The Bella’s Blessings giveaway has ended, but please don’t forget to go shopping with them and enter the code frog before checkout to recieve 10% off (expires May 31st)!  It was such a pleasure to work with Lori … what a wonderful business to support if you have a little girl!

And the winner is ……

#2 - Niki

Congratulations Niki! Be sure to check your email for a message from me!

The Quote the Walls Giveaway has ended and a winner has been chosen, but with affordable prices and their offer of free shipping for my readers (just enter the code SHIP before checking out) now is a great time to shop with them too!  I loved reading all of the great comments about your favorite quotes!!!

The winner is:
#24 - Linda Moore

Congratulations Linda, please be sure to check your email for a note from me on how to claim your prize!

Remember we have lots of great contests going on and you can always access them by clicking on the contests link in the header area!

I couldn’t resist!  This is a picture taken a couple of months ago of Baby bug being very naughty!  He was soooo funny though, he had found a roll of toilet paper (long story so I’ll just keep going) and had it everywhere, across himself and most of the room.  Heehee . . . silly baby!

For wordless wednesday this week I’d like to direct everyone to this post where I have all of my boys’ newborn photos!

Happy WW!

Not too long ago I bumped into a gal I have known for a very very long time. We don’t walk in the same circles anymore and live very different lives now, so I actually hadn’t seen her in a couple of years. She drives a BMW now, has perfectly manicured fingernails, is dressed as stylish as you can imagine and of course has a very skinny little body to put those trendy clothes on.

Yes, I realize that I’m simply talking about the shell that contains the person, but come on, I’m human too. It was a football day and I was about as frumpy as it gets. It had been raining most of the day, I had spilled coffee on myself not once, but twice . . . you get the picture ~ and it isn’t pretty!

So, here’s a few things that occurred to me last night as I spent a little time with “my boys”!

My daily line up of pampering:

• Back rubs: These take place frequently as little baby bodies climb up on the chair behind me and try to play peek-a-boo.
• Personal Daily Hair Stylists: My pony tail is taken out and little hands work “magic” with my perfectly coiffed hair.
• In home Manicures and Pedicures: Ok so I admit this is a little more rare nowadays and if I want someone to take off my toenail polish these days it will cost me a little bit LOL. But not that long ago it was a daily occurance and I love the memories . . . When I was pregnant with the twins I got so huge it was impossible for me to even consider doing anything with my feet. My sons wouldn’t hesitate to help me if they knew I was wanting my toenail polish off or just about anything, even a great manicure. They would all surround me, one filing my fingernails, one removing the toenail polish and one painting the toes. It may seem funny, but they knew I loved it and couldn’t do it myself and although it didn’t turn out anywhere near what I could have gotten done professionally . . . I wouldn’t have traded it for the world!
• Massage Therapy: My older boys really do give great foot rubs, but they don’t normally do it for free anymore haha. The babies give me back massages by pushing their little feet hard against my back as they are behind me playing.

Sure these aren’t “real” pampering, but the moments are worth treasuring and taking note of! The shell really doesn’t matter, but the moments I get mean the world!

Son 1 ~ Then and Now. Today we’re taking a journey back many many years ago (10 and 11 years ago to be exact) and seeing the changes in Son 1.

Earlier I had posted 4 pictures, but I decided to come back and take it a step further! He is turning 12 in a couple of weeks so . . . I have created a couple of slideshows. The first one is of him from birth through age 5. The second one is of him age 6 until now! Most of the images are scanned so the quality is not great.

If you are with blogger and experiencing problems uploading photos you may want to visit http://www.photobucket.com/ and open up a free photo hosting account (if you don’t already have one). These can be made private to keep everything safe even! It only takes a minute and it is just as simple to upload the photos. Then all you have to do is click on the html code below the photo there, come to blogger, click in “edit html” in your posting area and paste in the code. Click on compose and voila. The only other suggestion I would have to make if you decide to go this route is to make sure that your photos are the right size before you upload them to photobucket (300 to 400 px wide is a great size). You can also make slideshows and more to put on your blog!

Well, you should! I am so excited to be telling you about this great resource for your family! I began by visiting their website at http://www.dangerrangers.com/. I was instantly drawn in by all of the vibrant colors and fantastic animation! What a great way for your children to learn about safety!

The website allows children to meet the Danger Rangers, create ecards, play fun safety games and download Danger Rangers music, computer wallpapers and great activities. A wonderful kid-safe environment that reinforces and teaches in a very fun way. What a valuable tool for any family wanting to help their child learn about safety.

The learning and fun does not stop there though! They also offer a great section of resources for parents and teachers as well as a complete line of videos and other materials. In addition to their basic safety rules materials (which is the one we’re giving away) they also offer such themes as medicine & poison safety, playground safety, water safety and bike safety. These are presented in an engaging and non threatening way. The idea is to teach your child in such a way that they will remember the information, but not be frightened in the process!

We have their Fire Safety video, book and coloring book and we LOVE it! I am hesitant to admit that my 4 year old is absolutely addicted to the “Fires and Liars” video that they sent our way. He also loves the corresponding story book and coloring book. I have to say that as a mom I have been very impressed with the quality of the art in this series and amazed that even though it is really intended for 3-7 year olds, my boys up to age 9 really enjoyed watching it and love to sing the theme song!

“Danger Rangers is the first television series to blend top-notch animation, action adventure, storytelling and memorable music into an unforgettable entertainment package that delivers the premium quality entertainmant that children love and empowering, life-saving safety messages that parents appreciate.”

They were soooooo very generous and are offering 5 copies of their “Mission 547: Safety Rules” videos for our readers to win! You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but you do need to live in (or near enough to pick up in) the United States. To enter please “sign” Mr. Linky below (if he’s acting up please let me know!) and leave me a comment or email me with your contact information. You have until Thursday, October 25th to enter and let everyone know about it! I will announce the winners on Friday October 26th. If you are a blogger please remember to let your readers know about this contest and a link back to the Danger Rangers website would be great too!

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

I was tagged last week by Shana over at My Three Wisemans for this fun meme! Since it is Wordless Wednesday anyway, I thought I’d post this meme today too. I would like to invite any of my readers to participate in this one if you haven’t yet.

From our front windows you can see the road and the beautiful old barn across the street.

Then there’s the creek that can be viewed from the side bedrooms, bathroom and back deck.

Last but not least, these are the fall and winter back and sideyard views. We see these from the master bedroom, kitchen and back deck.