10 yr anniversary

“I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you.”

Last Thursday Jeff and I celebrated our 10 yr anniversary!  Sometimes life seems to be going by at a ridiculously fast rate, and other times, it seems to lag on.  I feel like we've been together forever, he always jokes that it's been 20 yrs.. not sure if that's a good thing or not!? In June it'll be 14 yrs that we went on our first date!  I woke up Thursday AM to our 2 wedding songs playing repeatedly on the PC.  We danced to John Michael Montgomery's "I love the way you love me", and we lit our unity candle to Shania Twains "Your still the One".  After work I came home to some gorgeous flowers, he had spelled out "Love is...You :-)" on the bed with silk rose petals.  Because Peytons birthday is the day after our anniversary its always hard to go out and celebrate alone, which I don't mind..  So, as a joint dinner, all of us went out to eat at On The Border!   

Looks like we made it

Look how far we've come my baby

We mighta took the long way

We knew we'd get there someday

They said, "I bet they'll never make it"

But just look at us holding on

We're still together still going strong

You're still the one I run to

The one that I belong to

You're the one I want for life

You're still the one that I love

The only one I dream of

You're still the one I kiss good night

Ain't nothin' better

We beat the odds together

I'm glad we didn't listen

Look at what we would be missin'

I'm so glad we made it

Look how far we've come my baby

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http://www.southerngalsboutique.blogspot.com/

Heartwarming moments...

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path."-- Agatha Christie

I.LOVE.MY.CHILDREN!

But don't we all??  Every thing I do, every day, I ask myself am I doing something that will make my kids proud of me?  Am I doing something I'd want them to do?  I tell my children EVERYDAY that I love them! multiple times a day sometimes.  I try to do my best everyday in raising them, hopefully to be strong, independent, GOD loving people.  I pray that they become great parents and spouses.  That they are happy at whatever they chose to do in life. 

I love that my 15, almost 16 yr old, still gives me a hug everyday. That he tells me he loves me in his silly little "I love you tooo" tone that he does.

I love that my 11 yr old baby girl loves to curl up in my lap still, she plays with my hair, and kisses me on the cheek and tells me she loves me.

I love that my sweet soon to be 9 yr old son holds my hand.  But what I love most is when he's allowed to make a pallet on my floor and sleep for the night.. he always sleeps on my side of the bed on the floor.. and he reaches his little hand up on the bed, and I'll reach over, and we hold hands.  He rubs his little fingers up and down on my hand.  My heart melts.  I get tears in my eyes thinking about the love I have for my children.  I get tears in my eyes trying to remember those moments, forever.  It won't last, I know that.  I will cherish that as much as I can, until he doesn't want to do it anymore. 

All of my kids, in my opinion, are great, sweet well rounded kids.  They are all soft, kind hearted people.  And I pray that carries over into adulthood.  I pray that my boys are like their dad.  He's always telling me he loves me, that he thinks I'm beautiful, doing things to bring a smile to my face.  And I pray that Aleena finds someone as sweet for her as well...

I love you my sweet babies...

Be sure to check out my Business Blog

http://www.southerngalsboutique.blogspot.com/

me and hubby...

Words can't express how I feel about my husband Jeff right now.  Some of you have been around for a long time, and know that our relationship has been anything but perfect!  Jeff and I went on our first day nearly 14 yrs ago!!  Can you believe it?? I was a kid! 19 yrs old.  and I had a kid!! Joey, he was 2.  Jeff was a newly divorced man, I think for about a year or so... and was living back at home with his parents.  I won't go into our life history right now.. 

When I moved to TX from MI 15 yrs ago, I never thought in my wildest dreams I would have met someone who takes such great care of me, and our kids.  He truely treats me like a princess, and I adore every minute of it!  And I count my blessings everyday.

2.5 yrs ago I was consulting divorce attorneys and researching apartments, ready to divorce him, over issues we were having.  I won't go into details on all that was going on, some of you know what was going on..

But today, nearly 2.5 yrs later.  I love this man more then I did nearly 10 yrs ago when we said "I do".. isn't that the way its supposed to be?? To love him more today then yesterday?  I believe that your attitude when you wake up sets the precedence for how your day will be.  If I woke up tomorrow and thought about the things this man does that drives me nuts, that is ALL I would focus on all day long, everything negative.  I'd forget about all of the great things he does for us.  I try my hardest to wake up everyday, and include him in my prayers, pray that I show this man how much I truley love him, and that I only do things that please HIM on a daily basis.  I pray that Jeff makes holy decisions in his actions everyday, that everything he does with me, and the kids, showcases his love for HIM.  Jeff and I can't fix things on our own.. we need HIS guidance to get through things...  Not only with my husband, but with my children.  I try not to think about what others think about the things I'm doing, as long as I know I'm doing the best I can for HIM, my hubby, and my children.  And I think between me and Jeff, we are doing a great job.  Ok, digressing a little huh!  :-)

It's easy to let LIFE get in the way.  Get up, go to work, come home, deal with kids, cook dinner, housework, never ending chores, sports, etc.. and we don't always fit time in there to be a married couple!  That's one thing I know me and Jeff need to work on.  Right now its hard though.  Hes gone back to retail which means working a lot of crazy hours, and weekends, and not knowing ahead of time what we have to work with.  Now that our kids are older, we really need to start just doing things together, last minute with each other.  The kids need to see how much we really care for each other, and love each other.  I want the kids to see that marriage is full of great rewards, but also has it's hard times.  Our kids see us disagree, but they see us loving each other later that day.  They know we don't always get along 100%, but I hope they see how much we love each other.

I love you honey, and thanks for all you do!





check out my business blog..
http://www.southerngalsboutique.blogspot.com/

Random Weekend pictures

A local sports radio station that my husband listens to does an event every year that he's always sure to be a part of.  They have several athletes come in and do autograph sessions.  There is always 1 big headliner, someone who has been retired for years etc, that everyone knows.  This year it was Barry Sanders.  My husband is a HUGE sports fan, and goes to as many autograph sessions a year as he can.  For this event he's always camping out early in the AM to be sure to get a good spot in line for a ticket to get the autograph.  This year he got there at 4AM, on one of the coldest nights!  We had our biggest snow fall in decades!  He put his chair in his spot, and sat.. for a bit, he went to the truck to sleep for a while as well.  The line started moving at 10:30!  They were told that they were handing out 300 tickets, they counted and Jeff was in the 250 range!  Yay for him!!  But, when he got through the door, they were told sorry but they are all gone!!  My honey stood outside in the freezing cold for nothing!  :-( 

The long line
of people waiting to go in..












I dropped Peyton off to him just a little before the line started moving, in hopes that Jeff would get 2 autographs..

Peyton with 3 hats on his head?

confused I guess....

Jeff and Peyton then stood in line to get tickets for another autograph session, which they were lucky enough to get!!  Then the 3 of us headed over to Chili's for the longest lunch ever!! Our waitress was SUUUPPPERR slow!!! 

Me and Peyton waiting on our food...

I dropped them back off after lunch so they could get this guys autograph!

Be sure to check out my Business Blog

http://www.southerngalsboutique.blogspot.com/

Few reasons why I love you...

Got this idea from a blog I follow.. and loved it..

http://www.cryptogram.com/hearts/

Be sure to check out my Business Blog
http://www.southerngalsboutique.blogspot.com/

Record Breaking Snow Amounts!!

Snow, Snow, and more snow!!!!  Some parts of TX ended up with nearly a foot of snow, with most of us averaging 7-9" I think I heard??  All I know was that it was A LOT of snow!! The kids didn't have school today so I stayed home with them.  We had fun making snowmen, having snowball fights, and just enjoying the beauty of it all, from inside the nice warm house!!  Aleena and Peyton were out there ALL day long, having so much fun.  Joey.. he didn't want any part of it, he's like his momma, wants the cold in small spurts!! 
Here are a few pictures of our day!!

I've also been SUPER busy working on my diaper cakes.. I REALLY enjoy making these, and would love for business to take off.  I'm trying to come up with incentives for people, that would make it worth while for them to share my business with friends and co-workers... any ideas??  Id love to find people that would highlight my business on there blog for a day? make a quick post? something?  :-D  Take a look at my link below, let me know what you think!!!  Let me know you were here...

Be sure to check out my Business Blog

http://www.southerngalsboutique.blogspot.com/

Grocery Game..

First I want to share a picture of my great surprise from my hubby today.. I came home to these on my entry way table, along with a glass of tea and some candles lit.. Jeff has always been really good about giving me a drink the minute I walk in the door if hes already home.. one of the sweet things I adore about this man..

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a post about my grocery game savings..
Mainly because it’s been a LONG time since I’ve been able to go do some coupon shopping.
Hoping to get back in the groove with this as well, and get my pantry and closets restocked.
Here are the deals I got last night. I browsed this week’s ads and there are some great deals in there too!
I’m most excited about tombstone pizzas at Kroger this week, $1.99!!! My kids LOVE to eat those on the weekends..
And now that Joey can eat an entire one by himself, I’ll have to stock up on those for sure!

Albertsons:
Coupon items
6 cans of Progresso Canned Soup
2 cans of Tuna
2 things of Peter Pan Peanut Butter
2 cans of Edge Shave Gel
2 bags of Frozen Corn
2 cartons of Homemaker Orange Juice

Non coupon items:
Onion
Lead Pencil refills
Pencil Pouch
Total before coupons was $32.11 after coupons I spent $18.39 for a savings of 57%.

Kroger:
Coupon Items:
2 boxes of Quaker Granola Bars
2 Boxes of Orville Microwave Popcorn
2 bags of frozen Broccoli and Cheese
4 cans of Hormel Chili
2 things of Frenchs Mustard
6 boxes of Kleenex
4 packages of personal products
2 Deodorants
2 Softsoap dispensers
1 Colgate Toothpaste
1 Gallon of Milk

Non Coupon items:
2 cans of Rotel
2 packages of Kroger tortillas (from there tortilla “factory”, best tortillas in my opinion)
3 packages of taco season
Total before coupons was $58 even, after coupons my total was $23.20, for a total savings of 40%.

If your interested in trying out GroceryGame you can go to this website and be sure to put me down as a referral! Leave me a comment and I’ll give you my email address I use!

Still alive!!

Hello everyone! Wow has it been a long time since I’ve done an update! :-) That’s what happens when your internet has been down.. and working overtime like crazy, barely allowing me time to be a mom and wife, let alone blog. But alas, here I am..
First.. a few updates.. Jeff has a job!! Its back in retail, which definitely has its ups and downs! But, it’s a job! He’ll be working really close to the house which is great. Were not to sure on the hours. I’m worried about how it will work out when the sports schedules pick back up. Peyton will be doing soccer and baseball, Aleena soccer, Jeff Softball and Soccer (playing and ref’ing), and Joey will be ref’ing soccer again this year. But we’ll make it! One thing I struggled with last season was getting frustrated over my busy schedule, and upset over not having anything that was related to what I wanted to do. And I’ve been thinking about it a lot during this off season, and hate that I felt that way. I’m going to try and focus on the fact that I’m as busy as any other mother out there, enjoy all of the moments with my children, even if it does mean were on the go all of the time. And make the most of the time that we are all home together as a family. Soon enough I’ll be wishing for these years again. All too soon I know. I read a quote on someone’s blog today that is so true.. Long Days.. but shorter years…
Yesterday I had a pleasant surprise from my sweet hubby. Jeff has always been great at showing me how much he appreciates me, and doing little things to show me how much he loves me. There is no doubt in my mind that this man loves me. I get told multiple times a day that he loves me, he’s very affectionate, always giving hugs and kisses. I’m trying not to take those for granted either. Sometimes it’s a little smothering, but I know that I’m blessed. He writes messages on the bathroom mirror with lipstick, writes on the shower doors where I’ll see it when they steam up, gives me a glass of tea when I walk in the door, back rubs, etc. draws me bath water with candles and a glass of wine.. Ok, so you get the picture.. Well a few months ago he bought a big box of silk rose petals, and had them leading from the bedroom door into the bathroom, leading to the tub. He had drawn me a bath with bath oil, petals, candles lit, etc.. Yesterday he got creative with those flower petals. :-)

Love is a moment that lasts forever...

Christmas Eve Surprise!!

Oh the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful

And since we've no place to go,

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

When I went to bed last night, I had NO idea we were expecting snow today!! Yesterday we were at 72 degrees!!!!  Today?? 2" of snow!  Only in Texas?.. The kids were so thrilled today.. It started snowing around 11, and just quit a few hours ago.  Sadly it took hours for it to start sticking to the ground though.  First thing this AM we got a lot of rain, so the ground was too wet and just soaking up the snow.

What a great Christmas Present.  I moved to TX from MI nearly 14 yrs ago, and this is my first white Xmas since I've been here.  I don't miss the 3 months of winter, but I do miss it around the holidays. However, I really wish I would have done all of my Christmas shopping yesterday, when it was warmer! 

We wrapped all of our gifts, made some cookies, played in the snow, had hot cocoa, had chicken noodle soup for dinner.. kids are tucked into bed.. and mom and dad are heading there soon..

In 2005 I started the tradition of Jeff reading "Twas the night before Christmas" to the kids.  Each year I trace the kids handprints in the book to keep track of there growth.  They enjoy looking back at it. Especially this year, unfortunately I forgot to trace last year, so 2 yrs had past since last did it.  I'll share pictures of those later.

I hope you guys have a Blessed Christmas.  Remember, it's not about the gifts. It's about spending time with those you love, and creating happy memories to last a life time.  And Celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Thanks for visiting.