Scrapbook shopping...

A day spent with friends, Shirley and Val, visiting a newly reopened Scrapbooks Too....loved the display stands, especially the chicken coop nests (seriously wishing they had been for sale) a stop at Potbelly's for lunch and that last picture was a bathroom stall at the mall.  I know random photo but it was huge I could fit my kids in there and do you see that three hooks plus a seat for smaller children.
seriously where has this bathroom been all my parenting life???

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what's this....

she asked one night pointing to the bone in her ankle...it's a bone I answered
"do you have one" she wondered "yes" I said and pulled up my pant leg so she could see it
"well what is this?" she asked pointing to my tattoo  "a star" I answered
"can I have one too?" she asked   "sure" I said and pulled out the ink pen
so not the momma I was 20 years ago....then I would have frowned on tattoo's
but that little dare when I turned 44 which resulted in that star tattoo on my ankle
(the dare was with myself it seemed time to do something so out of the box for this girl)
I imagine now saying no would have rung a bit hypocritical would it not, especially when I now sport one.   Of course we won't be making an appointment at the local tattoo parlor for that 3 year old or the 7 year old for that matter.  That kind of permancy can wait until they are much older.
Rosie walked by as we finished up Reyna's star and said "cool can i have one too!"  "well hop up here"
I said "let's give you one too" 

winter thaw....

 

january temps in the 40's are so welcomed (even when winter has been mild)

Splurge Party

Beckie won a splurge party at maurices ....after the store closed we joined her for two hours of shopping, door prizes, laughter, and snacks. Several of her friends and family were able to attend. What a great experience, shopping after hours, each of us received a discount and a thank you bag.  

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reading

we do read a lot in our house,
with AR reading goals for almost every child in the house,
a momma who love's to read...bookshelfs (yes plural) full of books
it is safe to say we are a reading household...
apparently jackjack decided to join in...rosie just giggled as she took this
photo the other night of Jack "reading" her book

New library card

Today was rosie's turn to get her own library card ....she was very excited.  Her first book were Franklin and a book on penguins



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Las Vegas!

departing new years day...
my dad had never been to vegas, beckie decided it was time to fix that and so she along with her friend sara planned a trip to vegas in january including sara's parents and my dad.
I don't know if he actually believed she was serious when she first told him "we're going to vegas grandpa!" 

 

they stayed at the excalaber,

 

of course they gambled  although I don't know that this would be the slot machines my dad usually
plays :)

 

how could my flamingo girl not visit the casino thus named?

 

she made sure they took in some of the shows at the different casinos
they also did the bellagio fountains
my dad just couldn't get over how big each casino was, or how decorated and extravagant they were

she was 8 months old the first time she saw Prince at the airport in minneapolis

 

 

 

 

it sounded like a fun, busy time spent in the dessert...
so proud of this kid of mine who made it happen and gave her grandpa a one in
a million trip...she rocks like that. 

found...

tucked into a shelf in my scrapbook nook...
apparently reyna found a new method of disposal
sigh no idea how long it's been hangin out in that spot, judging by the contents it's been a long while.
which is a rather sad nod to how infrequently I actually scrap these days

5

on new years day we had another party with family to celebrate this newly turned 5 year old

 

he was most excited by his new toolbench...so were some of the adults :)

birthday party

 

 

 

 

he turned 5 on new years day...
we celebrated the day before with the daycare kids..
he was so excited about having a birthday party...asking often is it time for my party?
so happy to share this moment with him, to watch him be the star for the day...
his grins were priceless...

she loves this kitten

he tolerates her affection..most days

new years eve...

movies and camping out in the toy and pizza equaled the best night ever for this crew...
only the youngest two in this picture made it to midnight

linda and larry joined us to welcome in the new year, a tradition started
several years ago...we make home made pizza and watch movies
good food, good friends and staying home where it's warm is the prefect way to welcome in
the new year for this girl

older kids even made appearances throughout the night

watching the movie battleship resulted in an actual game of battleshipe
between two teams, jay and cassandra vs linda and I
we won....

and this photo snapped at 11:55 shows the youngest two still going strong
the adults, honestly had there not been company I would have most likely gone to sleep