Hey Cookie!

You are aware of my undying love for internet quizzes, yes? I love this one, because I LOVE COOKIES! Especially Mrs. Fields cookies :)

What is Your Mrs. Fields Cookie Personality?
Me? Well I am a...


Anybody else want a cookie? Of course you do. What kind of cookie are you?

Dressing by Committee

Hello, my name is Mia and I and I need help getting dressed. Seriously I make more out of everything, like weddings and family pictures, than I should. And hooray for me I have a blog, so you get to join me... or you could just skip this post.

Last night as we were having the nightly wind down I confessed to Ernesto that I was stumped with the family pictures. The trouble is, that the trend right now is a color palate not so much a matchy-matchy color theme. But I am not capable of dressing five people in a palate, I am barely capable of a matchy theme. Ernesto, sensing that more money spending was in order, ASSURED me he LOVED the whole matching theme and encouraged me to press on. Here are the kids outfits.

Top Row Zoey: Dress, tights, and shoes 1, shoes 2 (I prefer the silver but they are out of her size)
Middle Row Reed: Shirt, vest, pants
Bottom Row Blake: Shirt, sweater, pants

Mia Option 1: Dress, Headband (or something similar), Sweater, Shoes


Mia Option 2: Dress, Headband, Sweater 1, Sweater 2, Shoes

Ernesto on the other hand does not require a committee to dress him, therefore you will not see his ensemble in advance.

I would love your input on my outfit choices and if you go with the red dress, which sweater do you like better?

Thankful Thursday

• Enough for our needs and some of our wants -- I read an article once about how to teach your kids about personal finance. The article said that when kids ask how much you make explain to younger kids that we have "enough for our needs and some of our wants". For some reason looking at it this way makes me feel very grateful. Honestly having enough for our needs is a huge gift, and getting some of our wants is truly icing on the cake.
• Career Day -- I am so touched, honored, grateful that every single day this week when I have asked Zoey what she wants to dress up for on Career Day on Friday she has answered "A Mom".
• Even better -- Today after school Zoey asked why I didn't volunteer to come to the school for career week. I explained that all of her friends had mom's and that her friends knew what a mom did. She said that I should come to her class and teach them how to "do it the best". I know she is biased, but she also sees me at my worst, so I am pretty happy that she thinks I'm doing ok as a mom.
• Friends -- I have really great friends. Friends that answer my random questions, support my half thought out ideas, laugh at my attempts at humor, and love me -- split ends and all.
• Phone calls from sister in laws -- My only sisters are in-laws and I love talking to them on the phone and texting with them. Makes my day. This weeks topics? Bangs, bacon, and Christmas socks.
• 86 -- days til my birthday!!! Not that I'm counting or anything...
  

Halloween

The Big Kids

The Little One

Trick or Treat

In Honor of...

Most of the time I put Suzanne's fantastic give-away's in my side bar. So, if you only read my blog through reader and don't actually come to my blog you miss out. But this one is special, and special to me. I wanted to make sure all of my readers found out about this one.

Suzanne is hosting a Give-Away...Give-Away. Check out her blog to nominate someone who has been affected.

It's A Party

Dear Thompson Station Grill

Dear Thompson Station Grill,

I miss you, really miss you. I'm sorry that I couldn't single handedly eat enough Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches and Chess pie to keep you open. I promise, I tried. You were a big part of my last pregnancy. Every Tuesday when I would drive back from my appointment in the city I would drop in for lunch. If I was in a hurry it would be a to go order. When I arrived your staff would hand me a to go cup of Diet Coke then refill it again when they brought my order out, which was always delivered likity split. If I had the time I ate there. They always gave me a corner table where I could eat alone in peace and quiet, but with a great view to people watch. Everyone was so friendly and kind. Remember all the times the girls got together there to celebrate a birthday or just to have a girls lunch out? I remember them too. The Grill was a perfect place for us to meet because the kids could go back and forth from the table to the little game area you had in the corner. Getting to climb all over the train across the street after we were done eating was a special treat too. If you ever reopen your doors I will be there.

Longingly,
Mia


Photo of the train across the street via Flickr by Brent. He has some great pictures of the area!

PS. Anyone else hungry for a fried green tomato sandwich?

Thankful Thursday

• My Dad -- We had a conversation about my daughter the other day. My heart was full to the point that it would burst if I didn't let a little bit out. I needed someone to hear me say out loud what I was feeling. After gushing on for several minutes about the wonderful person that she is, my dad replied that she reminded him so much of what I was like as a child. Rather cheekily I replied "I've never been this wonderful." For a long moment all there was, was the humming of our cell phone connection when I heard his choked voice say, "You've always been that wonderful to me." I'm grateful for his unconditional love.
  
• Zoey -- She received an award at school the other day, for which I am extremely proud. I look at her and I see the way she loves learning and approaches it with such wonder and awe. She has an infectious enthusiasm. I must hear 7 times a day, "Mom did you know..." to which I always say "no", because she finds such pleasure in being able to teach me and her brother the things she is learning in school. I was able to talk to her teacher later that day and Mrs. C had such kind and thoughtful things to say about Zoey. Any parent will tell you that having a teacher who sees in your child even a glimpse of what you see is a blessing.
• Tamiflu -- enough said. Whew.
• Forgiving friends -- Is there anything worse than being ground zero for the piggy flu in your group of friends?
• My home -- The place where we all gather at the start and end of each day, snuggle on the couch, laugh over dinner, play games, work, read, live and love together.
  

One woman's "not on your life"

... is another woman's treasure. Remember when I was complaining that I was freezing and that I needed a zip hoodie? Well Tiburon sure did and she came to my rescue. Let's just say this wasn't Tib's favorite piece of clothing so she thought if I would wear it I could have it!

What do you think? Can I pull it off?

Amanda's Baby Shower

On Saturday I had the pleasure of helping throw a baby shower for my wonderful friend Amanda and her two buns in the oven.
I am not a, take a blank slate creative genius who makes a masterpiece out of thin air, but I am a fantastic student. So I used a lot of other people's ideas and tailored them for this party. I really wanted this to be special for Amanda because she is special to me.

I was lucky enough to work with Susan who came up with the idea, kept me on track, and hosted the party. I also borrowed from some master party planners, Suzanne and Darlene.

We had an ice cream sundae bar that was loaded with yummy goodness. I am pretty sure all the gals who came are still on a sugar high! (The place cards were made by modifying a free download from Cathe Holden at Just Something I Made)

And of course we had fun games with cute, if I do say so myself, prizes. I had a ton of fun putting together little gifts that I really wanted the ladies to love.I won't show you all 200 pictures I took of Amanda opening gifts, but I did want to show you a slide show of a gift that the kids made for the boys. The kids wanted to do something special, and I am a believer that there is nothing more special than a gift made with your own two (or eight) hands...

Thanks Grandma!!!

I nearly got accosted because I tried to make the kids wait to open their gift from Grandma. Luckily for them, Grandma took their side and said they could go ahead and open the package. Nothing is better than a package in the mail.


The kids love them. They are currently being used and toy totes, blankets totes, and seat holders at the dinner table. But, they are counting down the days when they get to be used for Trick-or-Treating!