St. Patrick's Day

I know I am a little late with this post, but we had so much fun that I had to share it. It all started when my husband spotted these pajama bottoms at the store. He needed some new ones so I caved and bought them. Well, the day before St. Patrick's Day, Bret tells me that he wants a day of green. So we started plotting and planning.

Here are the pants that start all the fun.

We start the day off with pancakes. I don't know if you can tell, but they are green. And yes, I did try to make them into shamrocks. After trying about six times, I gave up and the rest were all traditionally round! I did have to make my daughter's second helping into the shamrocks...she asked with the puppy dog eyes and she didn't care if they were not exactly right!

We ate breakfast so late that it was really brunch. Well, that threw my plans off a bit. We were supposed to make shamrock cookies after lunch, but that would have put us too close to dinner. So we nixed that idea.

For dinner, we had Shepherd's Pie. I had never made it before so I was excited to give it try. Everyone really liked it except for my two. Hannah and Ian dislike anything remotely tasty.

Here is my adorable husband in all of his St. Patty's glory!!
He is so proud of his outfit. He actually wore his pajamas all day long!

My father-in-law showing a little St. Patty's spirit! Business man during the day, Shamrock party animal at night!!!

Then to top it all off, we enjoyed with some lime sherbet. Libby pointed out that it
is not pronounced "sherbert" because there is no "r" in the second syllable. I did not believe her
but there really is not. All these years I have been pronouncing it incorrectly.

I am so glad that my husband came up with this idea.

The day ended without me getting pinched and we enjoyed many things green and Irish.

Twilight - DVD Release Party!!!

The day that the dvd was released, I went to the best party. A group of fun women, good food, and vampires!!! The pictures say it all!! Amy, thank you so much for hosting such an awesome party. I really had so much fun!

Could this sign be any truer??

We couldn't drink this wine. It was just too cool. Perfect occasion to bring out the vampire wine!!!

I wanted to bring something super cute to the party. This is what I came up with. They were so much fun to make!!!!

Does Amy know how to throw a party or what???
The food was fantastic and the decorations....

were awesome!!!

All in all, I had a great night. It was so much fun watching the movie with everyone. The commentaries were my favorite!!!

SNOW!!!! SNOW!!! SNOW!!!!

The last time it snowed in Alabaster, my family was in Mobile. Did it snow there? Nope! Hannah and Ian were so disappointed. They got to school on Monday and everyone was talking about the snow. They even drew pictures about their snow filled weekend!

Well, not this time!!! We were here and we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest!!! We made snowmen & snow-women! We had snow ball fights! They really hurt if you got hit in the face! And we tried to slide down the hill in the front yard. That one didn't go so well. Just not enough hill...oh well, it was fun trying!!

After the fun in the snow...we came inside and enjoyed a nice warm (not hot-they are only 5 & 6) cup of cocoa. Then we enjoyed a nice big bowl of chili!! Okay, so Hannah and Ian won't eat chili, but everyone else enjoyed it. They ate a hotdog. I know-of all things!!

Could the day get any better? If I only had the video of Snow Day! That would have topped it all off!!


Here are a few pictures that capture the fun we had this morning.

Not my finest hour, but I did have fun!!

January Favorites!!

Hannah lost her first tooth. She is in her bed getting ready to go to sleep. She is so excited about the tooth fairy visiting her for the first time!

Hannah lost her second tooth about a week later! She decided to give her two dollars to a fund raiser for some children in Guatemala. I'm so proud of her! And...she just told me that she has another tooth that is becoming a little jiggly.

I found this note card on Hannah's bedside table. I knew that it was the Bible verse that she was studying for the week, but wondered why she wrote on an index card. She told me she did it to help her study. She has seen her aunts, uncles and Gigi do this to learn scripture. I hope she continues this study habit!!

I learned who General Greivous was and even turned him into a cake decoration!


I have also been enjoying working with Ian (I just don't have any pictures). I am trying to get him ready for K-5! I can't believe he starts in August! My baby is getting big. I think that means we need to have another!!

How do your kids earn money?

When most kids want to earn money they get to do chores or open a lemonade stand. Some just ask their parents if they can have some money. Not at our house though...no not at ours. If any of you know my husband, Bret, you know that very little is done in a normal way.

To give you a little back story.....

Ian is sitting at the desk one day and has Hannah's glue stick in his hand. My husband then says, "Hey Ian, I'll give you a dollar if you lick that glue stick." Ian, of course, jumps at the opportunity and licks the glue. Bret pays up and Hannah wants in on the money making scheme and immediately licks the glue. She then says, "I licked the glue, where is my dollar?" Bret responded by saying, "I didn't offer you a dollar to lick the glue. You just did it for free." So Hannah starts be

gging, "What can I do to get a dollar, Daddy?" Bret begins his scheming!

Fast forward a week. We are in Georgia at my sister's house:

Bret sees some cat food and offers Hannah a dollar to eat two pieces. You have to understand that this child won't even eat meat. She will not eat chicken, hamburger, steak....no meat!!!! So I didn't think she would do it.

She was very doubtful, but in the end.....she did it! She got her dollar! I was laughing and telling Bret that he should have made her eat rice baby food because she was saying it smelled disgusting just the day before.

Hannah then piped up and said she would eat a spoonful for another dollar. Well, of course, Ian got in and they started a bidding war. I will eat two spoonfuls....three....four....five...six...seven....eight...and Hannah won with nine. Well, Aunt Erin made a small bowl of rice baby cereal and Hannah was pretty pumped that she was about to earn another dollar. Look how excited she was!It didn't take long for her excitement to change to disgust. She ran to the bathroom and spit it out, forfeiting her shot at a dollar.
Well, Ian starting chanting, "My turn, my turn!" So we gave him an opportunity to earn a dollar. He was thrilled. I guess he wasn't paying attention to Hannah's reaction.
He took a very small bite the first time and had a hard time swallowing, but since that wasn't the deal (it had to be a whole bite) he was willing to continue.
It didn't stay down for long. I tried to step in and give him something to throw up in when he started gagging, but I didn't make it in time. Ian has a bad gag reflex. Once he starts, he can't stop.
Since he did actually swallow it and it made him up chuck, we decided he earned the dollar. This picture makes up laugh because he is holding the dollar and the cup full of grossness.
He doesn't look happy here, but he really is...look at the next one.


We aren't completely heartless. We decided that since Hannah did try the baby food that she should get another dollar. See how happy she is with the money she made!

It's almost Christmas!

Every year my mother-in-law has all the grandchildren over to her house to make ornaments and some type of Christmas cookie creation. This year we made snowmen ornaments and some yummy Graham Cracker houses. I got this idea one year while I was teaching. Some parents brought in Graham crackers glued to a small milk box in the shape of a ginger bread house. Well, we don't do individual milk containers at my home so when I stumbled on to Tanya's blog, the Sunday Baker, I was inspired to give it a try without the drink boxes.

First the older girls, Cynthia, Emily, Libby, Hallie, Zoe and I, started the day off right by going to see Twilight (some for the first time and others the second). For those who are obsessed with the series completely understand the need for more and the addiction it creates. I can't help myself, okay! Hello, my name is Delilah Hooten and I am a Twilight junkie!

Pulling myself back in -

What is the perfect way to pass the time? DANCING!! While I prepared the "gingerbread houses" the kids did a little break dancing! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we pulled out Micheal Jackson's "BEAT IT" and let our kids go crazy. Here is the proof. I wish we would have captured this on video.And what do you think the older kids and grown ups did while all this wild dancing was going on? Laughing?...Well, yes, but the grown ups didn't get left out of the fun...What is a night without a little bit of guitar hero?  And did I hear someone say "DDR?"  Yeah, baby!! Dance Em Dawg and Hal-G the Punk Rocker!!! This even stopped the kiddos from their dancing.  They are all so intrigued!

Everyone worked up a great appetite after all that dancing! They were able to enjoy a very healthy meal of chili cheese dogs and chili-cheese fries. Then we got down to business and made our snowman ornaments. I will admit I also have a thing for Snowmen. Every year I choose the ornaments and for the past three years they have been snowmen. Emily, I will be handing off the ornament making to you next year. Maybe that way we can break this vicious cycle!

This is me preparing the snowmen earlier that afternoon.

Here are the finished products! Didn't they turn out great! And if you are counting - Yes, even some of the adults made ornaments too!

Next on the agenda: The Graham Cracker "gingerbread" houses. The kids had so much fun making them. They all had their unique style.

Some took it seriously...
some just had fun and got messy...
some enjoyed snacking...
and some just dug into the house and started eating! Ava, I like your style, girl!

All in all, everyone had a great time. Now we just have to wait a few more days for Santa!

"Fiddling Around" (Giveaway & Blog Challenge Fun!)

If you haven't been to see Sunday Baker's website at http://www.comeandpeek.blogspot.com/

then you need to go and read about her latest blog. She tells all about a website called the Photo Fiddle: http://photofiddle.com/index.php?act=home2. It takes normal photos and turns them into great artwork. Go check it out. She is also having an awesome giveaway.

If I could have any photo made into beautiful artwork, it would be this one:

Dinner Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Dinner Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Wouldn't Hannah look adorable in this!!

Working at the Auto Show Kid's Fair

Hannah and Ian came to the Auto Show Kid's Fair to see me and the rest of the family. They had so much going down the big inflatable slide. I got some really good pictures of them. Here are just a few.

Everyone was thrilled to see Big Al. David especially. He is Alabama's number one fan!!

And we couldn't help, but act goofy in our spare time. The object of this game was to knock down the fat cats. Your job is to find the one that doesn't belong!

Towards the end of the fair, I had to go under cover! My kids were shocked when they found out that Sponge Bob was their mom!