Scrapbooking 101

My best friend, Shauna, and I are longtime scrapbooking buddies. We don't get to see each other often-she lives in Brownfield, teaches school in Wellman, has been blessed with the the jr.high cheerleaders along with being in charge of the concession stand, has three kids, and until a few weeks ago was producing large amounts of breast milk. Are you seeing why we are mainly phone friends these days??? Anyways, we did manage to sneak a day together before school started to wrap ourselves in creativity. Her husband was gone on his annual Colorado fishing trip and I packed my scrapbook goodies, my two blonde kids, and a red suitcase and we drove to Brownfield to spend the night. If you have never experienced scrapbooking with four kids, one baby, and a newborn chihuahua, you are missing out!!!

This is our scrapbooking set up in the middle of the living room. I personally like to "borrow" her neat supplies and such. Why is it always more fun to see what everyone else has? We do some scrapping, change diapers, eat pizza, watch good DVR'd movies, referee fighting children, feed animals, clean up spills, eat desert, etc.

And these are the snuggle bunnies. No, they were just "pretending" to go to bed. Sleep comes few and far between during these little get-togethers.

Child #1-you purchase an awesome changing table stocked with the latest diapering supplies, new minky changing pad cover, and matching baskets. You actually use the pathetic wipes that the hospital sends home that you have to wet with warm water because you aren't supposed to use Huggies wipes on their bottoms yet.

Child #2- the changing table comes out again but is not fully stocked because you only use it about 50% of the time. You mainly change the baby on the bed while trying to entertain your oldest child whose whining for mom's attention. You purchase the "sensitive" Huggies wipes this time because it's quicker that the hospital manual wetting wipes.

Child #3-who needs a changing table when you have a recliner, floor, back of the car, counter top, or couch. You realize the changing table makes a fantastic book shelf and toy bin which works perfectly because your third child is sharing a room with the second and you need to utilize the space. You throw away those hospital wipes because they are crap, and you bust out the Sam's wipes! $13 for a box that contains ten packages-hot dog!!!

This is the reality.

They don't always act this sweet in the backseat! These were the smiles before I took them to the park and the scalding hot slide left them with third degree burns. There should be a warning sign, really.

Finley, aka "Baby Hog", with baby Owen.

Keeping themselves busy. We don't know what goes on in the garage. What happens in the garage, stays in the garage. Poor cat.

And we took a trip to the Wellman Diner to meet the concession stand food rep people in the midst of our scrapping extravaganza. Does anyone know how many hotdogs people might eat at a six-man football game? We didn't know either.

Just Pics, Ya'll

I just wanted to post some random cute pics tonight. They were just hodge podge and really are just too sweet not to mention. We have officially sprinted into fall and are busy as little bees. Don't you love fall!?! It is getting cool in the evenings here, leaves are starting to loose their summer green shine, football is in full-on mode, all kinds of holiday decorations are filling the shelves in stores. I love it!!! I feel the need to start buying pumpkin spice candles and digging out my good jeans, for goodness sakes!

These are my sweet kiddos after church one Sunday. I was shocked to learn that Finley will no longer be allowed in the nursery during services-she graduated to HEROS, which is "big kid" childcare now! I was very disturbed by this. Oh, yes and the potty training is coming along beautifully. She is trained. We are good to go!

This is Fin's birthday dress that Stephanie made her. She thought she needed to wear her western boots with it. After being at the Tech game last weekend and seeing the college gals wearing boots with tube top dresses, I believe Finley has a flare for what is in-style.

My boys stopped for a pose while on their way to the Monster Truck Show this summer.

Max is on hiatus from the Smart house. He is enjoying life in a second grade classroom for a couple of months with one of my good friends. We will get him back on the holidays for a visit. We miss him, but momma don't miss cleaning the cage! He is a very sweet guy, little long tailed devil.

Finley's first day of 3-yr-old preschool. She loves it. She is an excellent cutter.

Still trying to squeeze some swimming out of summer. My kids are absolute water babies. Finley is even swimming to us without a life jacket. Slade is a full blown fish. He is an excellent snorkeler. Slade is lovin' first grade. Doing lots of math he tells me. His teacher is a doll. We've started gymnastics, music, soccer. I feel like a taxi most days and can't seem to get everything done. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Did I mention that I'm head over heels for these two Smarties!?!

And this might be one of the cutest skirts I've ever laid eyes upon!

Roller Derby

Not everyone can be lucky enough to have a Cita.

Especially one that rides a Wiggle Racer with you!

Really good Cita's are hard to come by. And they bring books and cookies when they visit. Some people have fortune, some have fame. We have Cita-which makes us the richest folks in town. Aren't we lucky!!!

Raider Power!

Nana and Chey-Anne-I'm her favorite!

Lovin' on mom during the game.

My little Tech cheerleader loved the game!

Slade was in awe-our seats are by the local meteorologist for the ABC news channel. Made the game for Slade!

I wonder if Slade is watching the game or thinking about F5 tornadoes?

Gettin' jiggy with it!?!

Finley holding London

Rex and Slade

Photo session bf the game-Kyle scored a parking pass! yay

The Smarties!

I love these two!!! They have my heart.

Game Day & Checkbook Winner

Fight, Raiders, Fight! Fight, Raiders, Fight!

Fight for the school we love so dearly.

We'll hit'em high, we'll hit'em low.

We'll push the ball across the goal,

Tech, Fight! Fight!

We'll praise your name, boost you to fame.

Fight for the Scarlet and Black

We will hit'em, we will wreck'em.

Hit'em! Wreck'em, Texas Tech!

And the Victory Bells will ring out.

It's game day and we cannot wait to take Finley to her first Tech game!!! Mom and Nana came up, too! Finley has a new Tech cheerleader outfit to sport and Slade a new cap and shirt! Should be fun!!!

And the checkbook cover winner is................................Stephanie Stanford!!! Yay. I taught school with Stephanie and went to Tech with her and we share the same wedding anniversary. Just a tidbit of info on her! Congrats and thank you for checking in on the Smarty Pants Blog! The winner was chosen in a most technical, detailed manner. I put everyone's name on a piece of paper and folded the paper and Finley carefully chose the piece of paper of her liking. Very official, don't you think!!! Happy Saturday, Ya'll!

What?

Excuse me. Could someone tell me when September snuck in? Seriously, wasn't it Memorial Day like a week ago? I'm going to wake up and be 80 years old. Nobody ever told me that life is a sprint after you graduate from college-and I'm talking Olympic speed! And when did Slade start to say "aggressive" and "ballistic" in sentences? I'm just a child in the body of a 31-year-old. Don't you all feel like that or am I just plain weird? And remind me again when I turned thirty? That was two weeks ago I think.

Life......it's like driving through the small town where I grew up. If you blink, you'll miss it!

And as for the cherry pic-don't they just look deliciously sublime!!!

Exciting News.....

I have the most exciting news to share with you! I still cannot believe it myself!

Can you believe this pic I found of..........Oh, wait a minute! I got sidetracked. I wasn't talking about Twilight. Silly me!!! We have some wonderful family news to report. Are you curious? What could it be? Sorry, no I'm NOT having a baby, but it does involve diapers or at least the disappearance of them in our household! Yes, my girl is on to bigger and better things-she decided (or might possibly have been forced) to loose the size 4 Huggies Supremes!!! Yay!

Officially as of Tuesday, I have a cute pantie wearing girl! She has dug in her heels the whole way, but finally gave in when we had her stay two days with her favorite sitter. Aurora works for Kyle and is a family friend of ours-she loves our children. She has lots of experience with potty training since she had 17 brothers and sisters (literally) and five kids of her own. And you know, none of them wear a diaper, so she must have done a good job! I had officially locked horns with Finley on this matter and was getting nowhere. I had spat, yelled, screamed, cried, sweated, bribed, etc. with Finley to get her to use the potty and it has become a matter of will. STRONG WILL, I might add. So Aurora came in on Monday like a bright ray of sunshine, I left the house, and she worked her magic. By Monday night, my child was using the bathroom, flushing, and telling Brandi that she "hated diapers" and they "stick to your hiney". Who is this child and what did you do with Finley? Did Aurora tie her to a tree and threaten to burn her at the stake? Did she drive bamboo shoots up her nails? Well, she's not damaged, their are are no marks, and my child is wearing Dora panties. I say it was a success or possibly a miracle. Am I a potty training failure as a mother? Maybe. I cannot take any of the credit. Actually, I felt bad at first, but my feelings have changed after the realization hit me that I don't have to buy diapers anymore. That's about $9 a week staying in my pocket-hot dog!!! Around these parts, Aurora has a new name. I like to call her the Potty Whisperer. Or maybe I'll just hang on to the mast of the Titanic and shout, "King of the World!" Size 2 Dora panties are in the house, peeps, and I've never in my life seen a more adorable hind end!!!


FYI-The comments and emails for the checkbook cover close tomorrow. I will draw a winner on Friday!!!