30th Birthday Party

2 Weeks ago I turned 30.

Jon and some friends had a party for me....

We had a great time.

My yummy cake and flowers my parents sent me via UPS...I still can't get over the fact you can send flowers in a box..So cool!!

The hubby and I. I got all glamed up.

Thanks for the fun....

TN Valley Fair

A couple weeks ago we hit the fair here. We had never been to a TN fair before.

What an experience. Thankfully it is once a year.

Jon has a love affair w/ funnel cakes and this was like an apple pie.

Rather yummy I have to say.

Spaz

Struttin it

It is not the fair w/o fried oreos

They had funnel cakes on display. Most of the time they are fake. Well, as I went to take a look they looked totally real. So I touched it to find out. They were real alright....

Driving a John Deere

Easton loved the tractors

We were all ready for some TN fair fun. Fun it was....

Funny Picture

Is there a subliminal message here?

Saw this at the fair.

Fun Times W/ Makenlee

This girl provides us lots of laughs and such fun times. She has a firecracker personality and so joyful. She is quite creative in her outfits too...

She loves her bathing suits so she decided to wear it over her shirt.

Where is her mother??

I have decided her fashion woes are not a battle I am going to contend with. There are bigger hills to die on bathing suits is not one of them....

Great ensemble, choice of color and pattern design.

Who knew you needed wings to potty.

After she went pee pee she flew off....

30 is here

Today is my 30th birthday. I can't believe I am 30. CRAZY! It does not feel that old just weird.

Anyway I was thinking about all I have done the last 10 years.

Who knew by 20 I would move out of Sacramento to Costa Mesa, CA and start living on my own. By 21 I had a studio apartment in Huntington Beach and I lived by myself until I married Jon so maybe a year and a half or so. At 21 I met Jon. By 22 I was a married girl. Then we moved up to the San Fernando Valley where I interned and commuted to school to finish up my degree. By 23 I graduated college with my B.S. degree and we moved back to the OC (YEAH). At 24 I started working in the real world with autistic and special needs kids at various schools then got pregnant with Easton and become a Mom when I was 25. I then stayed home and raised the boy. At 26 got pregnant with Makenlee and turned 27 and we moved to TN and became a mini-van Mom. Got SVT while pregnant w/ her and nearly died on Christmas of 2006 b/c my heart rate was 300+ beats per minute. She was born a few months later healthy and strong. That is why I say she is a miracle. I am thankful God protected her and I. God healed me 5 weeks after she was born while on the surgery table. At 28 we went on our first "real" vacation to the beach. Oh, that was awesome. At 29 I started working part-time at children's hospital and now I turn 30.

Who knows what is ahead for me...But looking forward to finding out and walking this next decade. I am so thankful for God and for Jon, Easton and Makenlee. They have taught me so much and brought me so much joy.

Grandpa and Grammie came to visit

We went to the zoo.

We went to a railroad museum

The mall play area

Hanging in line

We had lots of fun

Park, Play and Picnic

A couple Saturdays ago we took the kids to play at the park and we had a picnic dinner.

M insisted on wearing her knee high socks with this outfit. Nice,Huh!

GA Trip Part 1

We all piled into Jon's little red car and went on a road trip to Norcross, GA....

Oh, what fun it was!!!

Our driver for the day...

Being bashful

Pensive

Happy

Fat face....

Road Trip to GA Part 2

We took a road trip to GA to check some things out. It was quite fun and we enjoyed some much needed family time. We all were in one room together w/ one bed so how could we not enjoy each other's company..HA!

The kids and I hit Trader Joe's and a fun courtyard fountain area while Jon met about a job opp.

It was very pretty around TJ's....

Such Love

The Varisty

2nd Best Hot Dog place according to Travel Channel

I Gotta Feeling

Yes, Easton was dressed up as Peter Pan and he does look like he has some River Dance like moves....I hope you laugh as much as I did.

I love you blog but...

I started a new blog and it is very time consuming.....then when I want to upload pictures on here it takes forever....I am frustrated. I love to chronicle our lives but I am in a quandary. What to do?? Stay up way past my bedtime or just post stuff w/ no pics....HMMM!

Funnys

Some of the convos over the last week that made me chuckle

Walking in Target and Makenlee is wanting to stay in the clothing dept...Big surprise there! HA!
I say,"You better hurry Makenlee or Mama is going to leave you at Target."
M says,"Not funny!"

Easton got scratch on his leg today at school so as I we are driving home I ask him about it.
Easton says,"Another boy pushed me and I fell and scratched my leg."
Makenlee says w/ great concern,"Some one push you, braa braa? Nolan?"
Easton,"No, Makenlee Nolan did not push me. Another boy did."
My sweet girl loves her braa braa.

She really misses him when he is at school. He goes everyday now and she has wanted to take a backpack and lunchbox every morning just like her big brother. Precious!

Guest Post on Eli's Lids

Jump over to Eli's Lids and check out my guest post on Kiddie Kabobs!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Is this not love!!!!

Meet Frugalissa....

I'd like to introduce you to Frugalissa Finds.

She is quite savvy at finding deals and saving money. He motto is "Frugal does not mean I have to be cheap". She is into natural living, being green and she tries to feed her family healthy, wholesome food. She is proof you can still be healthy and frugal too.

Staying in bed..

I have a confession to make, Easton has a very hard time staying in his bed in the middle of the night. It is not every night but it is a few times a week he would visit Jon and I. He goes to bed fine and stays there but he would wake up wanting to sleep with us...We are not a co-sleeping family never have been. Well, I take the back. When we moved here and I was pregnant w/ Makenlee E had just transitioned out of the crib to a bed. He then started having nightmares and to calm him down and so we all could sleep (remember I was TIRED and preggo), we let him sleep w/ us some nights. But as my due date approached as well as the fact our queen bed was not big enough for Jon, me and my belly let alone a 2 yr old. We buckled down and tried charts, rewards, discipline, etc.....hardly a thing worked he would keep getting out of bed and visited us in the middle of the night.

For the last 2+ years. I have been woken up to him standing over me in the middle of the night or the last year he has been waking up at 6am....I am not a happy person when being woken up and the morning does not start till 7am anyway. So we would always tell him to go back to bed and so on. He is of the age where he should stay in his bed. heck, he is 4 1/2, right....

Well, I looked into ordering this Good Nite Light....But at $34.99 I said, NO!!! A little outrageous. So when I read Mama Manifesto about one of the Mama's having a similar issue. Her son is the same age as E. I totally had a friend buy me the same light from IKEA when she was in MN in July and I bought a timer and essentially it is the same thing....

I set the time to go on at 7:30pm and then at 7:00am and it turns off.
We tell Easton he is to stay in bed as long as the light is on and when it is off he can get out....He can get out to go potty but then right back to bed and he does not have to tell us he has to go potty. He can take care of business on his own.

The last few mornings I looked at my clock and
E yells, "My light turned off. I can get out of bed now."

It has been 2 weeks and he is doing well.

VIOLA..the boy stays in his bed!!!! Why, did I not do this 2 years ago!!!