Happy Things

My great friend, Nancy of The Goat and the Kid, tagged me on this.

I'm so happy!! (no pun intended).
Thanks, Nancy.  You definitely make me smile.

So, I have to list 10 things that make me happy,

smile or just make me feel good.
It was hard to limit this to 10 items, so here goes.

#1 Without a doubt it's my happy family.

I have an awesome husband, completely understanding and supportive,
smart, funny and handsome.

We don't spend a lot of time alone together.

What am I saying?

We spend a lot...A LOT...of time together because we both work from home....

in the same office space....

in the same kitchen area....

in the same bed every night!

It's all good.

When we do get away for a quick weekend, it's well worth it.

I actually begin to feel like a woman - not a Mom.

(I'm thinking about Shania Twain's song "Feel Like a Woman".)

You'll understand this reference soon.  Keep reading.

Oh, and my 2 adorable, sweet, healthy daughters.

Being Mom to these special little people is truly a blessing.

#2 Coffee...anytime, any day...all day!

You may be thinking - oh, she's a caffeine-a-holic just like me.
We do decaf over here, ladies.
I like to think that I'm naturally high!
John Denver's Rocky mountain high just popped into my head.
Sing it with me.

To give you a taste of my coffee, I'll tell you what my hubby thinks about it.
T-Bone calls my coffee a coffee-like-beverage because it's about 1/2 coffee with 1/4 milk + 1/4 hazelnut creamer...and 2 Spendas.

YUMMY!!!

Everyone can't do it black!
(that looks funny but I'm going to leave it there.)

This is a picture that Sugar Nugget drew of me with my coffee.

It's quite artistic, don't you think?

#3 Our new backyard pool with fantastic bbq and festive palapa.
This investment in our backyard has brought a lot of good times.
(Sng reference:  Let the good times roll.)
Can't wait until spring and summer.

Not the best photo, but it's too dark right now to take another.

#4  Flannel PJs and warm, fuzzy socks!
I do most of my bloggin while wearing these babies.

Oh, they are so comfy and warm.
I literally wear them more than 1/2 of the year because
we keep our house a toasty 67 degrees (sometimes cooler).
Oh yeah - note my sarcasm on the toasty reference above.

#5  Reality shows, snacking in front of the TV and sleeping.
Wait a minute...that's 3 things.
Well, not really.  I'll explain.
After the girls go to bed, T-Bone and I have our nighttime,
relaxation ritual, as follows:
get a snack,
choose reality show from Tivo'd list
watch and munch
go to bed
You see, it really is just one thing.

#6  My Dogs

Yes - all 3 of them.  Call me crazy but I love the furry critters.
Bailey, Max and Carly have a GREAT life here!

Bailey - age 11

Max - age 3

and our little rascal, Carly.

#7  Singing

For those of you who have heard my lovely voice, you're
probably saying "oh, no she did-n't".
Yes - I love belting out a tune.
Any tune.  Any time.  Made up or the real thing.
Mimicking a tune that springs to mind when I'm doing
something is a daily occurence.
I even made up a song that I sing while preparing the dog food.
Weird, huh?

#8  Having a glass-half-full mentality.

It sure makes life brighter.

#9  Sweet Treats
I'm not picky.
Cake.
Pie.
Ice Cream.
Candy.
Chocolate.
Baked goods.
Carb-o-li-cious!

#10  Blogging!
Why is it so addictive?
Who cares.
Just do it, I say!


Well, this was fun!!!

Some of my favorite blogs that make me smile have already been tagged.
They are:
The Goat and the Kid
SoSoBella
2 Cool for my Mini Van
Lemonade Makin' Mama
All a Flutter
Flower Patch Farmgirl
oh, there are many more.

These are the blogs that I enjoy and would love to hear from:

Tag, you're it...
No, really, I'm just saying
On the Bright Side
No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane
Whatever
With Enough Coffee I could rule the World
Definitely, Maybe


Copy and paste the above Happy 101 header to your blog.
Tell me who and what makes you happy.

Have a happy day!

Crafty? NOT!

We have a Christmastime tradition to make one of these cute houses.

We lay out a table cloth, separate the candy into individual dishes,

get the icing ready and begin.

You would think that putting this pre-baked gingerbread house

would be easy to put together, right?

Not in our house.

The directions are simple.

Step 1: use icing to put the 4 walls of gingerbread together to form the house.

Step 2: more icing to put on the roof.

Gotta taste it, too.

Step 3:  Put icing on other parts of the house

so we can put some candies all around.

Then - BOOM, BANG...

The roof begins sliding off.

Gravity.  Uuurgh!

It's like a slow-motion, bad movie.

The girls have become accustomed to this action over the years.

They don't panic.

They simply start packing on more icing to put it back together.

We try again.

Back to the candy application...

Things are looking up.

We think it's going to stay put.

NOPE.

More icing, please.

Bet you can't figure out which is our house

and which is the picture of the manufacturer's box.

Maybe I need some new kitchen tools to help us out.

Even though our tradition doesn't offer perfection,

it's fun!!

What are your family traditions?

The cutest holiday performance

My 7 year old, Sugar Nugget, had her 2nd grade performance tonight.

It was A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.

The kids performed every holiday song in the book.

She did her thing on stage.

She worked it.

Sang her heart out and did the motions.

She kept looking right at us with a big smile.

I truly appreciate every performance my girls are in.

I embrace where they are in their lives.

Literally, my eyes well up when I'm watching them.

Is that normal??

Why do I love these performances so much?

Because the kids are full of life!

Smiling.

Singing.

Doing their individual parts.

They are proud.

All their hard work has paid off.

They have a feeling of accomplishment.

Sugar Nugget played an Angel for her part.

Don't know the title of the song but it was spelling out the word Christmas

and saying something about each letter.

She was for "A" - the angel.

So glad she performed a Christmas song.

We continue to spell out the true meaning of Christmas to our girls.

We also teach them to respect the beliefs of others, as others should respect ours.

T-Bone and I are proud.

She is our baby.

This is the last 2nd grade performance we'll be seeing.

I will appreciate these times and be grateful to have them.

Christmastime bling

I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR.

My hubby and I dig the decorating.
Sometimes we just do too much.
It looks like Santa threw up on our house.

So, this year, we're keepin' it simple.
Mmmmm-huh!
Our house is blinged!!

The tree corner looks nice and not too cluttered.

The lights on the tree are shinin' all day long.

Sugar Nugget turns them on as soon as she wakes every morning.

I just LoVe pulling out all the ornaments and taking a moment

to remember where it came from, who made it or why we bought it.

T-Bone and I have a tradition where we buy one new ornament every year.
He usually buys a really cool lookin' one and I usually buy a cutesy Santa-looking ornament.

We've made some homemade decorations throughout the years.
It started out very simply when the girls were young and couldn't do much.
The ornaments make great gifts for family and friends who won't judge
and can appreciate the "home made" stuff.
(Just another reminder that I am not a crafty chick.)

One of our firsts was a glass ornament.
Sweet Cheeks was only 2 1/2 at the time and took red & green permanent markers
and just scribbled on it.
It's hard to see because the marker was green.
Sugar Nugget was only 6 months and just sat around
looking like a cute blob of a baby.

Here they are at ages 2 and 6 months.

I miss those days.

This cute snowman was made from the foam-like clay.
I think the manufacturer is Playdough.
It was easy for the kids to shape and hardened up nicely.
We used assorted sizes of beads on the mouth and eyes.

I like this one.
It was a simple, clear, glass ornament.
We poured a variety of paint colors inside and rolled the paint around.
Each ornament came out really pretty!

Ah, the wood-shaped ornaments.

They were the kids favorites.

We painted the entire ornament and let it dry.

Came back to it with the puffy paints to add some style and flair.

Ah, last but not least...
The white glass bulb with permanent markers to do the trick.
It's a great classroom craft, too.

These intricate ornaments are homemade by our good friends, Julie and Eric. 
They took beautiful shells and made them into Christmas art!
Truly amazing!

With such a great season and fun decorating, my favorite is when
the girls decorate their trees.  They each have one in their bedroom.

This was a tradition we started about 4 years ago.
They've got a box of ornaments that includes hello kitty, shrek, plastic balls, dora, etc.

This year came as a surprise to me when Sweet Cheeks
didn't want any of those decorations for HER tree.
She wanted to classy-it-up by choosing only balls, colorful crystal acryllics and beads.

Again...another sign that she's growing up!

I'm not surprised but truly want to take it a bit slower, please.

Sugar Nugget went for the cute, kid-friendly ornaments and enjoyed tree time.

Trees, decorations, lights and all....when all is said and done,

our girls now the true meaning of Christmas.
The birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Dance Competition: Complete

With a full calendar this month, it feels good to check something off.

It's done.

Dance competition:  Completed.

Sweet Cheeks did another fantastic job on stage!

Her group won a Ruby trophy and each girl got a ribbon.

We're so proud of her...

and she was proud, too.

By the way - the eyelashes came on and off without a hitch.

She looks WAY TOO MATURE with all that make-up.

She's approaching 10 years old and growing up!

Happy on one hand.

Extremely sad on the other.

I just love that her self-confidence is blossoming.

That smile tells it all!

Good job, Sweet Cheeks!

Dancing Divas

Dance competition....here we come.

I should clarify and say "here she comes".

Sweet Cheeks is going to perform in her first dance competition this weekend.

Full on make-up, blingy earrings and fake eyelashes.

That'll be interesting.

I'm picturing crying, whining and sheer pain from this new experience.

She'll be performing a tap routine with her class of last season.

The cute waitress costume fits perfectly with the song "Baked a Cake".

The lyrics are ridiciously funny, I think.

If I knew you were comin' I'd a baked a cake.

Baked a cake.

Baked a cake.

If I knew you were comin' I'd a baked a cake.

How ya' do, how ya' do, how ya' do.

If I knew you'd a be there I'd a made a tortilla.

Made a tortilla.

I'd a made a tortilla.

Yeah - if I knew you'd be there I'd a made a tortilla.

How ya' do, how ya' do, how ya do.

Now I don't know where you come from.

And I don't know where you bin.

But it really doesn't matter.

Grab a chair and fill your platter.

and dig, dig, dig right in.

If I knew you were comin' I'd a baked a potato.

Yeah I'd a baked a potato.

Goodness sake.

If I knew you were comin' I'd a baked a potato.

How ya' do, how ya' do, how ya' do.

She performed this same routine at her dance recital in June 2009.

She amazes me on stage!!

HOT STUFF.

Smiling and shakin' her

booty like she LOVES it!

Sweet Cheeks also performed a jazz number to the Donkey

version of Livin' La Vida Loca.

The costumes were adorable and the choreography was cute.

Sugar Nugget won't be competing because she didn't continue with tap.

It just wasn't her thing.

She banged it out at the recital, too.

She was shining on stage!

The next recital is in June 2010 and the girls will perform in 5 numbers.  Yes.....that's 5 costumes and cha-ching....almost $500.

Plus, the monthly dance lessons, plus the tap shoes and jazz shoes.

We're investing in our kids creative side.

I'm ecstatic that my girls are diggin' dance.

It was my thing oh so long ago.

I LOVED IT and still can cut a rug...

(what generation am I from?)

I meant to say...I LOVED IT and like to think I can still do a little groovin'.

(That's definitely more my era.)

Dogtoria Secret

We decided to embark on a new experience.

Breeding our puppy, Carly.

We knew that her doggie "period" would start any time between

7 and 9 months old.  And, here it was.

It happened about a week before Thanksgiving.

I'm not prepared in any way, shape or form.

What to do???

Since I was too lazy to go to the pet store for

the pet panty, I created my own.

I sifted through my girls' panty drawer and found a bunch

of old panties that the girls just don't wear.

Cut a hole for Carly's tail in each pair.

Took some panty liners and cut them in 1/2.

You get the picture.

Also, I had to use safety pins on each side to

make them stay on her body.

This is her big Dogtoria Secret photo shoot...

This pair of bikinis will fit any puppy nicely.

And, here she is sporting a pair of boy shorts.

To add some holiday cheer, try out this adorable Christmas panty...

And, finally, the centerfold.

Drumroll, please....

Watch out Playboy.

During this time of Carly's "heat", we went out of town for 6 days.

This left our very nice, cool guy/dog-sitter/house-sitter

to bear the responsibility of this burden.

He's a 17 year old Senior in high school.

What guy would want to deal with this, you ask.

NADA

NO ONE

I bought diapers thinking it would be a little easier.

A little snip to cut out the tail circle and viola...

doggie diaper is ready to go.

He got through it.

Hope it didn't damage him for life.

So, the saga continues as we wait for

the end of this first event.

Carly will go back in heat in approximately

6 months and we'll do this all again.

However, it will be a bit different

because that's when we get to

actually breed her with Toby, the stud.