Goodwill Find...

We went to an Ugly Sweater and Bad Beer party on Saturday which meant... a trip to Goodwill was in order! We found some hideous sweaters, but I also came across a sewing machine cover. I've been wanting one, so I went over. $15. Okay, that's a few dollars cheaper than you can buy one at Walmart. So, I opened it up, to see the condition of the inside. There was a sewing machine inside! The sewing machine AND the case were $15! And this is a solid machine... not a piece of plastic on it!

I checked out, buying only the ugly sweaters. But that sewing machine was on my mind. I even dreamed about it Saturday night. When I woke on Sunday, I asked Rob if he minded if I got it. I didn't even know if it would run. He laughed, and kind of rolled his eyes a little, but didn't mind.

Look what has a new home {ha}...









Got it home, plugged it in... and it works! Well, the motor runs and the needle goes up and down. I can't figure out how to thread it, so I'm not positive it sews, but I'm researching it. I found a users' manual on the internet, but have issue paying $20 for the manual on a machine I bought for $15! It may just become a cool piece of decor :-)

{the pictures aren't that great... I took them last night, using our dining room light}

Field Trip Pictures

Each of my {school-age} kids have gone on a field trip within the last week. They've all asked to take a camera. Having what I consider a *nice* camera, I cringed.

Ummm..... well.... we'll see.

So the night before Grace's field trip, Rob and I remembered that we used to have a not-so-*nice* camera. Our first digital camera. It's a bit of a clunker but takes decent pictures. Problem solved.

Here are pictures taken by our kids on their field trips: {side note... I'm using blogger's picture loader this time. The pictures aren't THAT great and it would take me a while to load and resize them into photobucket.}

Bubba's Kindergarten class went to a pumpkin patch. A parent/volunteer agreed to hold his camera while he played. You can definitely tell which pictures were taken by her and which were taken by him :-)






*On the bus ride home


Bub's pumpkins




*Bub came home with two tiny, little pumpkins. Notice the size of his seat-mate's on the bus -- yeah, that giant orange thing on the left side of the picture. Yeah, that's the other kid's! What would make my Bubba pick such little pumpkins? Because his mama {aka ME} told him that he had to carry his own pumpkins on the walk from school to home. Hey... don't judge! I already carry his backpack!



F's 1st Grade class took a trip to a dairy farm. Most of her pictures were taken on the bus. I guess she misses riding the bus... If anybody needs a picture of an emergency exit or windows or even the backs of bus seats, let me know. We have plenty.

*There were lots of pictures of feet and legs...

*she even took one of her OWN legs!

G's 3rd grade class went to the zoo. She took the funniest video EVER, but it would take too long to upload here. Any suggestions on alternate video locations?!?

*This is a picture of a picture. Why? Because she said she couldn't get a good one of the birds in the cage, so she took this one.

*that would be a donkey

*that would be G's gorilla impression. Kind of gives me flashbacks to The Blair Witch Project...

Soccer Pics from today

The Bumblebees played the Cobras today. Game ended in a 2-2 tie. Unfortunately, Bubba let in one of the Cobras' goals. He saved three more, though! AND he scored one of ours! Sounds like a good day to me!







OOPS...


Got it!

New (to me) music

I think I live in a music bubble. I always listen to the same things... branching out only by what the radio plays new. I was on Facebook the other day {surprise, surprise} and saw a post by an old friend about the Avett Brothers. They are from NC, which makes me pre-disposed to want to like them. I was so wonderfully surprised. I LOVE them! Every song I've listened to has been incredible. Kind of a folksy sound that I love.

Water Paint

The weather here has been gorgeous... a bit warmer than I wish, but the cold is coming and I'll be missing the warmth. So for now, we are eating up the sun! Enjoying afternoons outside -- kids playing in the street with their friends.

These pictures were taken while the big three were at school. I am ashamed to say that this is Bones's first experience with water paints. And he LOVED it - and I have some great art to add to our back door! We will definitely be doing this again!

Things I am thankful for now that the weather is turning cooler...

1- We don't pay an electric bill. That means I can turn on and off the heat anytime I want. And in MidMissouri, I can go from heat in the morning to air in the afternoon and turn the heat back on at night. Yeah, it's like that here.

2- Flannel sheets on my bed.

3- Remote starter on the car -- it can be warm when we get in it :-)

4- Beautiful sunny days that aren't so hot as to make me have sweaty shirts by the time I walk to school to get the kids!

5- Open windows

6- The {outside} trash can doesn't stink so much when it's cool. Maybe that means the raccoons/skunks will leave it alone.

Bones-ism, well, kind-of

Bones colored on the wall. Again. And of course, he found one of the few non-washable crayons in the house to do it. They are very rare in our house. I think there are only about two left in the house and those have been stored in G's school stuff. Well, he found it.

Anyway... out came the Magic Erasers. I have such a love-hate relationship with those little puffs of white magic. I love that they can get the crayon off the wall and they polish baseboards oh so well BUT I *hate*, *hate* how they feel in my hand. Imagine -- fingers on chalkboard. They make my skin crawl. SO... I always wear a rubber glove {black gloves with cool zebra stripes on the ends -- which will be significant in a minute} when I use them.

Before I clean the walls, I always make the kid responsible for the mess try to clean it up. So, Bones had already tried to wipe the crayon away with a rag. In I walk, rubber gloved armed with a Magic Eraser. Bones disappears.

I'm full into the wall scrub when I notice he's back. With the package's other eraser... and an oven mitt {black silicone, to be exact} on his hand. He was so cute, I immediately started cracking up. He said:

Glub. Like you. Me clean.

:-)

Couple of -isms and Thankfuls

Faith-ism

If you have a Nintendo DS, you will know what pictochat is. For those not in the know... it is a way for players to talk with each other, wirelessly, between gaming systems. They have to be relatively close... it isn't a large network, just a fun way to type back and forth. Imagine IM'ing via Nintendo.

Anyway, my oldest three pictochat all the time. Since Faithers and Bubba aren't the best spellers in the world, most of the time, the pictochat screen is filled with doodle drawings from one to another.

Flash to today, in the car on the way to Springfield --

Faithers and G were in the back, being unusually quiet. I couldn't figure it out until Faith says:

Mom, it is so fun to pictochat with paper.

Yep, they were passing notes back and forth in a notebook. But she doesn't call it writing notes... no, it is pictochatting on paper.
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Rob-ism

Rob and I were discussing the naming of our children the other day. We agree that we named them well and that their names match their personalities.

For whatever reason, we started talking about what we didn't name them. I have always really liked the name Seamus. Love it. Good, strong name. Rob would never consider it. Finally, I asked him why. He said because our last name wasn't O'Fairel!

Ha!
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Thankfuls

1- I have a husband that thinks a lot of me. He compliments me and makes sure the kids hear it. So, tonight, I put Bubba in bed and he called out -- "Goodnight, pretty mommy". What a sweet bunch of boys I have!

2- Target has started selling their brand of diapers in "Club Sized" boxes. I guess that just means a lot more diapers. Since the nearest Target is an hour drive and they seem to be the ONLY diapers that don't break Bones's butt out -- I bought TWO of their "Club Sized" boxes!

3- Rob is safely in Vegas. I am always nervous when he travels -- but at least this travel is in THIS country :-)

4- Bones pooked on the potty tonight. WooHoo!

5- With Rob's help, I am caught up on laundry. Granted there are two piles to fold and put away, but one of them is sheets and that's too easy! It's always nice to have a jump on Monday!

What are you thankful for today?!?