On Thinking it through BEFORE you read:

Some people are born just oozing good parental common sense.

I am apparently NOT one of those fortunate few.

Earlier today I asked Dom and Di to pick out a book they'd like to read before bedtime. Perhaps I should have reviewed the choices before I started reading, but I didn't.

The stuff nice, happy, peaceful dreams are made of huh?

SWEET DREAMS KIDDOS!

Just 'Cuz...

 

 

 

 

Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition

Welcome! Welcome!

As you might have noticed, I've taken it upon myself to spruce the ol' place up! There were some cobwebs and dust gathering, so I decided a little TLC was in order! Whoda thunk that picking something as simple as a blogger layout would consume HOURS of my time! Some were too busy, some were too plain, some were perfect but the fonts were all wrong, ... well, you get the idea.

Feel free to have a look around, but be careful, the paint is still wet.

Dominick is SIX!!!!!!!

I thought turning six was as good a reason as any to try and sit Dom down for a decent picture. Not his favorite past time. Of course the ONE picture I was able to get of him smiling his "real" smile is blurry, but the picture of him goofing off is CRYSTAL freaking CLEAR! I must have offended the camera gods in a past life!!

 

 

 

 

Opening Gifts!

 

 

 

 

Making a Wish!

Dom blew out his candles with GUSTO!

 

 

 

Dominick's Birthday Party

Dom had a great party at home with his family! He got his favorite homemade Carrot Cake and lots of gifts from his Brother's and Sisters!

He was SO proud to show off all the gifts he bought with the "credit card" Mimi & Papa Odom sent him! GI Joe's are his new fave toy and he was able to buy the Commando Jeep, raft, and about 4 men with his money! He was positively THRILLED!

 

 

 

Diana's got Skillz!

Caity, I knew you'd appreciate Diana's new found dance moves! She LOVES to dance. Right now her absolute favorite song & Dance is "Single Lettuce" (It's really called "Single Ladies") by Beyonce.

Enjoy!

FOR COUSIN KRISTEN!

Allie,

Diana had been asking to send Kristen a message all day, so here it is! Short but sweet!

Oh Dear. A food fight.

I don't know what made me think that the girls would willingly ice the cupcakes in an orderly fashion. As soon as the icing was on the table, the flinging began! Thankfully, it didn't go too far, and the girls helped clean it up themselves!

 

 

 

 

Brooke's Party

Brooke celebrated her 12th birthday earlier in the week and she was able to host her Slumber party yesterday.

We moved around the furniture in the basement so that they could have their own spot to hang out. (Brooke's room is on the smaller side) In total we had 7 girls attend! It was loud, messy and FUN! Brooke had such a good time and it was great having all of her closest friends together in one spot!

Brooke and a company waiting for friends:

 

Opening Gifts:

 

 

 

Almost Done!!

While shopping earlier today for Brooke's party, I happened upon some draperies that I thought would match Brooke's new bedding set. I brough them home to hang on her window and then Inspiration struck me and this what we ended up doing instead. She and I both LOVE how it turned out. I think I'm going to buy one more panel to hang at the foot so that it appears to be "enclosed"! Not bad for $20 worth of fabric!!!

 

Brooke's Bedding

As promised, I took Brooke to Knoxville yesterday to find brooke some new bedding. It was harder than we'd anticipated! Brooke was set on getting a dark purple set. We went to FIVE different stores (thankfully all in the same shopping center) And didn't find a SINGLE DARK purple set. Most of what we found had a "nursery" quality to it. Lilacs and Lavendars with tiny flowers and polka dots. NOT what she wanted at all. In a last ditch effort I suggested we hop in the car and drive to another Target about 10 mins down the road in hopes that they'd have a set she wanted. (In the right size). HALLEJULIA! They did have a set she LOVED! And they had all the accessories to boot AND it was on sale! SCORE!

 

Brooke is TWELVE!

Brooke's birthday didn't really go as planned. To start, she asked that we save her gifts until Friday (which is her birthday party)... Ed and I didn't want her to wait, so we decided that for our gift we'd take her shopping after school and let her pick out a new bedding set for her room. (She's needed one for some time). Well, that didn't work out as planned, Brooke had a hard time finding something she liked and when she did find something it wasn't available in the size she needed. She was able to find two new fabulous pillows! (Her current pillows resemble deflated pancakes) So that was her gift from us! (We're going to Knoxville after school today to continue the bedding search!)

For dinner, she wanted Shepherds Pie. So I found a great recipe that Chef Gordon Ramsey used. HA HA HA! I don't know what made me think this would have been simple. It took forever, using ingredients I wasn't very familiar with, but in the end it was completed and OMG.. SOOOO GOOD! On the downside our 6pm dinner time came and went and we didn't eat until about 7. (I always start dinner at 5 sharp!) Eating late meant that cake and ice cream came even LATER!

On the upside, trick candles are still as hilarious as they've always been! Poor Brooke! LOL

**** EDITED TO ADD**** : Dom and Diana were grumpy because I was neither letting them blow out Brooke's candles OR letting them cut and serve the cake themselves. This is how they looked while waiting on Brooke.

La Policia Mexicana

I don't know why, but this SNL skit hit my funny bone!

LOVE it!

I Scream, U Scream!

I can't believe we're only days away from Brooke's 12th birthday! She's beginning to look more and more grown up as each month passes! :(