The sweetest cupcake EVER!

How adorable is this?!

I had a package waiting for me when I got home today from Amanda, a friend from The House of Paper and fellow FlaminGal. She made me this most adorable cupcake! How freaking CUTE is this?! I am absolutely in love with it! Thank you SOOOOOOOO much girl! You will have to share with me how you made it...I would love to make a couple myself.

This is definitely the most creative way to treat any sweet tooth! ;)

Remembering 9-11-2001

It is hard to believe it has been 7 years since that tragic day. I know that I will never forget. I think it is important that we, as a nation, make every effort never to forget. Just like most people, I remember every second of where I was that day and I kept my babies close by my side as I watched, cried and prayed. Please take a moment to pray for all of those lost and for the families of those lost. Please pray for our military men and women who continue to give their lives to keep us safe and the sacrifices their families make as well. At least for this one day, put aside your political differences and just stand together as Americans.

Can you watch this and NOT smile?

Someone forwarded this to me today and it was rather ironic timing since I was feeling a little furstrated and down...the challenge is to watch this video without smiling. I don't think it is possible. Next time I am having a rough day or just feeling down, I plan to watch...

So, CLICK HERE and tell me...can you watch without smiling?

Back to school time!

It was back to school time today! I can't say they were BOTH excited - but Alyson definitely was! She has been counting down for the last week. They are both very happy with their teachers and were so thrilled to meet them at Open House this past Thursday. I am not the mom of one Sassy Second Grader and a Fabulous Fourth Grader (although the said Fourth Grader is almost too cool for pictures and for his mom to walk him to class on the first day!)

Stevie is especially happy with his teacher this year as she was actually his teacher's assistant when he was in kindergarten! They were both pretty happy to see each other at Open House as well -- plus there is another friend of Stevie's from that same kindergarten class in his room this year too. This is probably the most excited Stevie has been about school starting! Add to that the fact that he will have AGP Math AND Science (both his favorite subjects) and I am pretty sure that is as close to heaven in school as you can get! LOL!

It was nice for me to be able to walk them in on their first day - even though I had to beg that Fabulous Fourth-Grader just a little to let me! ;) And they both had great days...and I think what really made the icing on the cake is that school is canceled for tomorrow! We are on heightened alert with this tropical storm (hurricane, maybe?!) coming through sometime tomorrow.

We are all looking forward to a GREAT school year...despite the new "uniform" policy (bleck!)

And the winner is...

Say hello to Karen! Not only did she take a picture every day for the month of July PAD challenge, but she also completed a LO for each picture and has a completed album too! With all those drops in the hat, is it any wonder how she won?! I gave her the MM How to Organize Your Scrapbook Workspace and she is holding up her album as well. I was able to give it to her today when the FlaminGals got together for some scrapping today. Maybe I will have to think of another challenge now?!

July 31 (PAD) - And their off!

My guys headed out this afternoon for their backpacking trip in NC. They were both pretty excited about it...I am a little nervous about it! LOL! But then I just wouldn't be me if I wasn't! I miss them already! I could not get the time off work since they kind of planned this last minute so we are going to attempt a family trip sometime in the fall -- should be interesting! LOL!

Alyson and I are going to have some girl time this weekend, do a little scrapbooking, hang out at the mall with Aunt Rachelle, watch girlie movies...I think we will have a good time too!

When I look at this picture too I am struck by how grown up Stevie is looking! WOW! And I just love his crazy, curly blonde hair! I am so lucky to have these two handsome guys in my life!

July 30 (PAD) - Dinner with the girls

Tonight I had dinner with my 3 neighbors across the street. We walked around the mall for a bit and then had a really nice dinner at PF Changs...their lettuce wraps make my mouth water every time I think of them! LOL! SOOOOO good! We had a lot of fun and it was nice to get out with just the girls.

July 29th (PAD) - Little Miss Wicked!

This is my new favorite shirt! My brother took this picture of me at work today...obviously acting like a dork! LOL! I saw this shirt on Sunday when we were at The Magic Kingdom and I HAD to have it...I mean, it had my name on it! ;) How could I NOT?!

Back when Alyson was about 3 years old, she was Snow White for Halloween. I found an Evil Queen costume to go with. Shortly after, every time they would see the Evil Queen they would both say "Look Mommy, it's you!" I can only imagine what all the people around us at the Disney Princess on Ice show that year must have been thinking when they heard THAT?!?! LOL!

You know, she even graces my steering wheel these days too...although whenever school is session and Steve is driving the carpool, she tends to disappear! Can't imagine why?! LOL!

So now my secret is out! You all know my alter ego. APPLE anyone? ;)

July 28th (PAD) - Tiger Lily

This is our oldest cat...Tiger Lily -- or just Lily, for short. She turned 2 years old on June 16th. I have a soft spot for calicos and I just love her little pink nose too. Almost every night as soon as Steve and I crawl into bed she hops in too! We like to read most nights before turning out the light and Lily likes getting in the way and trying to snatch my bookmark! Or she will "attack" anything that moves under the comforter. I think she sleeps all day and then she is ready to play at night right when we are all ready to go to sleep! We adopted Tiger Lily when she was about 9 months old or so and she is such a sweet and lovable thing and possibly the quietest cat I have ever met! In all the time she has been with us, I think we have heard her 'meow' *maybe* 3 times! She reminds Steve and I a lot of Lenox...I think he would have liked having her as a little sister ;)

July 27th (PAD) - Got to meet up with a friend!

I got to meet an online friend today. She is the Landlord over at one of my favorite online hangouts - The House of Paper. I have been lucky enough to meet Chiara in person once before back in April 2005. This time though I actually got to meet her newest addition to the family (you can tell he was thrilled here, right?) I was talking to Steve about it and I figure I have known her for about 5 years or so now - we initially "met" on a Yahoo Group called Rakaroos before The House of Paper was "built"...how cool is that?! I had a lot of fun talking with her little girl who happens to be about the same age as Alyson. It was nice to have my family with me as well and Steve could get to meet her and her family too...he hears me talk about all my "House Girls" all the time! (see honey - they really DO exist!) We hung out for a bit and rode a few rides together and then we let them get back to their vacation. I am just thrilled that we got to "crash" for a little bit! And that is just another reason why I love Disney so much...what a great way to see some of our out of state friends and family!

July 26th - Meet Captain Fear!

We spent the morning at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex and watched some the Buccaneers Training Camp - so very cool! We are most definitely ready for some football to start in our house! The Bucs' mascot, Captain Fear was there and so we were able to get a couple of pics with him...he even attempted to use his sword to give Stevie a haircut! LOL! Alyson was excited to meet a few of the cheerleaders (and so was Daddy! - just insert a picture of me rolling my eyes here! LOL!). They were all very nice. I had a lot of fun snapping pics of all the players. ;)

July 25 (PAD) - A nice surprise!

Steve surprised me and booked us

a room for the weekend in Orlando. I got home from work, was told to pack and then we headed out. The kids love it when we stay at hotels because that is the only time they are allowed to jump on the bed! That is usually the first thing they do when we get in the room. This is mostly a rule that Steve came up with...I still have my doubts about whether or not it is really a good idea -- but I am pretty sure I would be outnumbered any way! LOL!

PAD - July 24th

Not much to look at, uh? I'll bet you are wondering why on earth I would take a picture of this house. On my lunch hour today I had to drive to sign some paperwork at my lawyer's office and so I decided to take a drive past here.

Can you believe I used to live in this house...back when I was about Alyson's age, my mom and I lived in this house. It certainly didn't look like this though! It didn't even have a cement driveway then, actually no driveway at all. And it was all open space around the house and no fence in the back. There was no front porch either. It was a bit more cute back then! My mom and I have always referred to this house as "The Crayola Box House" because she had pained each room a different color. My room was a sunny yellow color while my mother's room was lavendar. The little bathroom was green, the kitchen was blue and the living room was cantelope! LOL! She even painted a desk to match the living room! I wish I could remember how long we lived in that house. I used to love the tangerine tree in the back. I will have to see if I can find any pictures of what it looked like back then!

PAD - July 23rd

I snapped a picture of my little brainiac tonight while he was reading. Stevie has been reading since he was about 2 years old and loves it. Even when he was little he preferred the bookstore over the toy store. You know, when we took him to Disneyland in CA he was about 14 months old...and out of all the things he saw all he wanted was a book.

Steve and I are so happy that he has kept that love of reading. He is so smart and he learns so much when he is reading. It is not uncommon to see him with a book of some sort in his hand on a daily basis. Last summer he read 50 books in order to earn a Nintendo Wii...and his sister did her part too by reading 30 books. He was reading a Star Wars book on this occasion but his favorite books to read our the non-fiction books.

July 22 (PAD) - Somewhere over the rainbow

We had a pretty hefty thunderstorm come through early this evening but then after it passed it left behind this beautiful sight! I stepped out my front door to snap this picture. I wanted to snap a few pictures of my son who was outside with me but unfortunately, as I was snapping this picture my son and I spotted the neighbor's pit bull across the street...it seems we all spotted each other at the same time and then the dog headed full speed at us. Needless to say, my little guy was more than a little scared to have this animal running full force after him. I was screaming at the top of my lungs for Steve who was in the house. Stevie took off around the back of our house and I stepped in the path of this dog to keep him away from Stevie. At the last second he turned away from me and then Steve finally came outside. Poor Stevie ran all the way around our house - he was terrified! I got him ushered inside the house and then we called animal control...a lot of good that did us.

This is not the first time our neighbor's dog has gotten out and chased after kids in the neighborhood but apparently this guy doesn't care enough to do anything about it. I am not sure what but we definitely need to do something...waiting until the dog actually gets to a child is waiting too long. He came back through our yard a few more times tonight. I do not ever wish to see this dog coming after my child or any other child again. The look of pure terror on my son's face is forever imprinted in my mind. That poor guy has been sticking pretty close to my and his daddy's side ever since.

July 21 - No surgery required!

I had my dr's appt today to see about the future of my wrist...and while I am still going to have pain - especially when it is cold or rains, I DON'T HAVE TO HAVE ANOTHER SURGERY! I could have hugged him I was so happy! He said that it would not really help me as far as my pain goes or my mobility. I am supposed to keep working on my mobility and keep taking the Relafen. He says he can tell a difference in the inflammation since my initial visit with him so the medication is obviously doing it's job. In about 2 weeks I am supposed to cut back to one pill a day rather than 2 to see if that will still work...not supposed to take any other inflammatories though. I go back again in 6 weeks. I just can't even tell you how happy I am not to be looking at another surgery. He said unless I am having major problems down the road or my pins start popping out, I will be fine without it...and he says that is pretty rare.

I asked the dr if I could take a picture of my x-rays since my kids have never seen the metal plate and 5 pins - I think Stevie will especially think it is cool. I have 3 pins across the top of the plate and then 2 at the bottom...you can even see my heart bracelet I was wearing today - it was a Valentine's Day gift from Steve and the kids a couple of years ago.

July 20 - Summer Fun

We put our big slide up in the front yard today while we did some weeding (okay, so Steve did most of the weeding...but I did help!) and we had some of the kids' friends over who live across the street, as well as one of Alyson's friends from school. Steve ordered pizza and blew up some beach balls and they were good to go! Nothing beats the heat like playing in the water. Once it was time for the kids to get off the slide, Steve and I took a few minutes to enjoy the water ourselves!

July 19 - Photo A Day

We had a pretty nice day just hanging around the house, doing the weekly laundry and cleaning, taking care of a few things in the yard...all that good stuff. After lunch, Steve's mom and our 2 neices came over for a bit and stayed for dinner. The kids had a good time playing both inside and out and we even had a few of the neighbors hanging outside with us for a bit too. It was nice to just BE at home.

PAD July 18th - Ketchup Karma

I went to my new favorite place for lunch today...EVOS. I just love it! It is healthy food, fast. I don't feel bad after eating it and it definitely makes for a more enjoyable rest of the day. I think my favorite part though is the "Ketchup Karma" - 4 different kinds of ketchup! I mean seriously, who knew?! It always make me think of my sister, Rachelle - I swear that girl puts ketchup on everything! LOL! (you know I love you, girl!)

July 17 (PAD) - Just another day at the office

Today it is a picture of me at work. I am the Operations Assistant/Office Manager for a company called Subsurface Evaluations. We do geologic and geophysical consulting. I don't really have a traditional sort of desk...more like a slab of granite countertop. LOL! I could have had my own office but I opted to take the "slab" out front. I prefer being able to look outside as opposed to being closed up in a small office. I like being able to see whenever anyone comes in, not to be mention it is the best place for socializing and keeping up with any and all office drama! ;)