid! So he played, I turned on the tv and discovered "Real World Reunited".

I am sucker for the REAL WORLD, so I poured a glass of wine, grabbed the bread and cheese and settled in while I chilled with Mikey. OK, so I was a tad buzzed and when the Real World ended and Mikey headed out it was 11:30!

Waking up in the morning sucked.

Summer Fun

Things we have been up to this month:
On Fridays, Tate and I check out the local garage sales. WOW! The stuff we found for super cheap! Tate found this little push car for 50 cents that he has not been able to stop playing with. The buttons didn't work, but 50 CENTS! My dad was trying to get them to work, but the toy had obviously been in the rain one day too many...

My niece, Catie's dog had puppies a few weeks ago. They are so cute! They are half chihuahua and half rat terrier and they looked like baby hamsters when they were born. Tate is just starting to enjoy them, now that they play and wag their tails.

We hang out on my parents' back porch while the adults talk and Tate plays and does laps around the pool table. He also loves to lob the pool balls across the table.

One other fun thing that I am doing when Tate goes to bed, is scrapbooking. I recently purchased an Art Journal Kit from some really creative ladies that put fun things like this together.

http://redvelvetgirls.typepad.com/rvkc/

They give you ideas and post challenges so that you aren't sitting there with a pile of art supplies in front of you with a blank stare on your face, wondering what in the frick to do. I'm excited to start my journal!

Etsy

Hi all-
I discovered this website:
www.etsy.com
It lists all homemade items for purchase and I love it. I bought some very affordable and adorable prints for my kitchen that match my cupcake theme. The stuff I have purchased so far has all been great!

I love that "love" has been put into each piece and the items are so unique. I'll post pics of the things I have purchased on a later date.

Mikey's Open House

After weeks or preparation, we finally celebrated Mikey's graduation. My dad roasted a pig, my mom bought a chocolate fountain and the boys had a bon fire at the end of the night. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Tate and I came long enough to eat some food and then had to leave because he had a fever. We ended up in the ER by the end of the night, with Tate getting xrays on his throat, a suppository to get his fever down, and shot to reduce the swelling in his throat. He seems to be doing much better, but we didn't get to join in the graduation fun:( Grandma had even bought Tate a new set of Sidewalk Chalk!

We have been eating pig since Saturday, and we had lots of cupcakes left as well. I am going to be so fat by the time we come home...

Paul's Adventures

While Paul is away, he decided to cut his own hair. Yea... a haircut is only 7 DOLLARS where he is located!!!

Here is the room where Paul is staying. He got permission from someone to cut the bunk in half, since he was on the top bunk and was not sleeping well because he was afraid to wake the guy below him. Most people wouldn't care about the normal sleep noise from above, considering the conditions, but his roomie is the same guy who tried to give away the TV the first day Paul got there and then gave him a lecture about always using headphones to watch the TV once Paul saved it.

Here is Paul at a bazaar, looking adorable as ever. Most other pictures of him eating :) I'll post a group of those later.

No new pictures

Sorry for the lack of blog entries, but since Paul took the camera on his deployment, we have been waiting for a new one to arrive that Paul ordered (off Slickdeals, of course). For some reason Dell decided to cancel the order, so we have to reorder it.

Our little place feels more like home every day and it is nice to feel settled in. We walk A LOT, which is nice because my parents' cooking is going to make me fat. I just can't stop eating it! AND they always have treats...lots of them...all the time.

This weekend I plan on scrapping Mikey (my 18 yr old brother) for his graduation party book. I can't wait to create!

Diapers are Expensive!

Since we live in a place without a washer and dryer, I stopped using cloth diapers for the time being. I cannot believe how many diapers you go through...AND THEY ARE EXPENSIVE!

How do less fortunate people do it?

Also, the groceries are more expensive around here, too. I am going be trying to plan meals ahead of time to keep the food budget down. When the Kashi was $4.59 a box, I about flipped.

8:30a!

(one of the few pics I have of Tate sleeping...)

It was a miracle. We slept in until 8:30am! I don't care that Tate woke up at 5:30 and then at 6:30 and then I brought him into my bed (and by bed I mean air mattress...) and then somehow, he actually fell asleep.





I was so overjoyed even if it meant having him fall asleep attached to me, literally, and experiencing a few teeth grazes as he went into deeper sleep. All I know, is 8:30a kicks butt.