HTH~Help This House!!!!

Since I have NO decorating sense whatsoever I thought I would recruit some readers for some ideas. here's the wall I'm dealing with at the moment. and yes i know it looks stupid but i need to hang this name frame somewhere b/c i love it but haven't a clue where to put it. I also need window treatments & this wall is in my dining room. I also snapped a pic of the wall beside it~I didn't know if we could do something to both walls so they that matched or coordinated.

The lady before me had a curio cabinet, but i don't think that's a good idea in my house.

here's the altered M up close I'm not crazy about the ribbons but I couldn't find any at walmart that i just loved so i thought i might could bring in the black. I also want to add that to my kitchen. If you need more pictures of the kitchen/dining room area you can look back in my blog around february/march i posted some from when we bought the house.

If you guys can help me come up with something that rocks, I'll buy a round of drinks at Sonic! (during happy hour of course;)

you might need to provide me links too!

Something Fun

Ok Kristi from Everything's Pink had this posted on her blog.

You can go here

http://www.doodlebugspaper.blogspot.com

& leave a comment. You can use Kristi's website as a referral, so put her name in the comment. Doesn't it look like fun stuff that we all need? haha

In other news, My kids went to OK yesterday. Today they were at my aunt's house & Jed the daredevil climbed to the top of the playground in the backyard and jumped. When he fell, he landed on his wrist somehow and broke it. So grammy is having to nurse a broken bone. Wanna know something funny~My sisters & I never had a broken bone other than my broken collarbone.

I sure hope my mom remembers to take pictures so I'll have something to scrapbook! haha just kidding.

New Job

so when I got back from the beach I was checking out our school website & there was a 2nd grade ESL job at Jed's school. The lady who subbed for me at the beginning of the week teaches 2nd grade there so I mentioned it. I thought about interviewing but then decided not too. This morning the lady who subbed for me called and asked me to come interview. ACK I was nervous!

I called my principal and she said to go to the interview and let her know what I decide. The interview lasted nearly an hour. They called 20 minutes later and offered me the position. So I'll be moving schools this summer and moving grades also.

I'm excited!

YAY!!!!

Beach Bums

Ok so we survived our beach vacation & we had a blast. It was so relaxing to just lay around and let the kids play. We never even left the beach!

I had to go back to summer school this morning & we took our kids to the zoo. We actually have a great time with our little group. I learned a new word today~tenedor~ so if you hear me say "tenedor por favor" what does it mean? NO GOOGLING!!!! post your answer in your comment and I might send you a little prize! (Thanks Kristi for the prize idea!)

Have a great weekend!

On vacation....

We are leaving in the morning to head to the beach for 4 days! Doesn't that sound like fun? We are all excited!!! I am sure I will have lots to post when I get back!

Have a great week!!!

Exciting Update about the bag below...

I was cruising Hobby Lobby this evening and I saw the bag I've been wanting. I was just getting ready to order it this evening online, but decided to wait b/c HL usually has a 40% off coupon So I can get it for a little cheaper!

Aren't you excited for me?

hehe

Scrapbooking

Before I went back to work I tried to get some scrapbooking done. This website that I go to, www.lifetimemoments.com sponsors a Scrapfest in the Summer (& winter too). You pay to play and then they post challenges to get you scrapping. I usually only participate in the Summer b/c it's when I have the most free time. Below are some of my LO's I've gotten done. I like them for the most part:)


¡Hasta luego!

Wrapped!!!!

A few weeks ago some of Heather's friends from dance wrapped her house. This brought back memories from when I was a kid. Good times.

hehe

I had this picture when it happened but I was having trouble getting it on my computer.

Purse Fetish...

is this not the cutest summery bag? I am on a mission to find one.

Summer school started this morning and it really wasn't bad. I've set out on a mission to try to learn Spanish~hehe So if you have any suggestions let me know.

It is so flippin' hot in these parts these days that all we want to do is lay around in the a/c. haha

Summer~this week~

This week the kids were signed up for Showstoppers Camp. They learned the songs from HS Musical and went every morning for a few hours and learned some dances to go with them. Today they had their final performance and they did a good job. I think they had a lot of fun.

We went to the library yesterday and paid our $22 in fines. I let the kids check out 2 books each. We went back today for one of their summer programs. They had this magician there

www.trixiebond.com


and she was really good. If you have the chance to see her perform, take your kids. Her whole performance was based around different books.

I was asked to teach summer school this summer. I told them I would b/c the money is too good & it should be ok. The hours aren't too bad and there's lots of stuff I want to do around the house but can't afford~now I can.

YAY!!!

Next week the kids will be going to ECO camp through our Chamber of Commerce. My friend Rachella told me about it & she is going to help me with the kids next week.
Thanks girl

Isn't this cute?

Aren't these the cutest?

http://4ringcircus.typepad.com/its_a_4_ring_circus/2007/06/cotw.html#comment-71855668

Thanks for sharing Jessica

I can't get the link to work so you'll have to cut & paste. Sorry!

~Catch 22~

Ok so I want to take the kids to the library to get some books but alas I can't b/c we owe library fines! $22 worth of Library fines. It was my fault, so I can take the blame. So on Thursday (payday) we'll be going to the library to pay our library fines & getting some new books.

So see it really is a Catch 22~I either pay the fines or no books? hum

~99 Days of Great Summer Games~

This was posted on a website I visit regularly Maybe you can find some fun things for your kids to do this summer.

http://familyfun.go.com/games/indoor-outdoor-games/specialfeature/summer-games-june/index.html?CMP=NL_Wkdr
Also, I added a new link to my sidebar for ~SandyPea~, she's a Pea friend from www.twopeasinabucket.com. I was checking out her blog and she had a very cute & creative idea on there. Check out this
http://alwayswaitingforsomething.blogspot.com/2007/05/its-hilarious.html

Isn't that window just the cutest?

Oh, Summer is officially here now~I'm all finished with meetings for the school year. YAY for summer. Now if the rain will just go away!!! HAHA

End of the Year Teacher Gifts

My friend, Jennifer Bell, made these cute name frames for a lot of people at Christmas. I decided that they would be super cute for end of the year teacher gifts and they turned out pretty cute if I must say so myself. I know Caroline's teacher liked hers and Heather's teacher send a Thank you know but I don't know about Jed's teachers.

~Memorial Day~

Well, we are headed out to a cookout with some church friends in a little while. I was trying to make some homemade strawberry ice cream but I bought one of those packs at walmart and it only makes 2 quarts instead of 4 so I don't know if that will work. I'm also going to try to make Brownie Pudding.

here's the recipe in case you want to try it. The reviews are great. We'll see.

Brownie Pudding

1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
11/3 cups boiling water

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Sift together the flour, 1/3 cup of the cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Melt together butter and chocolate in a small heavy pot over low heat. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Whisk together eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla until well combined. Add chocolate mixture and flour mixture and stir until batter is just combined.
Spread the batter evenly in an ungreased 8-inch-square baking pan.
Whisk together remaining 1/3 cup cocoa powder, brown sugar and water. Pour the mixture over the batter.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Do not overbake, or cake will be slightly dry. Serve the cake hot with ice cream.

I'm thinking it can't be too bad b/c it's chocolatey~right?

I have tons of pics but i have to get them resized.

Have a great day.

Here's the other one

We are FAMILY....

I think we've officially lost it. Here are our 2 new family members.

Here Comes Summer...

YAY!!!! We are counting down the days left until summer. Just 4 more times we have to wake up for school (well the kids at least) I have 7 more times. YUCK!!!!

The kids are going to be busy the first few weeks of summer. They are going to go to Showshopper camp which is like show choir from what I understand. Then they are going to go to ECO camp & I have no clue what that is all about. Then we are going to go to the beach at the end of June. We are so excited. Somewhere in there I am going to try to get them into swim lessons. So we are already booked.

We will probably make a trip up to OK sometime probably not until July. We'll have to see.

A friend of mine taught me how to make strawberry jam last night. It was so easy and we had a good time.

I'll post pictures in a little while.

~The Reason I Relay~

My grandma passed away in December after suffering from cancer for years. I decided a month or so before she passed away that I wanted to participate in Relay for Life. I really didn't know anything about it. I had a friend that participated in it, but other than that~I had no clue. I asked around school if anyone did a team & of course you know how this story ends up~they told me I could get one together. So I did~

We had our kids at school bring "Coins for Cancer" and we raised about $1200 for our teams~We thought that was AWESOME!!!

Our theme was S.W.A.T. out Cancer! So we were the Trout SWAT team. HAHA Here's what our tent looked like



Heather stayed with me last night & we ended up staying until 1am. Heather walked several laps & she had a lot of fun going to the different tents.

We bought luminaria for my grandma, but on the way home I remembered 2 other people in my live suffered from cancer. I could have probably spent $50 in luminarias. ACS & Relay for Life are a great cause & I encourage you to get involved in your community.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I'm posting this video of Jed & his friend from school & their Mexican hat dance. Jed was so excited about this dance for weeks. He's trying teaching his sisters how to do it too. I was very proud of him.



sorry for the crappy quality of the video.

Here's another video of a song they sang in Spanish~you can't really see the kids but you can hear them pretty good.



Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

Moved In...

Well, we are finally moved in our new house & we are almost finished unpacking~it's hard to believe it's been a month since we closed. It seems like there is always something going on so we haven't gotten much accomplished. My mom & step-dad came down for a few days this weekend so hopefully we can get the big projects finished up.

Caroline turned 4 on Thursday & she will let you know that she is 4 now! We are going to have her birthday party in a few weeks, so I've got to start getting that together. It's hard to believe she'll be starting real school in August. She has had an awesome teacher this year & she can write her name all by herself.

Jed recently graduated to an orange belt in tae kwan do. he really enjoys it. He'll be in 1st grade next year~his class is having a Cinco De Mayo celebration on May 4 & he has been showing us his dance. I think he's excited. :)

Heather has been busy with dance & getting ready for recitial. She passed her TAKS reading test & we are waiting on the Math results. We are hoping for a 70 since Math isn't her strong suit. And thank goodness they don't test for Spelling~ACK!!!

It snowed here at Easter~crazy. Here's a picture. I can't quite figure out how to get the pictures to post where i want them. UGH!!!

I'll take some picture of the house this weekend.

I think that's all for now.

Have a great week!

HOMEOWNERS...

well, we closed on our house this morning. what a day! The guys from church are coming tomorrow afternoon to help move the big stuff. I HATE moving & packing. Where does all this crap (yes, there's no other word for it) come from? Sadly the only way to get rid of it or to realize it's taking over is to move.

Here's a few pics to tide everyone over until you come to visit haha of course this is their decorations so mine will look nothing like this haha

Spring Break~YAY!!!

Spring Break has arrived!(thank goodness)

Jed's skating party was a great success. Several friends from his class at school were able to come and we had a great time. I could post pictures but my digital camera was lost.

I mentioned to Tyson that my digital camera was lost and I had no clue where I had it last. I just cut my loss and hoped it would turn up while we were moving. As I started packing the other night, Tyson said he thought it might be in his hunting stuff & of course there it was. So the camera wasn't really lost, it was just hiding. hahaha

We started packing really good last night. We took Caroline's bed down and started on her room, so we could put the boxes we had packed in there. We used up all the boxes we had & I have to go tomorrow to get more.

I talked to our realtor & mortgage broker today & they are working to get our closing day moved up to next monday (March 19). The sellers realtor was supposed to be checking with them to see if it would be ok to git r done! haha

I'll try to get some pictures for the next post.

Whew! What a MONTH!!!!

I don't know where to begin. It's been a crazy life the last few weeks and just 3 1/2 more days and we can breathe a little.

In February, our family made it to the temple to be sealed together for eternity. It was a great day with all of our special family & friends with us.

We also began to house hunt~what a HEADACHE!!!! Finally, I made Tyson cancel his camping plans, got a babysitter & we sat out on a Saturday to find a house. We found something AFTER looking at about 10 houses. The house we liked we looked at towards the beginning of the day but I made Tyson & Brother Hardy (our realtor) look at all the others "just in case" haha. Everything seems to be going smoothly paperwork wise and we are scheduled to close March 29. We are excited & have already started packing!

Heather participated in something called Destination Imagination this last weekend. Her team had some trouble getting started, but they placed 7th out of 12 teams and we were very pleased with their performance. We had a great time at the competition and I think she plans to do it next year.

She is also performing in her school's musical "The Jungle Book." She will perform 5 times this week. She has been working on this since the beginning of school.

Jed turned 6 last week & the poor boy was slighted on his birthday b/c of so much other stuff going on. He wants to have a skating party, so I need to get busy planning that.

Caroline is her usual busy self. She is learning how to write her name and she loves school. She is getting so big and I just wonder where the time is going.

We are staying home this Spring Break b/c we are buying a house. The kids are kind of bummed but I think they'll get over it. haha

Hope everything is going good for everyone!

Autumn

Just Rambling....

Here's pictures of caroline before school one day when tyson's cousin took her to school.

Ok so it's been a few weeks since I've updated~so much for doing better huh? we've started back to school and tried to get in the swing of things but i had to take off a day last week b/c Jed was sick & then i'm off today b/c Heather is sick. She's had perfect attendance all year but she didn't care about missing today so she must have felt really bad.

The kids went to spend the weekend with their cousins in Austin. They all had a great time, of course now my deprived children want a XBox 360 (THANKS DEV!!!!) Hopefully LaNan will post pictures on her blog if she took some. www.bedwells.net then click on devin & laNan's page.

The weather here is cold and rainy. We had school as usual yesterday, but today we got to start an hour later. There's no telling what tomorrow will bring~NO SCHOOL if we are lucky.

Our family is preparing to go to the LDS Houston Temple next month to be sealed together forever. We are excited!

Tyson has been applying for a new job, but we haven't heard from them yet & we aren't sure he will take it if they offer.

How long will it take you?

How long will it take you to change from writing 2006 to writing 2007? it will take me awhile i'm sure b/c i'm so absent minded sometimes.

Goals for 2007~

*I want to scrapbook more. Like I want to try to do something everyday, although I know that will be impossible I am going to try.

* also would like to lose about 40 pounds but I think i said the same thing last year and i am still carrying around the same amount of weight. haha i can't say no to good food.

Happy New Year!

A Girl Loves PINK

I really think PINK is my favorite color these days & I have no clue why so in honor of my fav color I changed my blog up a little. hehe

Another year 2006

ok well another christmas has gone by and the kids are enjoying all of their goodies they got. I have been taking Christmas break easy and i mean that in every sense of the word. haha i've been playing around on my laptop that my mom got me for Christmas (thanks mom!). the 2 weeks has gone by way too fast and we'll be back at school before you know it. I am hoping though that the next few months will go by fast and it will be summer quickly. I love summer!!!!

The kids have played together the entire two weeks so good. I think we were all tired and needed some down time without rushing from here to there.

Heather will be performing in her schools musical The Jungle Book at the first of March. I'm sure I'll have pictures to post in her costume.

that's about all for now.

love,
autumn

here's another one....

one day we were at the donut shop & Jed was finished eating his donut so he picked up my keys and he pushed the alarm button so the horn would go off. so i get all panicked b/c i didn't realize he had pushed it then he makes it stop. then he does it again & says in his country voice real slow:

"I crack myself up"

what do you do to a comment like that? i just laughed.

From the Mouth of Babes~

I never have anything fiunny to write, but I do today. We went to lunch at the new Taco Bueno in town. Jed was eating his kid's meal burrito and kind of picking at it & I told him to eat it & here's the conversation:

Me: Eat your burrito & quit playing

Jed: Man, I have rabies

Me: what did you say?

Jed: I have rabies.

Me: rabies? what do you mean?

Jed: My belly is hurting.

I started cracking up.

so then a few minutes later, tyson is picking at his ear & here's that conversation

Me: tyson, we are eating at a restaurant.

Tyson: well, he had something in his ear.

Jed: I know, I have a ringworm.

I finally had to ask~

Jed where have you been hearing this stuff at?

school, this boy at my school had a ringworm.

Where did you hear about rabies?

Scooby-Doo.

so there's our dinner conversation.

Autumn

Do You SEE the VISION?

Tyson & I have decided to try to buy a house after the first of the year! We've been looking around this wonderful town & let me tell you~people are proud of their junk! You know the town~the one when you go to a garage sale and you don't buy anything b/c you can go to walmart and buy it new for less? yep, that's where we live. So we've looked at 3 houses so far & they all need work and they aren't less than $100,000. the first one we looked at was the best of all & i thought it was bad! it's amazing what those pictures on the internet can do for a house. haha

the 2nd one was bigger than the first, but a little out of our price range but i really liked the front so we went to look~it needed just as much work if not more than the first~for $207,000

so we go on to the third house~we were excited b/c outside it looked good~so we go to look inside the next day, they wanted $20,000 more than the first (remember the one i thought was bad?) and this one was in much worse shape! Matter of fact after looking at the last 2 the first one looked great.

Tyson swears he sees the vision for the first house. And I suppose I am starting to see it too. Any house we buy has to have at least an acre so Tyson can shoot his bow. We have priorities huh? I can't really complain though b/c I did get him to move to the city. I would like to have at least 4 bedrooms so each kid can have their own room.

House #1 does need a lot of updating, but Tyson could do the work & we could recruit some friends from church to help us. The current owners are offering $2,000 flooring allowance & $4,000 allowance for a new septic system.

So really we would just need paint and new bathtubs out of our pocket. So i'm sharing with you the pictures from the realtor's website & you tell me if you see the vision.

*MY* plan would be to paint the front door a brick red color, leave the area around it white then paint the shutters black. We would eventually replace the panelling with sheetrock, but probably at first we would have to paint over it. The floors would be wooden floating floors that they sell at Sam's~we would pull up the carpet everywhere (& linoeum). The bathrooms would all need replacing~bathtubs, sinks, etc but since there is 3 bathrooms we would be able to do one at a time. The living room color would be a brick red & the rest of the house probably a khaki color. There is another bedroom and bath that isn't shown here that would be the girls room.

Anyways, email me & let me know if you SEE the VISION?

Autumn

Halloween Party

We are going to our church's Halloween party tonight~This year i have a witch, Strawberry Shortcake & a pirate. I'll post pictures later tonight.

go to this link:

http://studio220photo.blogspot.com/

Scroll down a little ways & you'll see a family portrait special coming in November w/ a red couch. we are going to have our pictures taken on this couch~i think it will match my house perfect. Hopefully the kids will cooperate.
This girl does an awesome job~i've been impressed so far with what she's posted!

We'll call HIM stitch~

the other night tyson and i were sitting down to enjoy Grey's Anatomy, jed was in the bathtub and we told him to get out. suddenly we heard a LOUD scream and we run in there and there's blood everywhere~he gashed his arm on the tracks to the shower door~we took him to the dr's office and he had to have 3 stitches. so now he's STITCH! haha

Craft Central~What I've Been Doing

Here's what I have been busy doing the last few days

This still needs a fancy bow at the bottom and it didn't turn out near as cute as i wanted it too but i'm too cheap to buy anymore stuff for it. this will go on the front porch

Here's what we made at enrichment the other night i am very proud of it.

and finally here's heather's boat "SHE" made for school. Isn't she talented? haha

This weekend tyson is planning on hunting and i'm going to start on a quilt i've been wanting to make. not much else going on around here other than it has turned cold~i wonder how long it will last?

In 1492 Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue

So much for having a day off~I had to go to work today. It wasn't too bad though we got to work in our room most of the morning and had a short meeting in the afternoon. I had a ton of errands to run this afternoon~i think we got them all done. We tried out the new Cheddars in town for FHE. It was yummy. Instead of FHE, we called it Family Gone Evening~but we were all still together.

Today at school we played a fun game called Catch Phrase. I thought about buying for the kids but it was $25 so i think i'll wait until christmas.

I'm going to enrichment night tomorrow & just wait until you see what I am making you are all going to want one. I'll try to post tomorrow when i get home.

later gators!

Clothes

Topic:

your favorite outfit. What is it, and why is it your fave? the style? the color? the comfort?

hum, my favorite is probably my black track pants and a t-shirt or my NIKE sweatshirt. it's so comfy. Of course I can't wear it to work b/c it's not professional looking haha

Jewerly

Bling. Jewelery.
What kind of jewelery do you wear?
like to wear?
or do you wear any?
Blog about your jewelery likes/dislikes.

I very rarely wear jewerly. I quit wearing my wedding ring 3 years ago after the last baby b/c my fingers got too fat! every once in awhile i'll wear a bracelet or a ring but not often. There is this ring though that I want for my birthday~

http://secure.jamesavery.com/view_jewelry/search/viewProduct.jsp?itemCode=R-1305

I would also like something from Tiffany's just so I could say I have something from Tiffany's.

HAHA

Letter F for FUN!!!!

Here's an update~let's see if this works. We had a good time in Utah. The kids played in the snow & had a great time. Heather hurt her knee on one of the last runs of the day so we ended up not going the second day. We are planning on going next Spring Break for anyone who wants to come on!

This is a place called Thanksgiving Point. It was a big dinosaur museum & had lots of things for the kids to do. We spent a whole afternoon there. There's a picture of the snow covered mountains, us skiing & Caroline the Snow Princess.

Other than that, we have been super busy with school & extra activities. Heather has 2 competitions this month. Caroline has a birthday coming up. It's hard to believe that she'll be 3 this year. Jed has been tested for the dual language program & the gifted program for next year. We really want him to be able to do the dual language program. I think it will be more beneficial for him in the future.

Heather is doing better in Spelling & she's starting to learn cursive handwriting & multiplication. ACK!

Tyson has been back to work on his Mustang. He is making progress even though I like to give him a hard time about it. I'll have to post a picture of his work next time. I think that's all for now.

Letter E~Exciting

Some exciting things for us

Friday we are expecting our tax refund~WHOMP!!!!

The other day Tyson comes home and hands me a wad of papers. I ask what they are for and he says he WON 2 tickets to the Houston Rodeo and we get to pick any concert~so we picked Toby Keith. WHOMP!!!

In about a month, we are going snow-skiing again! I think Tyson is the most excited of us all. WHOMP!!!

I have lost almost 7 lbs in 2 weeks on WW! WHOMP!!!