Back to School Shopping Ideas 2011

Back to School time is so much fun!! 

We've been searching for just the right lunchboxes, backpacks, and clothes!!

I thought I would share our favorite picks for this years

back to school purchases!

We are going with a Pottery Barn backpack for both my 5 year old grandson, who is going to Kindergarten, and one for my 2 year old granddaughter who will be going to a 2k preschool 3 days a week.

His favorite choice was the

BATMAN!! 

Got it ordered this morning and it's pretty cool that it will have his name on it!!

We received it on Friday, Aug 5th.  It is the PERFECT size for a 5 to 7 year old....and even for the smaller kids!!  It's just a little bit smaller than a regular sized backpack, but big enough for their folders etc.....
WE LOVE IT!!

We're going to get Adleigh the blue one or the brown one with hearts and flowers on the top right....lolol or at least tentatively!! 

I just found this one today and love love it...it's at the Personalization Mall

and this one

Both have matching lunch boxes....soooo cute for a preschooler!! :)

I also ordered Payton this little container to keep his food cold

 

This is soooo cool because you can freeze the lid and it keeps the food cold all day!!

I am also going to order him one of these

These are from the Container Store for $3.99....it would be sooo nice to have something that he can either put ketchup or ranch in and dip his stuff in!! 

I am also a HUGE FAN of the

BENTO STYLE

lunchboxes now!! 

Why would you buy a little person a regular lunchbox

when you can get one of these??

The inside has different compartment for all the different items

This is the outside

I found it on Amazon.com under kids bento lunch boxes

I found these cute little sandwich cutters and I am debating on whether to buy them or not!!

Payton would love these

I want these for Adleigh

LOL I would even like to eat sandwiches more if they were this cute!! :)

These are all of my favorites!!  There are tons of options out there....Here are the websites of the vendors we have chosen:

pbkids.com

personalizationmall.com

allthingsforsale.com

and I also really really loved the lunchboxes at

frecklebox.com

Happy Back To School Shopping....

Next on our list is School Supply Shopping

and

Back To School Clothing Shopping!!

School starts on August 22nd here!!

Here's a link to a post about "what to put in lunchboxes"...just a few ideas for the younger age kiddos!!

Back To School Lunchbox Ideas

and other back to school photo and traditions

Back to school photo ideas and traditions

A Little of Life's Design

I read several years ago that if you were interested in changing the design of things in your home or your wardrobe you should make a design folder.  I made one, and just like they said, after a while, you see a pattern emerge of the things you like!! 

Bascially, this is what Pinterest does for me as well!!  I started pinning some rooms I liked last night, and when I stopped and really looked at all of them, it's not hard to see the sort of room design/colors I like.  :) 

What's really funny to me is that my current living room nowhere resembles any of these!!  I have brown couches and there are about ten thousand toys everywhere this morning!!  These photos are an inspiration to me to try and get my home to where I absolutely love everything about each room, and it makes others comfortable when they come to visit!! 

I love the openness of this room....the non clutter, the shade of the furniture and walls

Would loooove to have this view!!  I live on seven acres and love the country life.....but I also love the city too!! I love the tables and rug, but would do a different couch.  LOL the shades of everything once again are what I adore!!

Once again love the non clutter and shade of furniture and I REALLY love the lighting!!  I'm trying to duplicate that in my home right now!!

LOL love the rock wall with TV and once again the shade of the furniture....not the dark so much just the light!!

I only love the chairs in this photo....lmao the rest is hideous to me.....but I could see having those chairs!!

I love this couch and the lighting.....wish I had it right now!!

The point of this blog is to inspire.  Go make a design folder for yourself, see what kind of fun patterns emerge that you didn't even realize!!  Sometimes you learn something new about yourself!! 

Have a spectacular weekend!!



My Life is Like a Movie

I heard a noise last night

it woke me up out of a sound sleep

it was ONE A.M.

it wasn't really a scary noise

but a noise that was totally out of place at

ONE A.M.

bet you can't guess what it was

it was the sound of

a hammer hitting a board

but it was coming from the woods behind my house

about every thirty seconds it sounded like someone whacking a board with a hammer

I feel pretty sure the neighbor who lives through the woods behind us was NOT up building anything outside at

ONE A.M.

I thought about calling my other next door neighbor who lives a couple of pastures away

but what would I say

SOMEONE IS MAKING SCARY BUILDING NOISES BEHIND MY HOUSE

hahahaha

yeahhhhhh....nooooooo....he would have thought I was crazy....so after a while the AC came on and once it went back off I never heard the noise anymore

I realize this morning

MY LIFE IS LIKE SCARY MOVIE

Yikes ~ A Recall Mammogram

From time to time I have to blog about serious topics and serious things going on in my life!!

I just turned 46.  My family Dr. has been after me to get my baseline mammogram since before my 40th birthday!  I am one of those people who absolutely hates Dr's and Dentists, and will avoid going as much as possible. (Someday I will share why I dislike dentists so much...could be because I had an allergic reaction once to the anesthesia and threw up for three days straight and the same dentist poked holes in both of my sinus cavities....)For Dr's  I think it's because it puts too much control in the unknown.  If I have done something like "sprain my ankle" or "have a cough" I will go because I already know what the diagnosis is, and what the outcome will be.  If it's something like this, a mammogram or other "checkup" I will put off going, because after all, I feel just fine and if I don't have any symptoms....what could possibly be wrong :)  I am probably one of the least medicated 46 year old women around, and things like my blood pressure are great!!

Soooo last Friday I was brave, and went in for my baseline mammogram.  It was just like they said, I was in and out in less than 20 minutes.  The tech was great, although, everyone has to admit, it is just a LITTLE weird having to stand there topless in front of someone you don't know while they take your breast and move it around on their little machine etc....but I was a good girl and held my breath and didn't move just like she asked of me!!  :)

Well, Monday I got a call from them again.  They need me to come back in because of something they want to look at closer on my right breast. The message they left said it would be another mammogram and a possible sonogram.   I called today to schedule the appointment. 

The girl I talked to said "it's very common to be called back in, especially on your first baseline visit.  The radiologist has no previous mammogram to look at so he needs to get a better picture so that in the future he will have something to compare it to". 

I finally breathed out for the first time since Monday.

Then she said "it may take one to three hours for this visit".  After it's done the Dr will be there to visit with you and tell you the results. The way she said it just sounded like she knew something I didn't know.  Don't you hate that, when you read something into a conversation.   Ummm yeah, so there goes the momentary feeling better about this visit. 

I've googled everything I can find of course, and pretty much what I am seeing is that one in ten gets called back for a second mammogram, and that 2% of all mammograms end up with a diagnosis of breast cancer. 

Once again I will be holding my breath until next Monday morning.  I go in at 7:30 a.m. 

It's scary. 

I have so many people who depend on me for so many things.  It would be soooo hard to have to put my whole life on hold right now. 

I am praying that it's just because I am a Dolly Partonish kind of woman that he just had a hard time reading the xray film LOL and needs a better picture!!

I know I'm not the only person who has ever had to deal with this dread, and if it turns out to be nothing, I am truly fortunate.  If it is something....I will be in for a big fight!! :)

I wrote this blog for anyone else who is dealing with this now, or who has experienced this in the past, and for all of the beautiful women who have fought breast cancer valiantly. 

For all of you chickens like me

GO GET YOUR MAMMOGRAM!! 

I got my "recall mammogram" on Monday morning!!  Here is the blog link to what that visit was like!!  Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments!!  If I can in any way answer any questions of what it was like or what to expect I would be happy to!!

http://thebesttexasmimi.blogspot.com/2011/08/recall-mammogram-update.html

SO THIS PHOTO BELOW IS SOOOOOOO HOW I AM SOMETIMES

I had found a cake online that I loved and wanted to make my hubby for his birthday.

It was red, white, and blue

HOW HARD CAN THAT BE

IT SHOULD JUST BE FOOD DYE ADDED TO SOME CAKE MIX

RIGGGHHHTTTTTT

hahahaha

He ended up with a baby pink and pastel blue cake

WITH PASTEL PINK AND BLUE FROSTING

EVERYONE THOUGHT IT WAS HILARIOUS

IT TASTED GREAAATTTT  BUT IT LOOKED LIKE IT BELONGED AT A

BABY SHOWER..

Sooo when I saw this...I could sooooo identify

This also applies to so many areas of my life....

like....my hair

like how I can never manage to keep all the house clean at the same time

like....how if I am going somewhere important I will probably drop something on my clothes

Awww well I am just me....so I guess I will just have to be the best crazy dressed, house looks like a tornado, love to cook even if it turns out funny looking , MOM

Maybe there is hope for me yet

Neat stuff for the kiddos I've found on Pinterest

Pinterest is a place to "catalog" all of the neat stuff you find on the internet into one easily accessible location.  If you see an awesome idea/photo etc you can just pin it and can access it any time you would like, complete with a link to the website where you found it!!

This is just a smattering of things from my

FOR THE BABIES IN MY LIFE

CATEGORY

:)

How to make homemade giraffe rattles!!  Wouldn't these be so cute for a baby shower??

How to make a bench out of a half of tire...the "littles" would love this!!

How to make a bunny out of an old t shirt!!

Melting old crayons and then using them with valentines!!  Such a cute cute idea!!

How to make rainbow cake in a jar

These are just a few of the ones I have in this category!!

ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE ON MY PINTEREST COMPLETE WITH THE WEBSITES AND THE DIRECTIONS....

The link to my Pinterest boards can be found here on my blog to the right.....if you need an invitation don't hesitate to message me and I will send you one!! 

Happy Pinning!!

Things that make me laugh

Saw these on Pinterest today.....they made me laugh and I just had to make a blog out of them!! :)

Pinterest is the best website EVVVEERRRR!!

VBS Sunday

All of the kids were so cute this morning at church singing all of the songs they learned this week!!

THE SWEET GROUP OF KIDS

PAYTON ON THE BOTTOM ROW, JACKIE WITH ADLEIGH ON THE BACK ROW WITH THE OTHER VBS TEACHERS

LISTENING TO THE CHILDRENS CHURCH STORY THIS MORNING

I was driving to Tyler the other day with Payton and he told me something so sweet and innocent and funny that I just HAVE to share it!!

He said that at the last night of VBS, Thursday night, the preacher had told them that if they would ask God to come into their hearts, they would get some wings. 

The MINUTE he told me that, I knew EXACTLY what he was thinking. 

He then said, yeah, I kind of would like airplane wings or maybe bird wings. 

I had to try so hard not to just giggle right out  loud.  I said...uhhh huhhhh yeah well that would be cool, but I don't think that's exactly the kind of wings the preacher meant, but that's great that you asked Jesus to come live in your heart <3

I had to explain to him, as best I could, what that means. 

Once he figured out that he was NOT going to get "wings"  his response was....

AWWW MANNNN!! 

The seeds have been planted though for him to understand what it means to ask God into his heart when he is older....and I will cherish his cuteness now while he is little!!

This Weekend

  

My hubby and I had fun out and about exploring parts of Galveston we have never seen before!!

It's hard to believe that as many times as we've been down there, we've never been to the fishing docks, to the Strand, or on a Dolphin Tour!! 

It was a lot of fun, and even though we walked along the beach barefoot, we never even went swimming over the whole weekend...which is most definitely a first!!

 

We thought we would go to the new Joe's Crab Shack in Galveston.  It was hit hard during Hurricane Ike and has just now been reopened.  It's located on Pier 21.  We had such a nice time and the people who work there are just AWESOME!! 

Trying to park our car to get in though.... A BIG PAIN....first we were like, will they really tow us??  And, if we are eating at Joe's do we have to pay??  Then neither of us had any dollar bills...so I had to walk back to my Jeep and gather up $2 worth of coins out of my little cubby....and then we had to STUFF them into those little slots....we got a good laugh out of it anyway....even if it was a PAIN.

A sign in Joe's

We drove over to the Seawall after dinner and walked along the beach!!

We saw several spots where people had drawn hearts and names and

I WAS SO SURPRISED WHEN MY HUBBY SAID OH I WILL DRAW OURS TOO

SO HE GOT OUT HIS POCKET KNIFE AND SCRAPED OUR NAMES IN THE SAND

SWEET GUY

Sometimes I wanna kill him....but other times I just want to hug his neck....

My silly hubby carrying my sandals :)

So the next day (Saturday) we got to the beach at about 6:15 A.M. to try and take some sunrise pics....of course it was really cloudy :( but we got a few pretty good shots!!

Then we decided to head back to our hotel and get some breakfast.  We had to argue most of the  way back haha.  My hubby wanted to eat the "free breakfast" our hotel had...I wanted to go out....I am not totally against hotel breakfasts, but seriously...we haven't been away by ourselves in FOREEEVVER and I cook breakfast for the whole family EVERY WEEKEND....and it seemed only right that I get to have a cooked sit down breakfast...haha...

GUESS WHO WON

MEEEEEE!!

We went back later in the afternoon to Pier 21 which is just a few blocks from

THE STRAND

and where the

DOLPHIN BOAT TOUR

is located and had soooo much fun

I know they really decorate it up for Christmas and now I want to take the girls back over the Christmas Holidays to do some shopping.  It's kind of like the River Walk in San Antonio without the River LOL :)

The ship Elissa

A Life Sized Chess Game

 

Candy Apples at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

I want this aquarium in my house :)

 

We got our Dolphin Boat Tattoos

The Dolphins were sooooo AWESOME

We went and wandered around through the Yacht Slips....I love the saying on this one...it's a great motto for life in general!!

This was soooo funny....I had to wade wayyy out in the water to take this pic haha

We stopped at the Woodlands Mall on the way home...love this Carousel

We had a great vacation.....Now I'm ready to see what next week holds!!