Worst Blogger of 2013

and that award goes to ME!

I really did start out 2013 with intentions of keeping up with blogging. But between grad school, the magazine taking off like a rocket and raising a THREE year old the blog got pushed to the wayside. Here's a giant recap post and hopefully I can cross off the "But I'm already so behind" excuse for not blogging!

 

1.Learned how to Crochet for Christmas- been making toy food for Chucky Sue
2. Decorated Eggs for Easter (during the Family Flu Fun)
3. Sharpie decorated my walls. All of my walls.

4. Started Potty training shortly after Chucky's 3rd birthday- she caught on quick!
5. Got some updated Cousin Photos for Grandma F.
6. Had a birthday party at Bloop Frozen Yogurt!

7. More crocheting- I do sell these if you're interested. *WINK*
8. We spent most of March without a fridge- I was so happy to get our new one I Instagrammed it!
9. Late Spring Snowman- taken down with our sword collection

10. Lots of silly time with me and the little girl.
11. My job is awesome- Chucky got to spend the day at a festival with me!
12. Chucky has really started to enjoy doing school work.

13. Mother's Day was low-key but awesome. I got to relax with a Carol Burnett Show DVD!
14. Silly time with Daddy!
15. My. Job. Is. Awesome. Some photos from our last event!

Okay there we go, mostly caught up! Now cross your fingers and wish on a star that I can stay on top of blogging for the rest of 2013- it's shaping up to be a BIG year for us!

SNOW GLORIOUS SNOW

After begging and begging- FINALLY we've gotten a decent snowstorm in SWVA! Because we didn't know how long it was going to last so we did everything we could think of this morning!!

We painted the snow with food coloring

we built a snowman (really late at night!)

she requested a snow castle with a bridge. We carved it out from a pile of snow on a bench in our yard.

A spoon and bowl provided hours of fun, I had to bribe her back in with cookies and a snowball in her bubble bath!

sorry about the lack of blogging, I'm trying to keep it up again!

In My Head--- Excuses

I wish you could see into my head- I have so many half-baked blog posts. Let's just catch up.

1. We went camping over Labor Day weekend with Dorita and family. It was amazingly fun, though cut short due to the hurricane that passed through.

2. Chucky Sue broke her finger Thursday. A Gymboree clothes display fell on it. She was very brave at the ER and has been great with her splint and recovery.

3.We started watching Doctor Who. Jake and I watch an episode or two for our "date" nights. I absolutely LOVE it.

4. The magazine is going swimmingly! I'm learning a lot and loving every single second. I write three articles and work with my boss on advertising and marketing

5. Jake is in the midst of applying to grad schools. Cross your fingers that he gets in and in a few years, gets a job in a school as a counselor.

6. Jake got called as Young Men's 2nd Counselor in church- he now spends Sundays and Wednesdays with the 12-18 year old boys. He brings in fun object lessons so they really like him.

7. I had a pizza party for my primary class (4 and 5 year olds) They earned it by behaving during class all summer long. It was really cute to spend some time with the kids outside of church!

8. Visiting NH! Hopefully we can save up the money and with some help from Nonie make it up to NH for Thanksgiving!  It'd be a train ride, but I think with enough snacks, toys and Dora episodes, we can make it through.

See, I really do think about blogging, but I hardly ever get it done! If you need a weekly dose of Tracy check out Growingupinthevalley.com/blog!

The Top Five Cutest Things Chucky Sue is Doing Right Now

Lately Chucky Sue has really grown into her personality- she is so adorable!

1. Her words. her vocabulary has grown leaps and bounds. I used to write posts listing all the words she knows, but it's well into the hundreds now. She knows her colors, numbers and letters- though the letters are mostly C, H, A,  and R. She loves pointing to objects and naming them with a huge proud smile on her face.

Bonus cute thing: Getting better at doing projects with mommy!

2. Singing. She's always squeaked, hummed and babbled out musical sounds, but she has started to sing nursery rhymes and primary songs by herself! I recently sent my mom a video of her rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. If it hadn't occurred during bath time I'd share it here (but I think 14 year old Chucky Sue doesn't want that floating around the internet!)

Random photo of ME! Proving to the internet that I don't live in sweat pants and pigtails.

3. Demon Voice. I've tried again and again to get this on video, but it hasn't worked out. You'll have to rely on my words. When Chucky Sue is mad or angry, she gets this VERY low, grumbly voice. for example, while at the park a few days ago, Chucky Sue didn't want to leave. So in a very LOUD demon voice she stated "MOMMY. I stay at park FOREVER." and then went right back into her very high little girl voice while prancing about the playground. We're working on using a "nice" voice and asking mommy or daddy instead of demanding- but it's still cute!

Mommy and Chucky making faces at Daddy!

4. Her girly tendencies. I don't fancy myself a girly girl, but I do like make up  and making sure I look presentable. Chucky Sue has taken this to a whole new level. She has a few favorite ULTRA poofy pink dresses that she wants to wear everyday. And the shoes. OH THE SHOES. Not only does she want to wear shoes all the time, she likes the colors or designs to match. (bow dress should have bow shoes, flower shoes with flower dress etc. etc. etc.) She even has her own box of "makeup" which consists of clear chapstick and empty eyeshadow pots filled with dried nail polish.

Chucky Sue and Dorita playing in the pool. They are getting better at playing WITH each other.

5. Reading. Chucky Sue has loved books since birth, but lately she's been REALLY into them. She'll pile up a few dozen of her favorite books and sit on her bed and just "read" for an hour or so. It's how she goes to sleep each night- surrounded by her books and stuffed animals. I love that she can entertain herself so well!

Pinned & Done!

I am almost at 3000 pins on Pinterest- to celebrate here are some of my reviews from Pins I've Actually Done (PIADs, if you will)

Oreo Popcorn-

I loved this the minute I saw it! Chucky Sue's two favorite treats combined?! I didn't actually read the recipe, because it looked a lot like puppy chow. I melted white chocolate with a touch of butter in the mircowave, spread it all over the popcorn and then shook crushed oreos all over it. After about an hour in the fridge the chocolate hardened and we munched on it for FHE. Next time I make it,  I'll be more careful about picking out all the un-popped kernels. Those were no fun to bite into! Or maybe I'll just buy those pre-popped popcorn bags!

Rolo Pencils

This is one craft that we're doing for the magazine, A round candy with a Hershey kiss glued to the top to make an adorable pencil! I even made a video tutorial that isn't available YET but will be soon! (Yeah, there's a youtube channel for the magazine too!)

Beachy Waves

This one  I did forever ago, and since I've chopped off all my hair! But it was my go-to "fancy" hair when I had no time or Chucky Sue was being a demanding toddler. The picture doesn't lead to a tutorial (at least the pin I saw- anyone know the source?) You plait your hair into two large fairly loose braids, then twist them tightly away from your face and use the straighter along the "grain" of your hair- meaning you twist it instead of pulling straight down. Then you let your hair cool, or put some curl hold spray stuff (I am such a good beauty blogger.) and voila! beachy waves without the beach or too much product.

Salt Dough Ornaments

Just ask Jake- there's no flour or salt left in this house. Testing a small batch for the magazine ended up as a week long process and it was SO MUCH FUN. I made pre-baked ornaments that will end up in the magazine, plus a bunch of family ones that Chucky Sue helped me color. (Nonie's has a frog, Angelina a butterfly and Chucky Sue chose a moon and stars!) I love that this craft can be adapted for a lot of different age levels. Chucky Sue loved just playing with the dough and squishing it. Older kids will actually be able to design and bake their ornaments or knick-knacks.

Nail Polish Barbie Suits

Chucky Sue has two or three Barbie dolls. One has a molded leotard on, but Chucky Sue being the ultimate american kid, strips her dolls down and plays with them naked. Not so much a problem at home, but at church it can be kind of embarrassing to be discussing modesty and chastity with a naked Barbie being tossed about under the pews. I used some left over bon-bon (remember bon-bon nail polish? These were easily from the 8th grade!) and made the other dolls permanent swim suits.


A lot of articles on the blogosphere are talking about Pinterest's decline, and whether or not the site will stick around and be successful. I think it won't ever regain it's crazy popularity it had a year ago, but it's here to stay if I have anything to say about it!

Primary Class Treats!

My class, like every children's sunday school class, begs for treats every week. I try my hardest to limit it to lesson related goodies or special occasions but sometimes I just have to give into those big begging eyes!

I do however, rarely bring in food. The manual is against it, it makes a mess and really more trouble than it's worth. For Valentine's day I gave them crazy straws, for Easter they got play dough eggs. So what if "Back to School" isn't a real holiday- most of my kids are starting kindergarten and are VERY excited about it. So with a little photoshop card, I made these cute goodie bags for my kids!

What kid doesn't like balloons? I made sure to give them several so they can share with their families. The packaging is multipurpose, it's CUTE and it keeps them from blowing up the balloons until they are HOME. I wrote "Congrats!" on the balloons in sharpie and let those dry for a bit before I made all the baggies.

What are some of the more memorable treats you got as a kid? I know my mom still has the popsicle stick frames we made her for mother's day once!

New Year Resolutions: A Review

Back in January I posted  a listed of things I wanted to get done this year, both personally and professionally.  Now, 8 months into the year, how have I done so far?

 

These photos are completely unrelated to the post- but they are cute!  

 

Personally I've tried to be a better mom- scheduling Chucky Sue's day better and spending more one on one time with her while being 100% focused on our activity. She's slowly starting to enjoy craft projects, and of course loves it when I play along with her toys. We've decided to wait another 6 months or so before attempting to potty train again. Chucky Sue's communication skills need to develop a bit more; She still spends some days just grunting and pointing instead of using the words we know she knows.

I've also started walking just about everyday (though I will admit that has stopped entirely during this crazy oppressive heat!) and being more aware of what I'm eating. I've almost entirely cut out caffeine and soda, I save it as a treat for when we go out to eat. With all those habit changes, I have lost about 15lbs since February. It's slow going but I'm happy with any loss!

Professionally I had set out to *someday* finish my college education in hopes to find a job with social media advertising. By complete lucky and random chance I found a job I qualified for on Craigslist and am now a freelance writer and graphic designer for Growing Up in The Valley- a new family magazine for all of Southwest Virginia! Our first issue is due out at the end of the this month and I am so excited to share it with all of you! I wrote three articles (about 4ish pages depending on the layout) and so far I've designed 3 ads for our sponsors. I will also be in the online video on the website! I would have never thought I could find a job like this and still be able to stay at home with Chucky Sue. Sometimes blessings are hard to see, sometimes they just smack you in the face. This is definitely a face-smacking blessing.

If you asked me a year ago where I thought I'd be, I would have never guessed that I'd have this much success and happiness. I was predicting that I'd be in a stalemate professionally- stuck between working out of the house and paying for daycare or staying home and not having a career at all. I've never held much stock in making resolutions for the New Year, but I think I'm changing my tune!

Friday Favorites

Here are  My First Five Friday Favorites!

1.

Freebies.

All these freebies came on the same day

I love getting freebies in the mail! Freestufftimes.com is a great collection of freebies and giveaways.

2.

I Close My Eyes

 This is a book app I bought for Chucky Sue on my phone- it is beautiful! The art work is fun and different than any other book app I've seen.

3.

Late Night Ice Cream

Jake surprised us last night and took us out on a late night family date for some cheap frozen yogurt at Sweet Frogz!

4.

Sesame Street Does Glee

I love when Sesame Street puts in some jokes that only the adults will get. Their High School Musical spoofs were just as funny!

5.

MomCentral.com

This is an awesome site. It is a group of mommy (and a few daddy) bloggers! Thanks to their blogger program I will be posting about the awesome Hoover TwinTank Steam Mop they sent me! They have a fun twitter chat on Tuesdays too.

Little Girls and their...Trains?

Chucky Sue had a play date with her youngest cousin, Dorita, a little bit ago. She, her mom and dad, and her visiting aunt all joined us at our awesome perfectly toddler sized zoo to spend a fun Saturday together.

Dorita is a climbing expert, and has no fear about falling or animals gobbling her up in one bite. After visiting the big city zoo out in Oregon she was a pro at this.

And even though Chucky Sue is 10 months older, she prefers following instead of leading.

I love that the zoo is small enough that we can let the two toddlers drag us around and not have to worry at all about getting lost.

Chucky looks very grown up in this picture, I think it's her sassy attitude!

I love these pictures of Jake and Chucky Sue together, but to tell the truth I was taking photos more to prove to Jake how dangerous it was to have her up on that ledge!

 

The zoo has this cellphone text campaign, where you can win free rides on their dinky train (normally $2 a person so we've never ridden it!) Thankfully our large family got all the texting done for us and Chucky Sue and I got to ride for free! Chucky loved the ride once it started, but was a little sad that Jake had to stay with the strollers and diaper bags.

I had left the camera (D'oh!) in the stroller, so you can't quite see the anger and sadness she was expressing in the iphone photo.

 

I absoultely love watching Chucky Sue and Dorita play and interact with each other. They are going to keep us on our toes their whole lives the little scamps!

Angelina's Marker

My parents are simply amazing, you all should know that.

They saved up and purchased a site marker for Angelina's grave. We had been using the small plastic placeholder that the funeral home gave us two years ago and it was starting to look grungy. My parents were incredibly selfless and gave up a summer visit from Chucky Sue and me to pay for the marker. We went with butterflies for the design Really, that shouldn't be a shocker to regular readers. Angelina basically equals butterflies in this house. Even Chucky Sue points to them and says her name.

Every time I visit Angelina I have a strange whirlwind of emotions- sadness, love, confusion, and  usually after a prayer, peace.

Chucky Sue loved tracing the butterflies with her fingers and smelling the flowers Jake brought.

I never thought my family's life would include regular visits to a cemetery. It's important to both Jake and me that Chucky Sue know Angelina as much as she can, and visiting her grave is a big part of that.

So thank you Mom & Dad, you have no idea how much your generosity means to us.