Laughter Lives Tuesday!

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.

I'm sticking to the theme "Conversations with Rylee" mainly because this kid just cracks me up! Writing these things down will help me remember them because well... lets just say that my memory is not what it use to be!

Talking with Dad:

Rylee: Dad what's this: burp, burp?
Dad: You after Chinese food?
Rylee: NO DAD, it's a frog - you don't member this Dad?
Dad: I think you mean... ribbit, ribbit.
Rylee: OOOHHHH YEAH, ok thanks Dad!

Talking with Mom:

Rylee: Mama you es skinny!
Me: Oh THANKS Rylee, you are so sweet!
Rylee: Yeah, look all this skin Mom (makes gigantic circle with her arms while pointing to me). Dis is skinny, lots and lots of skinny!
Me: Don't you have homework to do?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rylee: Mom, you know dat place you live?

Me: Our house?

Rylee: (rolling eyes) NO, dat place Mama you live?

Me: Um, _______ (our street)

Rylee: (groaning) NO DA PLACE YOU LIVE!!!

Me: city? state?

Rylee: (groaning and rolling eyes) NO Mama - where YOU live! (as she draws a circle in the air)

Me: Ummm... Earth?

Rylee: YES, MAMA, yes EARTH - you don't know dats where you live?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

For some reason I found this completely hilarious! This sign was hanging on Hanna's bedroom door when I went upstairs to tuck the kids in last night:

Can you tell they have been bickering a lot lately?

Awwww shucks, an award for me???

I received the Lemonade award from Brandie, one of my new bloggy friends. Thank's so much Brandie and Happy Belated Birthday to you :)

Here are the rules for this award:

1) Put the logo on your blog or post

2) Nominate blogs that show great attitude or gratitude

3) Link to your nominees within your post

4) Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog

5) Share the love and link to the person from who you received your award

I am passing this award on to several of my blogging friends that display the great attitude that is behind this award: When life hands you lemons... and to a few that have recently been handed lemons...

Lori @ Stress it the New Black

Veronica @ OF MICE AND raMEN

Denise @ What's Next?

Oz Girl @ City Gal Moves to Oz

A Thorn Among Roses

Amy @ Mom's Toolbox (one of my new favorites!)

iheartfaces - kids entry - week 12

It's that time again over at iheartfaces! This week the theme is pout and let me tell you did I have lots of pictures to choose from! Check out all of the cute pouting faces or enter your own pouting cutie by clicking here.

Random Picture Challenge

I thought it would be fun to join in the Random Picture Challenge that is being held over at 4 little men & girly twins, click here to join in the fun!

The challenge is to post your 27th folder (or December 2007) and the 27th picture:

Looking at this photo makes me realize how much Rylee has grown in the last year and three months. In this picture she had only been home less than a month. I think she has grown at double speed this past year and just look at how short her hair was!!!!

Contest Winner

I will blog about this in more detail later tonight or tomorrow, but I wanted to let everyone know that the winner of the drawing is:

#5 (of the qualified entries) Julie who said "Cool site! I will definitely have to come back and read more. I l-o-v-e Cold Stone, so I'm hoping the box is your "Treasures Box," where you keep memories of good things, and you look at them together at mealtime. :) "

Congratulations Julie! I am emailing you right now to let you now!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this contest - you are all awesome!

Fashion Challenge Friday - want to join?

I just couldn't resist joining in on this Fashion Challenge that is being held over at Do They Have Salsa in China?. If you haven't seen this adorable set of twins yet, you are really missing out on some fun-filled cuteness!

During spring break, I really relaxed on guiding Rylee's outfit choices - so this one is completely put together by her. (including her favorite yellow bandaid accessories that she does not need for any other reason than "dis is cool Mom!")

I thought it wasn't too bad of an outfit. Sun dress, winter snowflake tights, church shoes, cheetah sunglasses and two yellow bandaids - what's not to love?

Click here to join in - let's see what your kiddos put together!

I've been tagged - 7 Things...

I've just been tagged by one of my newest blogging friends Deb @ Life with Birk.

Here are the rules: 1. Link to the person who tagged you; 2. Share 7 things that people may not know about you; 3. Tag 7 people to share 7 things and link to them; 4. Let them know they have been tagged.

Hmmmm... seriously I have to list seven things about me? Okay, let me think. They should be interesting I guess, so all my new friends don't leave :)

1) When I was a kid, we lived in a trailer for a while with an outhouse. So you know how some parents can say when I was young we had to... Well I can say, "When I was your age, I had to walk through snow drifts to get to the potty!" Ahem...

2) I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. When I was 30 I became a Christian - at an Amway convention.

3) I LOVE baby feet, but not grown up feet!

4) When Pat and I decided to try to have a baby I got scared and changed my mind, it had been two weeks. It was already too late, and to this day I am ever so thankful that it was!

5) I have NOT had a semi crush on Derek Jeter for much of my adult life. What???? - I said I don't , never did - I only know of him because we are from the same home town. That's it - end of story.

6) I once went bungee jumping at Daytona Beach and LOVED it!

7) Before we adopted Rylee, I worried if I would love her as much as I love Hanna. I did not need to worry!

So there you go, 7 mostly unknown facts about me.

Now I need to tag 7 people, so I am choosing:

1) Stepfanie @ Stepfanie's Time Out

2) Jennifer @ The Happenings

3) Brandie @ Come Via our house!!

4) Aim @ Random Thoughts

5) Golfersmom

6) Ruth @ and baby makes three

7) Amy @ China Caboose

Can't wait to read all about you!

Laughter Lives Tuesday!

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.


For my Laughter Lives Tuesday post I thought I would share a little about our trip to the zoo yesterday.

The zoo can be an amazing place when you view it through a 5 year olds eyes, and even more so sometimes when that 5 year old has only been speaking English for a little over a year.

It can make for some very interesting conversations for example as we paused to view an antelope a mother commented to her children "Look there's Bambi". I'm thinking - great confuse my poor kid into thinking Bambi is an antelope! Rylee got very excited and said "MAMA did you hear that - she say there is bandaids??? I LOVE bandaids - where is bandaids? I need some, see right here (shows fingers)!"

A huge bumble bee buzzed by us and Rylee cowered behind me "Look out Mama there is a Bumbasqeeto - be bery careful cuz it might poke us!"

As we pass by the monkey cages a squirrel jumped out of the trash can carrying his treasure and Rylee yells: "OH NO - hide Mama before that squirrel stinks us!"

We walked by the giraffes and Rylee started giggling. She said "You want to know what is funny Mama? You want to know what is funny word?" She looks at me waiting for my answer and I nod to her. "Ok here goes - you ready for it? BANANA PANTS! Bwaaaa ahhhh haaaaa!" She laughed and laughed over this funny "word" for the next 30 minutes.

Fishful Thinking Campaign & A Contest!

I am now an Ambassador for the new Fishful Thinking Campaign! Have you seen this site yet?

This site is full of valuable information on family activities, interactive tools and tips on helping kids stay positive through all of life's ups and downs. Who doesn't need that?

One of our biggest challenges with Rylee has been to help her stay positive, even when things aren't going exactly her way. I needed to find ways to help her deal with frustration positively and I am hopeful that some of the techniques that I am learning from Fishful Thinking will really help us out in this area. In fact, I wish I could have had access to this site sooner because it may have helped us to avoid a tantrum or 20!

It was just Rylee and I for the whole weekend (the first one with just the two of us since we brought her home). Since I couldn't work, blog or do much on the computer very effectively with 36+ extra pounds hanging off my arm we took some time to really check out the site. Rylee enjoyed the kids site.

She even broke out a few dance moves!






When she got sad today because she was missing her Daddy and her Sissy, we headed outside for a little painting distraction. First she wanted to paint flowers, then she painted a picture of her sissy, and on the last sheet I asked her what she wanted to paint and she said "fish!" and just how cute are they? (and did you notice that two handed painting?)

I think it's safe to say that so far, Fishful Thinking is a big hit at our house!




Now, don't you want to go check it out for yourself? Click on any of the links on this page, the banner at the top or Rylee holding her Fishful Thinking poster - but first for the contest:


Go to the Fishful Thinking site, check it out and come back here and leave me a comment telling me why we made this box:

Everyone with the correct answer will be put into a drawing. The winner will receive a $15 gift card for Cold Stone Creamery. The contest ends Saturday, March 28th. The winner will be announced next Sunday!

*****Edited to add that comments for the giveaway will be held until after the contest has been completed - thanks for participating!

Spring Break Project - Hanna's Room

Well, my Mom is back home in Michigan and it sure was hard to let her leave! It's been a really long time since I sat at my desk working and heard the vacuum running in the background! My house is clean, the girls rooms are done - I would call it a very successful Spring Break!!! Thanks Mom!

Here are the photos from Hanna's room (I should take bets on how long it stays like this):

This is the before (Rylee's "side"):

And here is the after:

Hanna's "side" before (without the lead rope stretched across the room that she usually had up to divide the sides):

And the much prettier after:

Before - Rylee's dresser and the shared closet:

So much better!

Hanna told me that she now has the very best room in the whole wide world! I have to admit that I would have loved a room like this when I was a kid!

Spring Break Project Update

We are almost done with the redo on the girls rooms and I thought I would go ahead and post the pictures of Rylee's new room.

Remember what it looked like before?

We have not spent any money on the makeovers - just using things that we already have around the house. I think Rylee's room has turned out very cute and I only have to print out some pictures of her friends, frame them and add them to her shelves. What do you think?

I took this picture over the weekend when we went to the botanical gardens, so that my friends that aren't seeing the signs of spring yet can enjoy a little color and know that it is on it's way!

Wordless Wednesday: Dance

I saw this on Leah's blog Live Life Simply and thought I would join in. The theme this week is dance...


Click over to French Lique to join the fun. Instructions are here.

iHeartFaces - Week 10 - Green

It's St. Patty's day fun at iHeartFaces this week! The rules are that there has to be green in the photo and a face. Click here or on the button above to join in the fun or to see some very amazing entries!

I certainly am not entering because I think I have any chance of winning, but because I am learning so much from all the great photographers that are in this group. I've even had a few people tell me recently that they can see my photos get better (thanks Mom - just kidding, it was my other family members)!

So, I scanned through hundreds of my photos and was about to give up on finding an entry with green in it for this week when I decided I would check my camera for the photos that I took yesterday at the Botanical Gardens.

Here is my entry for the Kid's Category:

It seems like the more I learn the more indecisive I become. I had a really hard time deciding if I should crop this closer and take out the distracting orange bracelet, but in the end I decided I liked being able to see the three branches in the shot. If only I knew how to turn that orange bracelet green :)

As always I welcome any helpful tips, suggestions etc... and remember click here to see some other super great entries!

Spring Break Project

Yay, my Mom is here and she's come to help! I should not even be posting these pictures, it's so embarrassing!

Right now the girls are sharing a bedroom and it has worked out really well for both the girls, but now they are ready to have their own rooms. Sooooo... we are tackling the bedrooms and the playroom during spring break. The girls have both PROMISED that they will keep their rooms clean after the redo (ah ha).

I'm checking out all the creative blogs and trying to find good ideas for decorating and I'll post after pictures when the week is done!

Rylee went to work with her Daddy this morning and we are getting a good start with Hanna as our helper. I mean what could be more fun than cleaning your room for spring break? Surely not Disney World, which is where all the cool kids are (or so I've been told)!

Oh, and I swear the rest of my house does NOT look like this - really!

An the winner of the Spring Fling Giveaway is...

Using the random number generator... minishoes. I'm off to email her now and let her know the great news. Thank you so much for all that participated, I wish I had one for everyone :)

Ask and you shall receive...

A couple weeks ago Rylee came to me asking for a magic mermaid hat. Since I have no knowledge of such a thing I decided I had to call in reinforcements. We made a short video of Rylee's explanation. If you haven't seen it you can click here to view Rylee's request.


Imagine her extreme delight to get a package in the mail today (thanks Aunt Net). She tore into the package and was completely amazed to find this inside the box:


She placed it on her head in total amazement that she had actually received a magic hat! She looked at me with those deep brown eyes and said "Mama, can I say the words, Mama?" I said "You can say whatever words you want to Rylee, do you have something in mind?" She nods quickly.

She closes her eyes and very softly says "I want to be a princess, I want to be a princess, I want to be a princess".

I watch to see if she is going to be disappointed and wondered what happened with the murmaid.
She opens her eyes, grinning ear to ear "Mama I am a princess now, I have to get my princess dress on", she squeals as she takes off running!

"WAIT! You can't put a princess dress on, we are going to the barn."

AAAARrrrrrrrgggggggg! MAMA!!!




This one got a hat too. All I want to say is that she takes after her father... enough said...

Wow - so many visitors yesterday!

Welcome to all my SITS girls - wasn't spring fling such a blast? I didn't realize giveaways could be so much fun and what a great community of bloggers are in this group! I am looking forward to getting to know y'all better!

Tonight my girls wanted to get into some America's Next Top Model action, so I obliged and whipped out the camera - cuz who can't resist taking pictures like these:

They also challenged each other to come up with their own head wear design and then modeled the results. I think Hanna may set a trend with hers - what do you think... the next big fad in down filled, fashion accessorizing?

Hanna doing "fierce"

Spring Fling Giveaway and Serious Life Magazine

We have two exciting things going on today!

For starters I am participating in my first ever blog giveaway as part of Spring Fling over at http://www.thesitsgirls.com/, a blogging community that I am a part of. Click here to go to their site and check out the hourly giveaways that they are hosting today.

For my very first giveaway one lucky winner will receive a fabulous set that includes one Arbonne REactivating Body Serum and one REfinish Hydrating Body Lotion (this set has a retail value of over $80.00)!

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment below for one entry into the drawing. If you don't have a way for me to email you in your profile or on your blog (or you don't have a blog), you will need to leave your email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you are the lucky winner.

If you want a second chance entry, just click over in the side bar to follow my blog and you will get another entry into this drawing!

Contest will end Thrusday and I will draw the winner on Friday!

Good luck and don't forget to click over to the SITS site to enter the other fun giveaways!



The second exciting thing we have going on is that the March issue of Serious Life Magazine is out today!

They just published the March issue today, and I am in their Featured Blog Directory. It’s a very high quality magazine… click on the cover page to go check it out!

The magazine includes a lot of great content from bloggers you’ll appreciate, as well as great features, photos and other content.

The magazine is owned and published by a family who have seven kids, three adopted and one who has Leukemia - you see her button in my side bar (http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/).

The magazine gives away a bunch of ads to charities and ministries. Besides great articles on interesting people (Cactus Cuties - woo hoo!), there is a lot about family, adoption, personal finance, spiritual life, humor… all sorts of “life” topics.

The subscription is FREE, and I think you’ll enjoy the magazine as much as I do, so take a minute to check it out and sign up to get future issues. http://www.seriouslifemagazine.com/

Let's go have some serious giveaway fun - Happy Tuesday!