An Artsy Touch

Some people got it and some don't. I'm one of the ones who don't but, my Dad is one of the lucky ones who does. He, along with the rest of his family, is a gifted painter. We have always encouraged him to do more with his hobby but, he never pursued it and was always too critical of his work.

For each of the girl's birthdays, my Dad hand painted stools for them. Each has it's own cute design along with their names painted on them. Now that Holly can just about see over the bathroom sink, she uses her stool to give her the boost she needs to be right in line with bigger sister while brushing their teeth.

I decided I wanted to try my hand at it since we have a birthday party coming up. My Dad was gracious enough to come to my house and get me started. He did the drawing and some of the painting but then left the rest for me to do. I like the finished product but, you can tell it's lacking my Dad's artsy touch. i.e. shading, highlighting ect. Here are pictures of each stool below.

Front and side image of Holly's

Front and side image of Gabby's

The one I painted

I cheated and used rub on frogs for the side. I know you were probably thinking, Wow, those frogs look great.

Carrie's New Hairdo

For those of you who caught American Idol on Wednesday night, you probably noticed a slight change in Carrie Underwood's appearance. When she came out to sing her duet with Randy Travis, I couldn't believe my eyes. She cut off her hair and whoever styled it had her looking like a star from the 80's with a big puffy hairdo. I thought it was a wig because it was so bushy. Why did you do it, Carrie? Why did you go short? I'm all for short hair. I have a short hair style but, in my opinion, I think she should have kept her long hair. Next year when she's looking back at all of the pictures taken during her short hair days, she'll wonder why she went short, too. Who's with me?

Before...

...after

Girls Will Be Girls

When you're a stay at home Mom and your days are consumed with cleaning up dirty dishes, dirty diapers, and trails of crumbs and fingerprints, sometimes you forget how rewarding it is to be a stay at home Mom.

We recently bought Gabrielle a new Dazzle Me Vanity that fits perfectly in her room and the girls love it. It came with hair curlers, hair clips, play scissors, comb and brush. You can purchase other accessories for it as well such as a hair dryer, curling iron and makeup. All of the girly things needed to be beautiful.

I caught Gabby and Holly playing hairdresser together and thought to myself; Even on my worst days, in reality, they're my best.

Mission Accomplished

I'm a little late getting this posted because I've been trying to catch up on all of the Mom things left for me to do when I returned from Georgia.

Anyway, our trip to Georgia was full of fun and laughs. Kelly and I flew into Jacksonville airport on Thursday, March 5 and my Mom was there to be our Chauffeur for the next 3 days. Our mission was to enjoy a mini vacation before taking on the long 11 hour drive home with Mom in her car.

During our short stay we embraced the summery like temperatures by strolling on the beaches of Jekyll and St. Simons Islands and browsing the shops in the historic waterfront town of Fernandina Beach. We also breezed through the flee market in Jacksonville but were disappointed with the clutter of yard sale items and booths selling the same things. We did have some laughs there which you'll see in the pictures below.

We made it home safe and sound on Sunday evening around 6:30p.m. Mission accomplished. My babysitters back! YEAH!!

Kelly calling our Chauffeur

Our Chauffeur arriving minutes later

G.J. sporting a new style

Kelly standing on Main St. Fernandina Beach

Survivor Woman

I love watching Survivor Man on Discovery. Les Stroud a.k.a. Survivor Man, journeys out into the wild alone for seven days without food, fresh water, shelter, or tools. There's no camera crew to video his expedition, Survivor Man captures his own footage.

I'm so intrigued by him probably because I'm such a scaredy cat of the dark and freaked out by spiders. Les spends very dark, ere, cold nights in jungles, deserts, and even floating on a half inflated raft in the ocean. Now, that takes a lot of courage and calmness. Staying calm and not panicking are his famous words. But, put yourself in any of those situations and try not to panic. That would be incredibly hard to do.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in survivor woman mode especially on those sleepless nights when the kids are sick or the husband, and you have 50 million things to do the next day. Or when you're so busy during the day, you forget to eat or pee. Or when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and the kids pluck at your every last nerve. When my survival mode kicks in, I'll raise up my hands to the ceiling and in my most dramatic voice, beg God for patience and understanding. Usually at that point, Gabby makes me feel like I'm really crazy when she gives me a puzzled look and asks, "Mommy, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Maybe I should try to live by Les' famous words of staying calm and don't panic. Hey, if Survivor Man can live off of a few berries and sleep on the raw forest floor with red ants and spiders crawling around him, I think I can survive in my little world. I will survive...HEY HEY!!

This is my Survivor Woman mode. When I look like this, watch out...ain't nothing going to stand in my way.

Living With Reptiles

Living with Matt (a.k.a. Lizards of Oz) has opened my world to an area I never thought I would be exposed to and that is, of course, reptiles. Don't get me wrong. I like the little critters. I've even tried my hand at raising my own reptiles and amphibians over the years, some of which included Poison Dart Frogs, Waxy Monkey Frog, and a very cool Panther Camelon named Teecko.

F.Y.I. - Poison Dart Frogs are not dangerous at all if raised in captivity and only fed a certain diet. These awesome frogs are taken from the floors of the rain forests located in Central and South America, brought into the United States, and sold at reptile shows or pet stores. When living in the wild, their diverse diets produces poison that excretes from their skin. Natives would use the poisonous excretion to coat the tips of their arrows; hence the name Poison Dart Frog.

Matt's collection of reptiles is far more extensive then mine ever became and he's in the process of building his Ball Python collection. His reptiles live comfortably in our basement and, living with them can be interesting to say the least. You have to take the good with the bad and here are some reasons why:

DISADVANTAGES:

The odor. If the cleaning isn't done regularly, even one day can make a difference, the odor of snake and mice poop emanate throughout the basement. Yeah...Gross, right?

Sometimes a fatality occurs and that odor will also fill the room. Luckily, our cadaver dog sniffs out these mishaps before the decaying carcass starts to stink.

Mice are cute when you're looking at them in a cage but, if you try to "play" with them, they will bite you. That's what happened to Holly. She decided to poke her little finger through the rack and the mouse nibbled on her finger. OUCH!!

ADVANTAGES:

The girls and I get to learn first hand about unusual reptiles.

We have the opportunity to see them up close and examine their textures and patterns.

We get to monitor their incubation.

We get to witness sights that most people don't get to witness.

Below are a few pictures to give you an idea of what I mean.

Pretty cool stuff, huh? Not all snakes lay eggs. Some types of Boa Constrictors give live birth. I bet that's a sight to see! The process of snakes hatching, happens naturally. They have a small tooth called an egg tooth, that allows them to poke through the egg and eventually, tearing an opening wide enough for them to slither out.

This clutch was hatched last year. Any questions?