Busted

Hope your cookies came in and your weekend was great!

Holly


-- Post From My iPhone

Friday/Saturday Catch Up

First things first - my giveaway winners - I went with the random.org generator but had a little trouble posting the widget so you guys are just gonna have to trust me :) I PROMISE that the winning numbers were 2,4, and 10. Now hold on - I mean I know you don't have to hold on because you will read this after I look but I am going to open another tab and look at whose comments are numbers 2,4, and 10......

The winners are..... Texas Holly, Aunt Freddie, and Prudent Patron - congrats!!!!!

Thank you Business 2 Blogger for hooking me up with Catherine Weiskopf!

Now I would like to do a quick Letters of Intent Driving Edition.

Dear people driving down the busy road that I have to turn off of to get to my street,

I live on that street. I just want to go home. I am terribly sorry that I need to slow down enough to make the right hand turn without flipping my mini van and I am terribly sorry that this is such an inconvienence for you on your busy commute. Please do not shake your fist or your head at me - it is really not nice.

Thanks,

Holly

Dear Guy sitting in your BMW in a right hand lane with the intention of going straight,

You are KILLING me. I have children to drop off. This is a school zone. PLEASE get in the left lane. There is no one there. If you are anywhere near a school zone and it's lights are flashing and you are sitting at a red light in the right hand lane - you are making someone late.

Holly

Dear lady in the fancy red porsche,

Thank you VERY much for the awesome laugh. The way that you turned your head completely to look at my mini van in horror was hysterical. Yes - I have small children. Yes - I drive a mini van that we call the Roach Coach and yes it is covered in stickers. We like it. You don't have to drive it - you don't even have to park next to me but your look of disgust was really funny.

Appreciate ya,

Holly

Mental Morning Check List

Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
Brush teeth
Find glasses
Make sure iPhone is charged
Oh hi Honey - remember to say hi to him
Be nice
Be nice
Be nice
Remember you are not a morning person. This will all be better in an hour.
Start breakfast
Wake up child A
Give cereal to sleepy child C who just wandered in to kitchen in footed pajamas
Carry child B downstairs - apparently the apple did not fall to far from the tree on that one.
Finish packing child A lunch
Finish packing child B lunch
Dress child C
Do child A hair
Do child B hair
Give child C more cereal
3 sets of teeth brushed
6 shoes
Pack snack for child A
Asthma meds for child B
Antibiotics for Child B
Eye drops for child A
Dislodge toy car from arm of recliner for child C
Put homemade playdough that Child A's teacher requested in correct backpack
3 Jackets
Glasses on Child A
Get in the car
Get in the car
Please get in the car
I am going to start shouting now - get in the car
Gas - yes - phew
Pug - not under the tires or in the backseat - good
Back out of driveway run back in to put donation for Kidney Society on front porch
Back out a little farther
Run in to get 4 quarters so child A can buy lollipops at school
Back out
Run in to grab a towel for spilled milk from Child C's cup that was smuggled into the car
Back out a little more - "Mommy - I have to go potty"
Take a deep breathe - "You can do this Holly"
Unbuckle Child C - tell him to pee in the bush - there is no time to go inside
Child C pees on his shoes
Strip Child C - run inside and grab clothes - tell him to wait in kitchen
Come back to find him streaking through house - "Mommy - I am neked as a jaybird!"
Deep Breathe - put on clothes - quickly
Jump in car - tell child A to put on her jacket and get ready because we are going to barely make it
FINALLY leave driveway
Drive 2 minutes to school
Drop off Child A - love you Baby


Child B - "Mommy - I have to go to the potty"

sigh



-- Post From My iPhone

Sometimes all you can do is .....(dot dot dot)

Let go and Let God

And - if possible - bust your phone out of your back pocket to try and catch a picture.


Note to readers: No toddlers were injured during the making of this post.

Catherine Weiskopf Book Review and GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

Ahhhhh Business 2 Blogger - we heart you - you hooked me up with an AWESOME author who I am going to try to talk into coming and speaking to our PTA AND who wrote books about MATH which my second grader normally says is YUCK but she said was pretty COOL in these books!

Catherine Weiskopf is an author of math books for elementary students. She has a Masters in Computer Science and has worked as a programmer, college teacher, author, and speaker. (I read this from her bio to my second grader and she was very impressed that you could be more than one thing when you grow up. I said, "that's right Baby - shoot for the moon". Or something cheesy like that) but anyway........

OH and I have to interrupt with a funny Noodle (my 5 year old) story. Her school is doing this awesome guided reading program and she was reading her book to me last night and she said (in very dramatic fashion) "OH MOMMY - you are never gonna beliebe dis - I know what dot dot dot means at the end of a sentence!" I said, "what does it mean". She whispered - "it means..... something is coming". It was hysterical.

Back to the books we started with this one
Because - well - my daughter is in second grade - it seemed appropriate. She was WILDLY impressed that we had a book that an author that I ACTUALLY knew (well emailed back and forth with) had SIGNED just for HER!!!!!!!!!!!! She sat at the kitchen table with her snack and read it cover to cover and looked up and said, "ok - you wanna know what I think?"

Here is her review: She liked the pictures, liked the girls although she thought they were a little silly because she would have known that $5 was WAY to much to charge for a lemonade but she guessed that was the point because the AUTHOR who ACTUALLY SIGNED the book just for HER was probably trying to teach kids a lesson about charging the right amounts for stuff. She liked the pictures and wanted to know if we could jump in the car and go to the store to buy lemons to set up a lemonade stand.

Here is my review: I loved that we sat and had a whole conversation about money. I LOVED the activities in the back and the retelling the story. I also would never have know that you can google "lemonade stand game" and it comes up with all sorts of great games! Catherine taught me that - in the back of her book that you should read AND should comment on this post to try and win. Yes - the giveaway is coming folks - keep reading - or skimming depending on your time frame.

Now - the other two books.......

are for 3rd through 5th graders and my Ladybug is a second grader but she is a READER - I tell you such a READER - so much fun. Anyway - she made it about halfway through the first one and said, "Mommy - I really like the characters and I like the pictures because they are kind of like Diary of a Wimpy Kid but I don't get the math." So I decided that I would read them. Can I just tell you - I need to work on my math and I am so glad that I read these books because it is making me realize that I probably need a little brusher upper as my children get older. Look out estimating, measuring, fractions and decimals - here we come!

On to the giveaway - she actually sent me one of each book to read and giveaway as I saw fit. Since my daughter is so attached to these three copies - I am going to actually purchase - yes - with my own money - three copies to give away to you - my lovelies - my blog readers whom I do appreciate.

3 Winners - a million ways to enter - blog it, tweet it, Facebook it - whatever. I will probably announce a winner Friday although not before swim lessons since I ran into trouble with that last week.

Hi!

More tomorrow - must sleep tonight but did want to send out a little hi to the bloggy world.

:)

Holly

Hope you had a good weekend!

We did!

Stay tuned this week for another giveway and the wine bottle post!


-- Post From My iPhone

and the winner is..........

So - we here at I Heart Bowheads (once again read: me) decided to go it old school with this giveaway just because it seemed like a cute and fun thing for the little buddy and I to do! First I wrote down a name for each comment entered and put it here.................

Then I told the buddy to stir it up like soup. He thought this was really fun and I was unfortunately unable to take a picture of this part of the program due to the enthusiastic soup stirring.

Then I told him to close his eyes and pick one.............

and here is our winner!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now I am going to do a little blog multi tasking on account of the fact that we are going to be late for swim lessons because of the old-schoolness of our giveaway and write a quick

Dear Julie,
Guess what - you are a winner! I hope that everyone heads over to your funny blog that I read daily and writes their own letters of intent. I wish I could think of something a little wittier but it really is ridiculous to be late for swim lessons because you are working on a blog post so...... off I go!
Love,
Holly
PS - Julie - email me your address so I can have John at Magnapods mail you your prize!

One small step for a Cupcake......

So - for me - part of being a Cupcake is doing - not watching.

Today, I was at the park with the Little Buddy and he said, "Come on Momma! Come down this slide with me." My immediate reaction was no and I think I even said, "Mommy is too big Buddy." Then I thought to myself - hey - you are not too big! You are a strong, fun, athletic, healthy person. (Good enough - smart enough and dog gone it - people like me - who was it that said that - a SNL character I think)

ANYHOO - I digress -

I said, "ok Buddy - you know what - I WILL go down that slide with you! Here is my thought process......

okidoki - I can do this - Good Grief that looks small

Well - here goes - better take a picture - this will make a good blog post.

Phew - very happy I did not land on my bottom.

ok - totally worth it! Look at his face - I am such an awesome Mom!!!!!

uh - sorry Buddy - Mommy's gotta draw a line somewhere

Don't forget to go HERE and enter the giveaway - winner will be announced tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday - Pug Prayers

(Oh and a few words - because you know me - I can't keep quiet - don't forget to go here for the giveaway. Contest ends on Friday so enter again today by tweeting, blogging, button grabbing - whatever floats your boat.)

My first Business 2 Blogger Giveaway!!!!!! Also titled (you know me and my alternate titles) The wandering tale of the first giveaway)

Once Upon a Time there was a humble blogger who wanted to be super cool and be able to have giveaways and have followers and stuff. This my friends is where the story begins............

It all started with these guys......

and they helped me find these guys.............

http://www.magnapods.com/

and then they sent me this stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and then - as any good story goes - we hit a snag

Because - guess what - these are really awesome little organizational things that have magnets on the back to go on your medicine cabinet in your bathroom. Well - I don't have a medicine cabinet in my bathroom (really wish I did by the way). In fact - there is not a medicine cabinet in my whole house! Can I just go ahead and pause here and say that I was freaking out a little bit on the inside - ok - ask my husband on the outside also.

Then - as all good stories go - we found the solution.......

I don't know about you but my kitchen is the hub of all things in my house and can become quite the black hole of all things lost. At my Mom's suggestion - I put two of the cosmetic organizers (that can obviously be used for just about anything) on my fridge. In them I put from left to right:

(liquid gold eye drops - read $$$$$$ eye drops for my 8 year old, my shuffle that keeps getting lost, my current sharpie, nail files, two good school homework pencils, a good Mommy pen, and Mommy lip stuff.)

Seems simple but I tell you what - it is really great to know where those things are!!!!!

I didn't really have anything else to put on my fridge so I went in search of another area in my house. I am sure that my children were wondering what was going on with Mommy who was walking around the house mumbling something crazy about the nice people at magnapods
and what kind of a world did we live in where we didn't own one medicine cabinet and so on and so forth when I remembered - uh Holly - you are a scrapbooker - hello? Remember? That means lots of little tiny stuff!!!!!! Hooray!!!!!



Right next to my chair is - wonder of all wonders - a METAL file cabinet!!!! Sweet Sarah Jessica Parker that was relief! Anyway - I put my latest cute pen in the toothbrush holder and all of my brads in the last cosmetic case and I am LOVING it - really loving it! I have decided that I need several more and completely revamp my crop corner!

Anyway - LONG story short - there you have it folks - my first review of what I think is a very handy product EVEN if you don't have a medicine cabinet but I would say especially if you do have a medicine cabinet and - if you are still reading this post here is your reward -

A GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My new buddy John at Magnapods is going to give you exactly what he gave me - a toothbrush holder and the cosmetic set. All you have to do is win my giveway!!!!!

Leave me a comment every time you tweet it, Facebook it, become a follower on the blog - join the Bowheads family - come on you know you want to, follow me on twitter, grab the Cupcake button, or blog about it yourself. So TONS of ways to enter.

Hope to see some comments soon so that we can have a happy ever after ending!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holly

I Heart Faces - Dancer

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Ladybug mid stretch turning to grin at her Mimi.

My Favorite Quote at the moment is........

“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." ~ Christopher Robin to Pooh

(AND I even changed my first song on my playlist to my favorite corresponding sweet song that my kids like for me to sing to them!)

Happy Belated Valentines Day!

Good Grief - where did the weekend go???????

Anyway - I could not be the proud author of a blog with the title I Heart Bowheads without posting some Valentines creations - could I?

I love my Creative Memories Dress Up Calendar board and usually just about have it dressed up and filled in by the end of the month. :) Since it is February 15th I should probably get going on filling in the dates. (Obviously this is not our family master calendar - otherwise we would never be anywhere on time!)

I had to make a Valentines wine bottle and yes - I am working on the pictures for how to do that in a post coming up soon! (Like American Idol - after the break) I am about to face a wine bottle quandary because I am about to run out of the little lights and you can't just run down to Hobby Lobby to buy them anymore! Gonna have to do some online shopping for that one!
Teacher gifts this year: I made cards using my Cricut which is my lifesaver! Made cute cute pens that my friend Stephanie taught me how to make - I will have to do a post on those too because they are dirt cheap, easy to make, and the perfect little gift. I bought cute cups from Walmart for one dollar each and filled them with candy and voila - teacher gift for maybe 2 dollars total spent per gift?
Anyway - I am off to the Asthma doctor (poor poor 5 year old Noodle) and then I am going to work on my first (of many I hope) giveaway posts!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear.......

For today's letters of intent I decided to write just that - several little letters since I have so many cute pics from the last few days!

Dear Rice Krispie Treats,


You are much appreciated. We really do not know what we would do without you and I believe that now your smell is a part of our family history. Now I know this is going to sound crazy but you know how certain smells remind you of certain moments in your life? We went out yesterday to play in the snow (for the 4th time - we got a record 11 inches here in DFW) and when the kids and I came inside the whole house was so warm and smelled like rice krispy treats and popcorn. I will never forget that moment and I will ALWAYS make you when we have snow days.

Holly

Dear Barbie Jeep,


ooops - sorry!

Holly

Dear 5 year old child getting ready to go out in the snow,


Forgetting something?

Love you,

Mommy

Dear Penelope the Pug,
Don't look at me like that - none of this is my fault!

Love,

Holly

For more letters of intent head on over to Julie's blog!

So many updates - so little time!!!!!!!!!

Well let's see - one thing at a time. Business 2 Blogger - love these guys! Guess what????? I get my first free thing this week to review AND (drumroll - yes - come on - tap just a little bit - yes right there on your mouse or your coffee mug or something) a giveaway!!!! I will be reviewing a Magnapods cosmetic brush set and a toothbrush holder as well as giving those sets to one of you! Go check em out at www.magnapods.com/


Hmmmm what's next - oh yeah that Cupcake update I keep saying I am going to do and don't

OK Cupcakes - how are you doing? I am getting stronger and I am really loving my Master Swim class. I ran 2 miles on the treadmill yesterday and did my 200 crunches on the ab machine thingy and let me just tell you - I am SORE today! Weight wise - I am at a little bit of a standstill. I am pretty pleased with where I am at this point and I know that this last bit of weight is going to be slow going so I can be patient. This entire week I feel like I have made GREAT food choices and I feel strong and energetic so that is my ultimate goal. I am planning on doing a post this week with my tortilla soup recipe that is pretty much a cupcake staple.

Coming up this week on I Heart Bowheads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow I am going to go here
and work on my letter of intent A. because it is fun and B. because I said I would and I mean what I say and I say what I mean if you know what I mean when I say what I mean. (Can you tell that it is late and I am getting a little punchy?) Then I have a cute snow day post planned as well as some cute valentines day crafts AND that wine bottle tutorial I promised - yep - we are not fooling around over here at I Heart Bowheads. We aim to please. (and when I say we - I mean me because well - it's just me. Maybe I can talk one of the kids into being a guest blogger? Gonna have to think about that one. Then I can really say we) Well enough rambling from me tonight - stayed tuned for my witty letter of intent that I am sure to think of sometime between now and tomorrow. Holly

Why I Heart My Farm (Alternatively titled: I Play Farmville - deal with it.)

OK - yes - I am on Facebook. I really enjoy Facebook. I know what the Flower Girl at my wedding is up to at College, thanks to Facebook. I have a GINORMOUS family that gets to have little glimpses of what the kids and I are up to - because of Facebook. I know about the lives of the people that I went to Elementary school with - because of Facebook.

Well - I also play a little game on Facebook:

Yes - I play Farmville. There - I said it - I play Farmville. You know what - I'm going to say it again -

I Play Farmville

I love it. I am a stay at home Mom. I love my job. I would do nothing else but I am not going to lie to you people - it can get boring. It can get really boring but the whole gig is very hurry up and wait. You can't really watch a TV show because - there will be a million interruptions. I do like projects etc like Scrapbooking and crafting but - once again - you can't just do that for 5 minutes and then put it down again when your 3 year old wants to show you something that he is very proud of in the potty. Being a stay at home Mom just doesn't work like that.

Now - don't get me wrong - I will say again - I love what I do AND I spend a lot of really great quality time with my children. We play playdough and blocks and legos and I help with homework and watch plays, and do Barbie hair and fish Polly Pockets out of the toilet but there are moments when the children just want to sit down for a second and take a break from me (or vice versa). They are capable of playing with one another without my help and yes - gasp - they do watch TV sometimes - I know - I am airing all kinds of dirty laundry here.

Yes - I could clean every minute of every day. Yes - I could delve into the Latin that I have always meant to learn or reread King Lear but you know what - I like to do when I have a minute of free time here and a minute of free time there - I come stand in my kitchen - yes - stand in my kitchen - that is where my computer is and unless I drag a chair over no sitting around and eating bon bons for me people - nuh uh. Anyway - sorry I trailed off there - I like to jump on my computer. I check email, I check Facebook, I read blogs, I am starting to get into Twitter, and yes - I check my farm.

Now that I have rambled on and on I am going to move to the - "this post is getting too long - need to switch to bullet points in order to keep them interested" part of the program.......

Some Farmville Facts

* It is a mini community and I have more funny conversations with people that I would NEVER talk to because of it.

* My Mom farms now and I think it is a nice connection for us. Gives us something else to talk about besides how much she loves my children - a conversation a person can only have so many times. (Love you Mom - you totally know that I am going to call and read this to you before I hit Publish just to make sure I won't hurt your feelings.)

*You can farm for 5 minutes in a day or 5 hours. Basically you set up your farm how you want it so if I know that my husband is traveling, and it is crummy weather outside, and we have just set up a huge tent city in the game room that will keep the children busy for hours and I am bored out of my mind - I can farm a bunch OR I can set it up so that I don't have to look at it again for a week - totally my choice and these options work very well for my life which is basically warp speed or turtle speed with no in between.

Some misconceptions about Farmville

* I am sorry if it offends your eyeballs SO much to have me publish that I found a cow or finished a collection but guess what - that is HUGE news for my Farmville friends. We hit Publish not to torture you but to help our Farmville friends. Now I have never played any of the other Facebook games with cars and fish and mafia people but I assume that it is the same thing for them. Let me clue you in on a little Facebook secret if you feel that your eyes are just going to pop out of your head if you have to look at one more post about a fish or a potato - you can just hit hide. Do it - try it out - take the power for yourself and hit hide. Stop whining for the love of all things and just HIT HIDE! Seriously - you will feel great and I can keep playing my game. A win-win.

The animation is great, the connection with friends is awesome and I deserve a moment as mind numbing as sitting and staring at grown people throwing a ball around as much as the next guy.

PHEW - needed to get that one off my chest. Ahhh the beauty of blogging.

Wordless Wednesday

-- Post From My iPhone

In life....,,

You gotta be willing to work hard

To get what you want. :)


-- Post From My iPhone

A Cupcake Update

OK Cupcakes - it is a new week! I will update this post after I get everyone dropped off and go to the PTA meeting but wanted to send a shout out.....

"Toughen up Cupcake! You're not the only fat chick in the gym!!!!!!"

Whether it's 10 or 100 that you have to lose - today is the day to start it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our God is an Awesome God!

Love little voices raised in Praise!


-- Post From My iPhone

Hungry

-- Post From My iPhone

I am becoming my Mother

I looked everywhere for my glasses yesterday. Guess where I found them.

-- Post From My iPhone

Multitasking.....

Is important at any age.


-- Post From My iPhone