Grandma & Grandpa Time

I have a few things I've been wanting to post for a long time that I've been putting off for various reasons (one of which is described in my previous post). Maybe the other reason is because I never continue with anything consistently. I go on a blogging kick for awhile, then I go off it just like everything else I do (it's genetic). Nothing wrong with that. Rest assured the guilt of not blogging is still there though. I've got that darn obnoxious emotion in every aspect of my life, usually revolving around irrational and trivial "rules" I set for myself. Anyway...I digress.

This post is really about a fun little activity my mom and dad did while we were visiting in AZ. My mom wanted a way of being able to spend some one-on-one time with the grandkids during our trip. Extra bonus, it gave Kaleena and me a break for awhile (ok, I admit it...the activities were so intriguing that I couldn't help but participate in them too. It's only now in writing this that I realize I pretty much defeated the whole purpose of my mom's reason for doing this. Sorry mom!).

So, every evening she would pull out one of these bags.
In it was an activity they would do together. The first day was nail stickers and clear nail polish. You can imagine how well that went off. Two four year old princesses? Come on.
The second day was markers and stickers to color. I'd never seen color them yourself stickers. Lets just say this isn't the last time she's used them, I've had to replace them on a regular basis.

The third day was making candy. That was so much fun, the girls absolutely loved it!
On the last day, the bag included some big huge crayons. They took paper and used them to go outside and get rubbings. I actually did take advantage this time to enjoy some time alone, so all you get is this picture of some rubbings. :)
I just thought it was such a cute idea and wanted my mom to know how much I appreciate her thoughtfulness in creating such great memories and experiences for the kids. Our kids are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents!

Out with the Old, In with the New

My laptop was dying. It took a long time for me to admit it. I don't like to spend money, I like to save money. Ty kept telling me I needed a new one and I told him it was fine, I could handle how slow it was, and how long it took to load a picture or video, and how long it took to recognize I had just clicked the mouse...By the time I was having to login with my password, go do something else, and come back to it "later", I realized he might be right. It's one thing to have a slow computer, but to wait upwards of ten minutes just to login? Even when I tried to open Firefox, it would take two minutes to open the browser. By then, I had clicked on it another few times, so a bunch of separate browsers would open all at once. Then (and I still don't get this), if I tried to close one of the ten browsers, it would close all of them! Ok, so it was time. I'd suck it up and spend the money that I would've rather put in savings. I know, rough huh? So he asked me what I wanted. My two requirements, small and cute. He asked about RAM and processors and GIG's and whatever else and I told him I just wanted the bare minimum, I didn't need anything fancy. I almost got the 10 inch, but found out it doesn't support MS Office. Ok, so I did need that. The 11" supported that. 11 inches! How cute is that? And of course when he asked about colors for a little extra $$, I had to do that. You've got to at least add the important things, right? So, here I am, typing this post on my small and cute 11" shiny pink fast(er) computer. Maybe now I will be willing to blog a little more often:)

Summer Pictures

My little brother took these great summer pictures of my kids. He does such an amazing job. He made my kids look so darn cute (except I suppose part of that is because they are so darn cute)! I love how he captured them just doing what they do. Go check out his photography website at www.brycesidephoto.com.