A to Z about Me -- Take 2

I did this one other time in January of 2009 -- I just stumbled on it and thought it would be interesting to go through it again and see how it's changed in the last 4 years. So here we go:

A-
Available: no
Age: 34, about to be 35 <tear>
Annoyance(s): liars, cheaters
Animal: Missy (Boston Terrier), Allie (Cat)
Attitude: laid back and easy going - depending on who is involved -- can be demanding and stressed around my kids

B-
Beer: never touch the stuff
Birthday: May 16
Best feeling in world: Love
Best weather: mid 60's and sunny
Been in Love: I am
Been on stage: as little as possible, hate being the center of attention
Believe in God: Absolutely (have you read much here?)
Believe in Santa: Yes, I love the magic of Christmas - even more now through the eyes of my boys

C-
Candy (favorite): Depends on my mood -- love Peanut Butter Twix
Color: purple or aqua
Chocolate/Vanilla: typically Chocolate
Chinese/Mexican: depends on the day, I really like both
Cake or pie: both, depending on the flavor or pie topping - loathe meringue
Continent you want to to visit: Europe
Cheese: Yes, please - not a fan of swiss or blue cheese though

D-
Day or Night: mid-day (not into mornings or nights)
Dance in the rain: Sure
Dating: been there, done that...although meeting Mom friends is sort of like dating all over again
Dogs or Cats: both, I love animals in general (unless they are reptiles)

E-
Eyes: Blue
Everyone has: An opinion
Ever failed a class?: yes, mostly due to my own fault and lack of focus in my original college days

F-
Full name: Kimberly
First thoughts waking up: Is it the weekend?
Food favorite: depends on the nationality
Friendly: of course, but shy upon first meeting
Fan of: lots of things

G-
Greatest Fear: Snakes or Drowning
Goals: Be successful with Scentsy, Velata, and Grace Adele AND homeschool our boys AND move back to TX!
Gum: don't really chew it anymore
Get along with your parents: Most of the time
Good luck charm: No need - I pray when I need help
Guilty Pleasure: Watching Dance Moms on Lifetime

H-
Hair Color: Brown naturally, but most of the time it's red now
Height: 5’ 6"
Happy: Yes
Holiday: Christmas
How do you want to die: I don't think about it, when it's my time - God will determine how (hopefully painlessly?)

I-
Ice Cream: Cookies in Cream or Orange Sherbet
Instrument: I don't play one
Ice cubes or crushed: Cubes, Sonic ice is my favorite

J-
Jewelry: Wedding Ring and Watch
Job: So many answers - business owner, blog writer, homeschool teacher, mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend...
Journal-writing: Isn't that the point of a blog?

K-
Kids: James (3), Tyler (2)
Kickboxing or karate: Neither, tried Taebo in college and sprained some muscles :-)
Kooky: Wha?

L-
Longest Car Ride: College Station, TX to Naples, FL (I think) OR Cypress, TX to Williamsburg, VA
Love: Best feeling in the world
Letter: Love getting them!
Laughed so hard you cried: It happens, only wish it happened more

M-
Milk flavor: Flavor? Milk only has one flavor...
Movies: You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, American President, Hitch, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Remember the Titans, and many more...
Music: Old Country and Worship Music...
Motion sickness: Yes
McD’s or BK: McD's, don't go often

N-
Number of Siblings: 4: two older sisters for most of my life... then at 25, became the middle child with a younger brother & sister added to the mix
Number of Piercings: 1 in each ear
Number of Tattoos: None
Number: No clue

O-
One wish: To be rid of weight issues, health issues, and infertility issues... to be comfortable in my own skin
One regret: None, because everything I have done has led me to where I am today

P-
Perfect Pizza: Beef, Mushrooms and Cheese
Pepsi/Coke: Dr Pepper -- but if I only had those two choices, I'd rather have Coke
Parents still alive: Yes
Party-goer: Not really, unless it's a game-night

Q-
Quote: None come to mind right now
Question for God: Depends on the moment
Quickest at: Typically, nothing

R-
Reason to cry: Stress, Grief
Reality TV: Mostly things on the Food Network... but I do love Dance Moms and Double Divas on Lifetime
Radio Station: The Oldies Country Station
Roll your tongue in a circle: Yes

S-
Song: Depends on the moment
Shoe size: 10
Salad Dressing: Ginger Dressing from Benihana's, Ranch, or Italian
Sushi: Love the restaurants, but eat other items
Skipped school: In college
Smoked: Tried it, but didn't like it
Skinny dipped: No, mostly got thrown in the pool fully clothed as a teen --lovely friends
Sing well: No
Swear: More than I'd like to admit
Strawberries/Blueberries: Strawberries if they are fresh, but blueberries in baked goods

T-
Time for bed: around 11
TV Show: Grey's Anatomy, Monday Mornings, Dallas, Rizzoli & Isles, Major Crimes, Franklin & Bash, Perception
Time right now: 10:41AM
Train or Ship: Train, I guess

U-
Unpredictable: No
Unique quality: I'm not sure - you'd have to ask my family and friends
Undergarments: Yes

V-
Vacation spot: The mountains
Victorian or Country: Country, Colonial really... aren't we talking architecture?
Valuables: Wedding Ring

W-
Weakness: Food
Which friend acts like you: No one acts exactly like me
Worst feeling: Guilt/Anger
Wanted to be a model: No, wanted to look like a model
Where do we go when we die: Heaven, or at least that's where I'm going
Worst Weather: Hot & Humid

X-
X-Rays: Probably have had too many
Xylophone: Only played with the kid version

Y-
Year: 2013
Yellow: What?
Yesterday: Sunday

Z-
Zoo animal: Giraffes -- check back tomorrow to see pictures from the boys feeding them at the zoo recently
Zebras-Black w/white or White w/black: Does it matter?

Let me know if you post this -- I'd love to read!!  Pin It Now!

The Blame Game

I tried very hard to stay away from the coverage of the Boston Marathon tragedy this week, and managed to do it until this morning when things have just turned into pandemonium. It is so surreal to know that these events are actually happening -- in the real world -- not just on a movie screen.

It's so hard to watch and hear some of the coverage. Some are quick to blame the people of Chechnya. The truth is that there are good and bad people in every group you can think of. Radical extremists on every side of any issue. So it's not fair to blame an entire country or belief system. Are the fundamentally wrong? Maybe, but we don't know that for sure.

Did we condemn teenage boys as a whole after the Columbine shooting? No. Do we condemn all Christians when we hear about a church protesting military funerals? No. Sadly, there are many lost souls out there that are just a few wrong choices away from committing horrible sins against fellow citizens. To me, it's just plain sad and scary.

It's quickly becoming a time in history when we will fear everyone if we aren't careful. Remember the days after 9/11 when we all were hyper aware of things going on in airports? When we wanted to give every other passenger the side-eye in the attempt to determine if they were going to do the unthinkable as we boarded our flights to business or vacation destinations. Are we soon going to be afraid every time we see a black backpack?

These events happen all over the world, and we for the most part let it go as just a news story. It's not until it happens on our soil that we start to wonder why and place blame. Today, I think we're missing the big picture of the victims, the families of those victims, the families of the suspects, the shocked citizens waiting as the events unfold, and the families of the heroes out there trying to get to the truth.

Today isn't the day to pass judgement. We don't have all the facts. Today is a day to just try to hold on to our judgement while we watch the news seeing things unfold in real time. I almost wish we would all turn off our televisions... hold on to our families, and pray that no more people are harmed in the wake of these events.

I'm not faulting anyone for trying to figure out what is going on and why... I just don't want us to jump to the wrong conclusions. I try so hard to give people the benefit of the doubt -- normally to my own heart ache. Lets just try to focus our energies on rallying around the victims in Boston and the people of West, Texas. We can do much more good focusing on them than we can trying to figure out where to place the blame. Pin It Now!

My Sister's Gender Reveal

My sister, Cindy, is the queen of all things gift related... and announcement related. I'll never forget her giving us gifts to ask us to be in her wedding... she gave our Dad, a copy of Father of the Bride at the time. (think, or maybe it was a hat with those words on it?) The night before my wedding... she gave gifts to announce that my neice, Taylor was on the way -- hard to believe she will be 11 this fall! So it's only fitting that she give us all gifts to reveal the gender of our latest bundle of joy.

She is unable to travel with this pregnancy because of some risk factors, and we're all spread out anyway -- so she mailed us all a box. Mine came a day later than the others, but it was well worth the wait...

I swear it felt like it took forever for that box to arrive from Dallas!

Would we have another crazy boy to add to the younger set of grandkids??

YES!! We are so excited for sweet baby Sam to come -- the boys pray for him every night before bed, and I have visions of the three of them running around the house acting like wild indians together. I couldn't be more thrilled to share being a boy mom with my sister... it's surely going to be a different adventure than raising her sweet princess has been. She will certainly be kept on her toes! Pin It Now!

James' 3rd Birthday

My big boy is now 3... how fast time flies. Our theme this year was construction. Even with all the other things we had going on -- I think that this party was pretty cute.

Our party favors were "paint brushes" -- rice krispie treats with a popsicle stick and then dipped in chocolate. We had two small babies as guests so we got them something that wasn't edible too.

 
The decor... I am really excited about how it turned out. Thanks so much to a sweet Daddy who is happy to jump in and decorate when things get short on time.

The truck was a birthday gift for James, but we thought it was a super cute chip bowl!

 The food was a lot of fun, and I even enjoyed coming up with names for each item and making my own label cards. 

Mommy's sweet boy, ready to enjoy a party all about him!

How cute is this cake?! My sister in law and her neighbor have never let me down on their creations -- they've done all our cakes so far, and I ask each time we get ready for a birthday with the prayer that they won't ever quit!

Crazy Tyler... such a cute little man!

James got bored opening all of his gifts -- I pray that doesn't always happen... I guess it is overwhelming for a little guy. Thankfully, Tyler was ready to jump in and open a few too. HAHAHA!

Cake time!! We had to repeat the blowing of the candles several times... and ended up driving home with James singing "Happy To You" all the way.

A good time was had by all... and my little cake lovers were happy. By the end of the day -- they were all worn out and ready for bed... I'd call that a success! Pin It Now!

Baseball Wreath

I made this wreath for my new nephew's room & baby shower. Sadly, we weren't able to have the shower because my sister was in the hospital with the flu... but I was able to attend her second shower and give her this for his room.

My brother-in-law played baseball through college and was on the Olympic team... so it's no surprise to us that when they found out they'd be having a boy -- the nursery came with a vintage baseball theme. I set out on Pinterest to find some projects, and I'm amazed that the ones I loved the most have actually all made an appearance in sweet baby Sam's nursery! There will be a follow up to this post with pictures from the shower because it was INCREDIBLE!

This truly is the easiest wreath ever to assemble - the hardest part was finding the baseballs. I happened to know a friend who is married to an umpire so that saved me from buying new baseballs and having to rough them up for that vintage look.

You can use a wire hanger to do this project, much like the ornament wreaths that were all the rage a year or so ago. I actually made one of those as well, but did it with a thicker wire that we bought at Lowe's. It made for a more sturdy project that I could make a little larger if I wanted to.
 
So we took 11 baseballs and my husband drilled out the center of them for me. (I'm not allowed to use power tools... for safety reasons, HAHAHA) We made sure that when drilled and strung on the wire -- all the lacing would lay in the same direction so that our OCD wouldn't go crazy. I didn't get a picture with everything lined up correctly though.
 

We pulled the wire into two loops and enclosed them. I think this may have taken a total of 30 minutes -- the longest part of the project was the multiple coats of paint and sealer on the "S". A friend gave me the idea later of running sandpaper over the initial to make it look a little more worn and vintage too, but I'd already sealed it.

I didn't attach the "S" to the wreath because I thought they might want to use it somewhere else in Sam's room, but we tied the burlap bow on the project and it was done!

I can think of so many other items that we could do a project like this with -- if my boys don't end up being baseball fans -- we might have to do small footballs or something else for their room!

The final product here made me so proud, and the parents to be loved it! Pin It Now!