"I'm half-way to twenty!"

These were Kaylee's exact words this morning when I asked her is she was excited that it was her birthday.

Until she said that? I guess I never looked at it that way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful, strong, silly, spunky, delightful, confident, stytlish, never boring, oppinionated, tough, loving, friendly, and kind of 'out there' daughter.

I am so blessed to be your mom.

The ham.

I have had the urge to update my frames lately.
I get this way about once a year, and the only thing that was standing in the way was Layton.

So, I decided to torture him yesterday.
I made him put on a nice shirt and dragged his butt to the park.

This of course was in between the downpours we have been experiencing daily.
One minute its beautiful - the next? It's practically flooding.

Anyway , we managed to make it work, and somehow we were able to get in some shots before it started raining on us - again.

Thankfully, he had me cracking up the entire time.
His silly little personality was easy to capture and it made my "job" easy.

I just LOVE. THIS. BOY.

Never been on "this end of it" before.

We are having an estate sale this weekend for Grandma Norene and I have been helping out Karen for the last couple of weeks in preperation.

Now, I love thrift shopping [Duh] and going to garage sales, but little did I realize just how much work goes into actually getting ready for one. WOW.
I find myslef looking forward to the actual sale because I think that will end up being the easy part. By far.

Now, I can't give myself much credit, compared to all of the time that Karen has put it, but honesty I have somewhat enjoyed this experience.

Not only do I have a super kick-ass mother-in-law that I love spending time with (no matter what we are doing) but there is also something kind of interesting about going through things of someones past and getting to hear stories behind all of those belongings.

In the "midst of the mess" I couldnt help but realize that these "things" were just a reminder of the person Grandma is and the life that she lived for so many years.
They all tell a story: her story, and no matter how tedious going through everything was, that is still a special thing.

In the end, after all of the digging through stuff, the packing, the sorting items, the organizing everything, the trips to goodwill, and the rounding up of boxes. After all of the pricing of it all, the bringing home things that I thought I needed, and the clearing out of rooms.

I've realized something...
Holy crap. I think we are ALMOST DONE!
(And that? Well, that is something to CELEBRATE - right Karen?)

My little hoarder.

I usually try to do an intense "clean-up" of the kids' bedrooms twice a year.
Once right before Christmas and again before birthdays.

With both of their birthdays rapidly aproaching I decided to try to just get it out of the way.

I did Kaylee's last week and yesterday, Layton asked if he could help me with his.
NEVER. AGAIN.

This crazy kid cannot get rid of ANYTHING.

I had no idea that throwing away even crappy McDonalds toys would be like pulling his teeth.

He wanted to keep every single paper from his desk, every picture that he made in school, and even toy cars with no wheels.

I found a container of Mega Blocks from when he was 2 (yes, TWO years old) and he was begging me to even keep those.

Halfway into this I started getting horrible visions of him being on TLC in the near future... and totally cringing at the thought.

I found a handful of old coloring books with no blank pages left in them, and he was even refusing to let me throw those away.

[Oh, Please believe that he did not win this battle. In the end, I came out victorious.]

However, I can't say that I am not a little worried about my child.
I have no clue as to why he wants to hold onto everything.

I do know one thing though.
Next time I decide to clean out his room?
He will FOR SURE be in school that day.

Exploring my crafty-side.

For some crazy reason I decided to try and attempt to "make" most of Kaylee's party decorations for her upcoming birhtday party.

I am known to get these super cute ideas in my head and have no problem visualizing how I want things to look. But then, for some reason? They never seem to turn out that way.

The last time I tried to be domestic was about a year ago.
I tried to sew Kay a tu-tu for an 80's party.
Um - yeah. That one ended badly.

I figured that this time, at least there was no sewing involved.
That meant that I couldn't injure myself again. So, that was a plus.

However, I started my first project tonight and quickly learned that making crafts requires three things:
artistic talent, time, patience, [LOTS of patience] and unfortunately - I lack all three.

I also realized just how dumb I am. Seriously.
You would think that using a ruler would be pretty easy. Right?
Well, leave it up to me to even screw that one up.
I somehow had the wrong numbers in my head so I spent over an hour cutting out the WRONG sized squares.
*SIGH*

On the upside though - amazingly, I am not throwing in the towel.
[Well, not yet anyway.]
Now, usually I would.
I'd just get overwhelmed, and super frustrated and go out and buy everything.
But, instead. I am sticking with it (because that's what super-cool mom's like me do.)

Kaylee is so excited for the outcome and so am I.
Now - Just really hoping that she doesn't end up embarrassed in the end, or even worse; laughing hysterically at her craft-challenged mother.

Mr. Pig

When we first got Bentlee we went on a shopping spree for dog toys.
Now, almost all of them were destroyed in the matter of days. Some, even minutes - but the one that held up for the longest and the one that quickly became his "favorite" was: Mr. Pig.

Mr. Pig (nicknamed recently by the kids) lasted for almost a year.
Throughout the 12 months he did however lose his ears, his tail, and finally all four of his legs.
When Bentlee finally chewed a huge hole in his rear-end it was time to say so long.

Even after throwing him away though - it was like Bentlee knew he was gone or something.
(I'm not even kidding.)
When he wanted to play, he' d wander the back yard, and the house as though he was looking for something. To this day - I swear it was that stupid pig.

Lee and I were out shopping last week and we landed at Big Lots to buy some comfy lounge chairs for the kids' rooms.
That's when it dawned on me.
I had bought it there.
Forever ago.

We decided to look [but, over a year later? I was pretty sure we were S.O.L.]
We raided the pet aisle, going through every bucket, box, and bin of chew toys.
I know. It's kind of pathetic. He's just a dog. Right? 
(Oh, well. We kind of love him.)
After searching for awhile...
There.
In the last box we looked in.
On the very, very bottom.
We found him: Mr. Pig.
[Well, his 'twin' anyway.]

Now, of course I had to triple-check for more, ready to stock-up if need-be.
But, nope.
There was only one.
So, we bought the sucker.

When we finally gave him to Bentlee he got as excited as he does when someone knocks on the door.
(Anyone who has ever been over to visit, knows just how crazy he can get when he's excited.)
See - this dog of ours? He's no dummy. He remembered.
It was as though he was thinking to himself: "Ahh, my friend! Wait. I thought I killed you?"

Ever since then Mr. Pig has quickly become his favorite once again.
He's the only one he goes for when it's play-time.
Kind of funny - and totally cute.

The catch-up.

I have had no time to blog.
I find it crazy that I even quit my job and somehow still have hardly any free time on my hands lately.
How is that?

Anyway, the last week has been filled with stuff on my to-do list.

Here is some random-ness to get me up-to-date in the blogging world.

After finally going to the doctor for my back issues, I was re-diagnosed with Scoliosis and was informed just how messed up I really am. [Thanks Doc.] I started my phyisical  therapy and will be going twice a week until who knows when. I must say though, I love the staff there and after just 3 sessions I have already noticed a difference. Kinda kicking myself for putting it off for so long. But, this is ME here and that's just how I roll.

Kaylee came down with something mid-week and was sent home from school with a fever. It only seemed to last that evening though, so she was back the next day.

I am sporting a new 'do. A short(er) a-line/bob (something my awesome stylist came up with) with a super cute choppy-chunky-funky bang. Yes. Bangs... I LOVE.

Our middle niece had her 8th birthday party on Saturday, and this Auntie had a little 'too much fun' if you know what I mean. I didn't realize that they were serving drinks....but. yep. they were.
After a few, Lee and I went to Red Lobster for dinner and according to him? I was hilarious.
[Oh, GREAT - I don't even want to know.]

Kaylee spent two nights at my Mom's over the weekend with her cousin from Medford. She had fun, but came home last night with some sort of cold. Poor kid.

On top of that, Layton has been running a fever for the past 2 days. It's always somewhere between 101 and 103 and he's miserable. I have made him an appointment for in the morning if his fever doesn't break sometime today.

Can I just say this one more time?
I am so OVER this already!! Done with the sickness here. Okay? So DONE.

I have done my best to keep up on the housework but honestly, I haven't done much.
Today is laundry-day, cleaning-bathrooms-day, scrubbing-toilets-day, and dusting-mopping-vacuuming day.
All this with 2 sick kids home from school and a PT appointment at 2.
Yay. Me.

Caught up with the far-away bestie a few days ago and she let me in on her new business that her and her sister have started. That girl may just may be the craftiest person that I know and I am so, so, so, happy for them.

THESE. ARE. AWESOME... and I have already placed my order.

I have been noticing that Bentlee has been going through a stage: the stubborn stage.
He learned how to pop off his doggie-door and we can no longer keep him inside when we want to.
It's annoying.

Finally watched Due Date with the husband on Saturday. Hilarious.

Oh, and speaking of watching things - I about had a heart-attack during Survivor on Wednesday.
 I'm hoping the loser gets his ass handed to him on Redemption Island. (Although knowing my luck, he won't.)
He will be back to torture me for the rest of the season.
Mark my word.

Purchased a pair of BLING Puma's to actually wear on a daily basis. (LOVE them)
Shocked the friends and family with that one.
After knowing me to be in heels 99% of the time - I guess it was a sight to see.
Honestly, kind of shocked myself too, but after being advised by the physical therapist about heels being horrible on my back, I figured it was time.
Already looking on-line for a pair of black ones... (and wondering if shopping for cute new 'tennis shoes' will become a new obsession of mine?)
Oh, Probably.

The aftermath.

I would like to take some time to thank my husband for passing on the CRAP that he had last week.
I know that he is responsible for the way I am feeling (and have been feeling) for the last 5 days.
NOT. COOL.

Yeah, he is lucky I love him so much.
Only because I have this strong desire to just breathe on him continuously until I give it right back.

Doesn't he know?
We don't have to share everything.