Happy Birthday America!

Today is the Fourth of July. 

Today is the day we stop and remember that freedoms don't come free.  235 years ago our country was born, and since has become a great nation.

I AM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
by Genie Keller

I was born in 1776 on the 4th of July
Amid strife and the burning question of, why?


My aim to succeed in every way
To Bless my people with hope everyday.
My every word took a solemn beginning
The anticipation of futures and also of winning.


I was written with skill from far above
With meaningful words, blended with love.
The pattern was struck into every mind
To explain what was there for all mankind.


The Truth of the Right belongs to all men
To protect it and Guard it, secured to the end.
Now with hope in our hearts and the will of the state
With life, liberty and pursuit of happiness,
OR, our fate
I pledged to each person, the promise of peace
For Loyalty and Independence never to cease.
I wrote to protect us in all of our Rights
And grant us much strength through out all of the nights.

CHS Lip Dub

My friend Alice pointed this out on Facebook, it is her alma mater and a school just a few miles from us, and I thought I would share... I guess 'Lip Dubs' are a fad right now.  It looks like almost the whole senior class participated in making the video.  It looks like one take that travels the whole school and ends up in Lamonica stadium.  Pretty cool... good job CHS seniors!

Clovis High School 2011 Lip Dub

The Fraternal Order of the Real Bearded Santas

Friends of ours told us about the Riverpark Santa.  Apparently, he belongs to an organization known as FORBS (the Fraternal Order of the Real Bearded Santas!!).  It is an exclusive group of Santas that actually have social gaterings throughout the year to promote, well, BEING Santa.  Anyhow, we were told he was the best in town so when I saw that there was a Groupon offering half off a photo package, I grabbed the offer :)

We decided to go with the Addington family after we had Christmas Eve breakfast, which was perfect.  There was no line, we were able to get right in, and finished up a little shopping while we waited for our photos.

The girls were pretty shy around Santa, but I think they managed to ask for a few things... fun stuff!  Although, Hannah has made it clear this year that the Santas she saw at the mall and anywhere else were just Santa's helpers. ;)

20/365

Look what we found on the side of the road!!!

The very day we were talking about needing to start looking and budgeting for a Big Girl bed for Claire we drove by this on the side of the road! It was in a pile of stuff waiting to be picked up for the neighboorhood clean-up day. The rails were pretty mangled so we didn't take them, but the headboard and footboard will only need a little sanding, some paint and maybe a touch of glue on one side and they will *hopefully* work perfectly!

Claire keeps walking by them in the garage and saying "MY NEW BED!!!"... "DADDY FIX IT FIRST"

Yay for new projects!

Some things just have to be shared...

Please-o-please read this post... Mom Jeans and the Dreaded "Long Butt"... it is funny, informational, and something all Mom's -ahem- women should read and practice when heading jean shopping :) Thank you Fabulously Frugalicious' Trina for sharing this link, so funny and yet so true!

Do you know your states?

This game was brought to my attention on Heather's blog and John and I are hooked! John has scored 100%, which I think is unheard of, and my personal best was 98% with a 2 mile error, virtually the best you can do without being perfect. :)

You have to drag and drop the states to their exact location, even if you are a little off you will get an error message. I think I have learned more about the geography of our country in the past two days than I have in my entire life! Great game!

Track Santa...

Santa is on his way! If you are interested, here is a link to track his whereabouts :)

Santa tracker...

and here is the history behind it.

Enjoy! and Merry Christmas to all!

Sewing

I don't know why I am blogging about this, but never the less I am totally intimidated by sewing. My Grandma got me a sewing machine, which I really wanted, for me 2 birthdays ago and I haven't touched it. I am so mad at myself, because it seems like so many people I know are sewing and making such cute things and I am totally scared to try, which is SO unlike me. I used to sew when I was little, like 10 years old and LOVED it, whay am I so chicken now?



So, my goal is to get the darn thing out and try. I am figuring the worst that could happen is me getting a needle through my finger. The best would be actually learning to do something I really want to be able to do. However, I am not particularly in the market for a new hobby, so we'll see how it goes.



Anyhow, I found a cute how-to on making baby leggings out of a pair of socks that looks fairly do-able. I want the girls to be able to wear something like these under their dresses this fall/ winter. Also, if I made them a little shorter they would be a cute addition to Hannah's ballet attire.



Here's to re-learning how to sew!

Anyone doing Redbox?

I am sure you have seen these movie rental kiosks in grocery stores, WalMart, etc. Well, their thing is that you can rent movies for $1 for one day. They are due the next day, or it is $1 for each day late. You have to run a credit/debit card to pay so they can charge you if you are late.

The other catch is that they have a smaller selection of movies, but many are newer releases.

Here's the good part. They offer many promotions for free movie rentals! If you click here and give them you cell phone number or email address, they will send you codes periodically for free movies. I think they usually have free movie Mondays! If you give them a cell number, they will text you the code. You enter the code at the kiosk, and voila! Free movie! (Just remember to return it the following day... to ANY redbox location,)

I know that many people don't like to sign up for things via cell phone or email, but so far I am impressed, and who doesn't love a free movie?

New funny blog!

Check this out please. I am known to overly use the quotation every now and again, but these are downright funny... The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.

How cool is this!

This is so neat! You just upload the images you want and can make a mosaic whatever size you want. This is Claire each month for the past year. I found it here BHL Mosaic Maker.