The Squirrel Remedy.

We've been having this problem with squirrels getting into our bird feeder.

The birds that frequent our feeder do not like them ... it's funny to watch them out there squaking at the squirrels to leave. It's as if they are saying ... this is our feeder ... now leave!


The other day I went to take a picture of the FIVE squirrels that were on the feeder. This picture is so blurry because I took the picture through the window screen. As you can see, I only got a picture of the final one jumping down.


This is why my husband is an engineer ... he figured out a way to keep the squirrels off of the feeder. He put an old plant pot on it. If the squirrels try to shimmy up the pole, there is no way they can make it up as the pot blocks their access. It may not look very pretty ... but our goal is to feed the birds ... not the squirrels.

Mike = 1 Squirrels = 0

Just An Ordinary Monday.

It was back to Kangaroo Jac's for a jumping good time yesterday.

Griffin LOVES that place. After bouncing, jumping and playing with other kids for three solid hours he fell asleep in his carseat practically the minute I put him in it.


(Picture taken March 2008 during an outside picnic while eating ice cream)

He took a FOUR hour nap yesterday ... it's been a very long time since he has napped that long. I took advantage of the time to create a few more new things. And, I got dinner on ... meatloaf, mashed potatos, english peas and crescent rolls. It was yummy.

After dinner we all went outside for awhile. Mike was cutting more of the scallops for the window area of the addition ... they are SO pretty! And he tried to figure out a way to keep the squirrels off of the bird feeder. It's pretty funny how he remedied this problem. I will share a picture of that in another post.

I checked on my vegetable plants ... they are doing very well. Ms. Dead-Plant-Thumb may actually be turning into Ms. Green Thumb ... thank you very much! We expect some red & green bell peppers and tomatos to be ripe in a few months.

Griffin kept us busy running all over the yard and Fort Griffin. Gosh that kid LOVES to be outside.

Unfortunately it's raining this morning ... so we will probably not have any outdoor time today. We have an appointment this morning and after that I'm not sure what we will do .... mmmmmm.

And here are the newest items added to MY EBAY STORE

Playdoh.

Out of the blue the other day, it dawned on me that Griffin had never played with Play-doh.

Where that realization came from ... I don't know. But, I'm really glad it popped into my head. When we were in town on Friday, I picked up a pack of Play-doh with some creative tools.


Oh my goodness ... he is loving this stuff!! Play-doh is definately one of his new favorite things to do!

Good Sunday Morning.

Finally ... I'm feeling a little creative again!!

For my Missy Made It! customers ~ www.missymadeit.com ...

I've just listed these paper piecings in MY EBAY STORE



After not feeling very creative for the past few weeks ... it feels sooooo good to have that creative feeling back now!

Be on the look out ... even more new Paper Piecings will be added soon!

Hope you have a GREAT Sunday ... we are just hanging out here at the house today.

Family Fun.

Our big adventure yesterday morning was to visit Walmart for a little grocery shopping. When we were back in the car I asked Griffin what he wanted to do. He said "go to mall and play" ... so that's what we did.

On the way home I saw something on the road ahead of me. I thought it was roadkill (yuck!), but it turned out to be a turtle. I quickly swirved my car to miss it. I think we did miss it. And then we turned off to the road that leads to our sub-division and holy cow ... a deer ran right out in front of me. I was on the telephone with my friend Heidi and honest to goodness ... it scared me to death!! I was laughing and crying at the same time. We did make it safely home without running over a turtle or hitting a deer.

Last night we went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. They have a huge selection to choose from and we wanted a little something different for dinner.


Griffin was so happy that Daddy was home!


And this Kahlua Chocolate Cheesecake was the absolute BEST!! Mike had Oreo Chocolate Cheesecake himself. The best part is we both could only eat 1/2 of our cheesecake and we brought the leftovers home. So ... we have cheesecake for today too. Griffin wanted no part of the cheesecake. We both asked him if he wanted some "cake" and then we tried calling it "ice cream" (because of the whipped cream on it) and he just said "no cake". He's funny that way though. He likes certain sweet things (lollipops, M&Ms, ice cream) ... but alot of sweet things he won't touch. I guess that is a good thing though.

And finally ... I added some things to My Ebay Store



Hopefully I'll be added many more things in the near future!!

Hope you all have a GREAT weekend!!

Friday = Time For Fun.

So ... I'm feeling better today ... thank goodness!

I felt soooooo bad for Griffin yesterday. We stayed in the house the ENTIRE day ... well, we did step out on the porch once when my neighbor Melinda stopped by for a minute. But really, that doesn't count. He was stuck in the house all day long.


So today ... I'm trying to decide what to do. It's raining outside, so it has to be an indoor activity. We have ALOT of options ... I asked him what he wanted to do and he said "play with helicopters". I know he wants to do more than that.

Do we go to Kangaroo Jacs, The Playroom, or The Children's Museum? We could go to McDonald's, Chic-Fil-A or even SP Mall ... have a little playtime and even have some lunch. The YMCA is out because they have removed the bubble, so we would be exposed to the elements. So no, we can't go to the Y swimming today ... although that's what I really want to do. We've already been to Kangaroo Jacs once this week ... Griffin LOVES to go there. I know he wouldn't mind going back. I'm thinking The Children's Museum is out too because he would want to go outside and play on the backporch (water area) ... and it's raining ... so we couldn't really do that either. And the park is certainly out.

Mmmmmmm ... choices ... choices ....

Gosh, it's really nice to have this dilemma you know? So many options ... I'll let you know what we decided to do on my post tomorrow.

Happiness.

The past several days I've not been feeling so good. I've been coughing non-stop for at least 4 days and I've just been dragging. Mike made me go to the doctor yesterday because he was worried I was getting bronchitis or worse. The doctor said it's just a virus. He prescribed cough medicine and rest. He said if I do not feel better in a few days to come back. I'm hoping to feel better very soon.


I thought I would share some things that have brought me happiness over the past few days.

First, that sweet smiling noodly face you see above ... THAT brings me happiness everyday. I am so blessed to have the BEST husband and son.

Griffin has this toy called My First Leap Pad ... he LOVES it!! Lately his favorite book/cartridge is Dora the Explorer. Well, he misplaced the cartridge that goes along with the book and he was so unhappy. Late yesterday afternoon as he was rummaging through his toys ... he found it! The look on our child's face when he found this cartridge was PRICELESS! Not only did it bring him happiness ... it made me pretty happy as well!

Last night as I was snuggling into bed, I put my hand under my pillow and discovered one of Griffin's little toy cars. I tell you, that just gave me a giggle. He can find a way to play cars anywhere.

This morning Griffin decided to wake up at 5:30. I just wasn't ready to get up yet, so I went and got him and we had some snuggle time in our bed. I closed my eyes and all of a sudden he started stroking my arm and singing ... go to sleep ... go to sleep ... go to sleep little Mommy ... it was the SWEETEST thing!! That brought pure happiness to my heart!

Good friends ... that's another thing that has brought me happiness over the last week. You all know who you are ... most of you read my blog. You've been there for me in SO many ways over the past week ... and I so appreciate it. Truely, good friends bring me joy and happiness!

And lastly ... baked potatos. LOL ... I've not eaten anything since yesterday at lunch time. And honestly, I'm just not hungry. So I'm thinking for lunch today I might make Griffin and me a baked potato. Just thinking about it brings me happiness.

What brings you happiness? I'd love for you to share!!

Uno's Chicago Pizza & Calamari

The other day before picking Bett up at the airport, we decided to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants ... Uno's Chicago Pizza.

We absolutely LOVE their deep dish pizza. We always get the veggie pizza and then add italian sausage to it ... yummy ... it's soooo good!


Our friend Zach was with us ... and it was a fun time!


Mike decided to order calamari as an appetizer ...


Zach is an adventureous eater ... so he tried the calamari.


LOL ... here he has the tentacles sticking out of his mouth ... glad Mike and Zach enjoyed this ... I do not.


Griffin enjoyed his pizza ... I do not think he's quite ready for calamari.

Chasing Down The Turtle.

The other day Mike was leaving for work and he called me on the telephone almost as soon as he left the house.

He said ... quick get Griffin's shoes on there is a turtle crossing the road. He knew how much Griffin would LOVE to see a turtle. We quickly got our shoes on and began to walk up our road looking for the turtle. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the grass moving ... and guess what we found?


Yep ... we found the TURTLE!!


Griffin was in complete awe ...


I let him touch it ... ewwwwwww ... but he wanted to.

Mike is such a great Daddy ... he called us because he knew that Griffin would get a kick out of seeing the turtle. Honestly, I do not think too many Daddys would do that.

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So ... when we had our old couch we let Griffin jump on it. Since we have the new furniture, we have a no jumping policy. Griffin is trying to find every which way around it.

Words from a three-year-old as he's jumping in Mike's new recliner ...

Me: Griffin STOP jumping in the chair (I'm sitting at the computer desk behind this chair)

Griffin: I not jumping, I playing peek-a-boo

Words from a three-year-old as he's jumping on the new couch ...

Me: Griffin STOP jumping on the couch

Griffin: Mommmm - mmmy I not jumping, I a frog ... ribbit, ribbit, ribbit

How can you argue with that philosophy???

It Was A Great Mother's Day.

This was the BEST Mother's Day ever.

We stayed home and relaxed ... that's my kind of day.


Cute cards from both of my guys


I didn't really "want" anything for Mother's Day ... except for vegetable plants. I'm going to try my hand at vegetable gardening. I'm going to start small with one each of tomatos, green bell pepper and red bell pepper. My sweet husband chose these wonderful plants for me.


Mike cooked THE most delicious dinner for me too! We went out to Red Lobster on Friday night ... so we ate at home on Sunday. Here we have some grilled green beans.


Yummy carmelized onions with mushrooms ...


Scrumptious red baked potatos


And the BEST part of the meal was the one and a half inch THICK steak ... it was so wonderfully delicious ... it cut like butter. My husband is definately the Grill Master!!

Mike and Griffin made this day so, so wonderful!! I love you guys!!

Happy Mother's Day!

On February 7, 2005 ... I became a mother.


Never in a million years could I ever imagine how this little person would change my life. Change my life ... indeed he did. Mike and I often laugh that we do not remember life "before Griffin" at all.

I thank God everyday for the opportunity God gave me to be this little guy's Mommy. I am so, so blessed. A mother's love is something unique ... something that is so deep and so real.

I wanted to say a very Happy Mother's Day to everyone ...

Playdate At Our House.

Yesterday we had a really fun, relaxed playdate at our house.

It was raining and a bit dreary outside ... but we had plenty of fun things we could do indoors.


Patrick and Griffin


Ryan taking some alone time to catch up on some reading


Matthew & Evan


Matthew striking a pose!


Kristen with her boys Patrick & Matthew ... I can barely carry Griffin down the stairs ... how does she carry TWO boys down???


We enjoyed making Mommy and Grandma Mother's Day cards together


Carol & Sam


Griffin & Me


Heidi & Ryan

We had such a great time together ... with summer coming ... we plan to get together much more often!!