Family Game Night!

We have game night once a week after the homework, dinner, laundry (as if thats EVER done) and other stuff is done. We sit down together and play whichever we decide to play. We each take a turn picking the game of choice. I bought the new Operation game a few weeks ago because I wanted to see if it was as much fun as the old one. It is! It is harder though. Neither of these 2 are very patient so they were not so thrilled when they got buzzed loudly for bumping into the side. The new game has noises that go with each body part so you can only imagine what some of them sound like. It is fun and I hope it will teach the boys to have a little more patience. Zane watched for a while but he was too busy playing cars. When he gets a little bigger or I find a game that he can participate in a little bit more then it will be more fun for him. He enjoys watching the other 2 fight and try to bump each others arms while retrieving the body part!
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This is always the end result-Wrestling!

They can't resist a good brawl in the floor, bed, car..whereever. I have to tell them both to stop hitting each other.
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Wrestling with Zane

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Elijah took this pic!

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This seems like yesterday

I was looking through some earlier pics of Zane and Elijah and I can hardly believe they look so young only 3 years ago. Zane was only about 6 days old in this picture and was still jaudiced a little bit. Elijah looks like a baby too compared to now. It is amazing how much and how fast they grow. I have really cute pics of Elijah as a toddler that I have never posted so I will try within the next week to get them scanned and loaded onto my dropshots page.
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My how time flies!

Although Elijah does still kiss Zane, Zane would rather him tickle him until he explodes instead! I should have known even then that Zane would be just like Elijah and be the pickiest eater to ever walk the Earth. He actually ate mini tater tots for the first time tonight. That is sad. He is so picky that he wouldn't even try them even though he does love mashed potatoes. He took a bite finally after I left them on his plate and he said "mmmm, good." Elijah never took a bite of a hot dog until the first grade. For all of you that have toddlers who enjoy eating, count your blessings. Sometimes that is one of those battles I am just not going to always fight in order to make eating time a pleasant experience for him and me both!
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Toddlers and Tiaras!

Have any of you ever watched TLC's new show Toddlers and Tiaras. I don't have any females at all besides myself at my house so there is not a lot of beauty pageants etc.. on t.v. It is mostly football, Motocross, The Exterminators, and of course for me The Real Housewives of whichever city is currently running! But, last night, or early this morning (1:00 AM) I was flipping channels and found "Toddlers and Tiaras". It is a reality show that follows the Glitzy Glamour pageant circuit in the South for ages 8 months -47 years. There are different divisions divided according to age..babies, 2-4, 4-7, 8-10, pre-teen,teen, and Mrs. Yes, even the moms put on swimsuits and compete against their 3 year old daughters in talent, evening gown, and swimsuit for the title of Ms. Ultimate Grand Supreme and $5,000 cash. No where big enough a prize for the humiliation they must feel. The issue I have with this circuit, much less the show glamourizing it, is that these little girls are sweet and pretty and some of them you can tell like getting on stage and showing their dress of and could really care less if they win or not. But the parents are unbelievable!! A little 22 month old named Ava joined the 2-4 year old class and was competing in talent..are you ready for this...baton twirling. PLEASE! If I gave Zane a baton he would hit me with it, chase the dog with it and try to cram it in the potty. She flipped it around a little, all the while her Dad, yes I said DAD standing beside her coaching her to twirl and twist and smile. He is also, by the way, the one who does her hair and makeup and designs, sews, and puts on her gowns. He is married and the mom was pretty but I don't think I could stand my husband sewing a dress for my 2 year old. Well, she didn't win the big prize, but got a trophy for being the most beautiful. That should have been enough ,but apparently the father was destroyed because she didn't technically place in the final line up. He went on and on about how he would have to sit down and explain to Ava that this just wasn't her day and that the judging just wasn't fair and she would have to try again next time. Do you think for a second that a little girl who has no idea what a pageant is or why she has to do it and can only put 3 words together at a time really feels disappointment in herself for not getting the big trophy. The fact that she got one should have been reason enough to celebrate her.

Besides that issue I really don't think fake eyelashes, spray on tan, flipper partials, hair pieces, intense gymnastics training, and reminding your child that he/she is more beautiful and more talented than the rest of the other children, not to mention giving the pedofiles of the world a really great new show to watch (promoting kiddie porn) are probably the best choices to make as a parent or network executive. I know everyone thinks their child is the greatest and most talented and beautiful. It is just human nature, but you aren't doing your child any favors by letting them really believe that they are more perfect than everyone else or at least they are when they are covered in makeup, fake lashes, tan, partials, hair pieces and $2,000 dollar dresses. You don't want your kids, especially your daughters to find their self worth inside of a beaded gown or buried underneath a bunch of makeup. Especially when they all will go through that pre-teen, big tooth, uncoordinated phase of maturity. Not to mention the amount of money parents spend going to, participating in these pageants only to win $100 or nothing at all and leave with a crying, disappointed little girl. At the end of the day when the little girl that won $5,000 went home with her mom all she got was a good job and a $10.00 bottle of perfume from the dollar store. Her mom, however, got a $800 handbag and a bunch of new clothes. Now I wonder why people spend so much time questioning their motives.

Great Free Blog Backgrounds!

I must admit...I have an addiction to changing my blog background like I change pocketbooks! I can't help myself it is just way too much fun. And besides it is so easy when you have so many free sites that have amazing choices to spice up your blog according to your mood or the holiday at hand. I have found another one recently (don't ask me how because I am not sure myself). It is called www.thatblogplace.com and the lady that designs for it is very talented. She has some really beautiful, extremely easy backgrounds to download for free that don't erase your widgets! (which is the most important thing) I have seen some I liked other places but when you add them you have to edit your html body page of your template and I don't like doing that. I also use www.thecutestblogontheblock.com for backgrounds too but my newest one is very exciting. So for all of you bloggers that have the same addiction I do feel free to leave me some of your favorite background designers blogs on my comments page or sidebar. Go check out the ones above. They are great!

Zane the performer!

Oh to have the energy and the pure joy that toddlers experience when their doing something they enjoy! Zane can be the quietest kid in the room and when he thinks no one is looking he will pretend he is on stage performing in front of a crowd of millions. It is too funny!
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Shop at Home!

As you can see I have added a link to Shop at Home on my sidebar. I order a lot of things online for me and on my moms behalf. So one day I signed up for Shop at Home. It is free and no money, contracts etc... are required. Just your name and email is all that is required. Whenever you order something online from Walmart, Target, Seventh Avenue, Toys R Us, etc.. ( The list of participants is enormous) they give you a percentage of what you spent back. Each company is different. For example, I ordered a Cardio Twister from Brylane Home for 129.00 and I got 8.00 back from Shop at Home. It goes into your Shop at Home acct. and at the end of every month they send you a check for what you have earned. If it is under 20.00 then they hold it until it reaches 20.00 or more and send it then. For the past two months I have gotten $28 and $33 cash back in the form of a check I cashed at my bank. I didn't do anything else but just order what I would have anyway. It just showed up at the house. It is a neat thing. I can always use free cash, especially for shopping!! The link is on the sidebar. There are also some great coupons there as well. I use coupons.com for grocery shopping every week. They have cereal, pull ups, all kinds of coupons for things I buy anyway. That is the key. Don't clip coupons for the sake of clipping and then end up buying things you don't need because you have a coupon. Only clip them for the things you have full intention of buying anyway!

Little boys and their toys!

Brian had to get his toy out this weekend and play with it. As soon as he starts it up all the boys in the house go running to the door so they can see it. It is way too big for Elijah at this point,maybe when he's 17!! He enjoys tinkering with it though.
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