Toy Room

See this???



This is how the kids' toy room looks today....and how it looked 2 weeks ago.

Now, check this out!!! Look what happened in a 20-minute span while I was upstairs prepping dinner.



Yea, it's been great fun cleaning this mess...it's exactly what I would choose to do with my free time the last few weeks!!! Oh well, I did get to throw out 3 bags of crap. I also gave 2 boxes of baby toys away. Now, I just need to methodically go through each box and bag each toy set to sell at our next MOMs sale.

Another Giveaway

Go check out Mrs. Southern Belle. She's hosting her first giveaway. You have the chance to win one of her handpainted signs.



I can easily picture this hanging in our sunroom or family room. Mrs. Southern Belle will announce her winner tomorrow so get over there quickly and enter.

Ahhhhhhhh....

Mr. O arrived home last night around 11p. It was great watching the kids' reactions this morning when they realized he was home. After much snuggling and tickling, Mr. O and the kids headed downstairs for breakfast. I noticed it was 8:37am.

Next thing I know I wake up and it's 9:22a. I hear lots of laughter and running around downstairs. I have a smile on my face and am thankful for my power-snooze. I am ready to take on the day.

No Sweet 16 for Mr. O...

Mr. O made it to the 2nd round of his Vegas blackjack tournament, but unfortunately he did not advance to the 3rd round. Oh well, it was nice to hope for some kind of payout.

On the flip side, I'm happy that he is coming home today. I've told the kids that he is coming home tomorrow as his flight does not get in until 10:30p. They are going to be thrilled to see their dad when they wake up in the morning. I'm thrilled that I get to sleep in and then enjoy a nice home-cooked breakfast made by my gourmet husband.

Have a good weekend!!!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend...

Scary Mommy is giving away diamond earrings she received from her husband on Valentine's Day.

Check out her site for your chance(s) to win!!! You will have to subscribe to her blog. You won't regret it though, because she is hilarious.

March Madness

I look forward to the NCAA tournament every year, and love watching the games with Mr. O after the kids are all ensconced in bed. Unfortunately, this year I'll be watching them all by my lonesome. :( Mr. O will be having a blast, though. He's in Vegas...I can just imagine all the different bets he can make on the games. I hope he comes home with more money than he left with.

Mr. O, my brothers and my dad traditionally go to Vegas every year on Super Bowl weekend. This year when they went Mr. O entered a promotional Black Jack tournament. The qualifying rounds for the tournament was spread over a 3 week period. No, Mr. O wasn't there that long...he was just there for the 3-day weekend. All the contestants had to do was play one 30-minute round. At the end of the qualifying rounds, the top 64 contestants were invited back for the March Madness Blackjack Tournament this weekend where each of them will vie for the $250K payout to the top winner.

Please, please, please God let Mr. O be the Blackjack King this weekend. I can only hope, right?!?!?

Slainte

Simple Breakfast

My kids have always been big breakfast eaters; Me, not so much! When Tank asked me to make pancakes today, I was happy to join in. I just couldn't resist a pancake with fresh raspberries and blueberries...it was so yummy!!!









P.S. Did you notice the girls are wearing their princess dresses? The first thing they do every morning is shed their PJs for their costumes.

Spring Swap

Semi-slacker Mom is hosting a Spring Swap!

I've been reluctant to join another swap since I got shafted in the last one I participated in. Apparently, the same thing happened to Semi-slacker. I have to give her credit for wanting to organize one though. Now that the February blahs are over, I'm truly looking forward to Spring...If only this snow would melt and the weather would warm up!!!

For the Spring Swap details, click here!

Snow Play....

3 posts in one day...that happens on a snow day!!!

The kids finally decided they wanted to get all decked out to play.

Here are some snow angels in the making...





Banana was more interested in building a fort...



She got this far...



...then quit!!! :)

DON'T you DARE think about throwing that at me, Tank?

Super Mom

Everyone in our neighborhood has their satellite dish on his/her roof. Not us!!! We were satellite virgins when we moved into our house 5.5 years ago. When the DTV installer came to our house, I INSISTED that our dish be placed off our deck. Mr. O wanted to be like the Joneses and put it on the roof. I told him we WERE the Joneses. And, good thing I did!!!

I wrote earlier about getting the kids out to make snow angels. When I opened the door to do a quick shovel of the front steps, they wanted to stay in!!! It was too cold and windy for them. God, I love them...they are sooo smart! They decided to play dress-up instead...



They also wanted to watch a Sponge Bob movie in their play room! Great...that would give me time to get the kitchen cleaned up. In the midst of straightening up, I hear the kids screaming, all upset!!! It turned out we lost our satellite connections.

I looked out our dining room window, and saw this...



Okay, it was Super Mom to the rescue!!!

First, I had to dig out...



...then, I had to carefully sweep the snow off the dish, praying that I didn't move it from its position.



I walked into the house to kisses, hugs, and "Thank you Mama."

I knew that decision to put the dish on the deck would pay off some day. Do you think this Super Mom would climb on the roof to please her children??? Ha!

There's no day like a snow day!!!

After eating a big breakfast(pancakes, bacon, fruit salad), we will soon be out making snowmen and snow angels. Unfortunately, we left our sleds at Mim & Pop's house after our last ice storm. Later in the day, we may ride over there to get them. What fun we will have today!!!

In my last post about the kids' caricatures, I thought my youngest looked more "made-up" than my oldest. I'm not going to write out her name as I don't want the unnecessary hits on my blog; my immediate thought was she looked like a child model with the initials JBR. I don't thinks so much anymore, but that was my first gut reaction. What do you think?