I must be crazy.

Ok, here's the thing. I am needing some serious big time changes to happen in my life soon. If something doesn't change soon, I just might lose my mind, and since so many count on me, (my 3 kids and my husband) that might not be such a good thing. One thing that needs to change is the state of my house, its ridiculous. So, starting tomorrow I am embarking on 1 of 2 challenges for this month. The first is 31 Days To Clean, which is a series from Sarah at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee. It is my prayer that through this series I will prioritize and focus on my home, so that it can be a clean, organized sanctuary for my family to come home to each day. I encourage every one to check out this series and join me!

The second challenge or commitment I am making is concerning my marriage. For the next 30 days I am making a commitment to be nothing but an encouragement to my husband. And since tomorrow is his birthday, I couldn't think of a better time to start. If you want to take this adventure, go check out the 30 Day Encouragement Challenge for Wives.

I am excited about both of these commitments, but I also am a wee bit worried, because I tend to start things, and then about 1/2 way through, run out of steam and give up. These two things are so important to me and I really want to see these challenges to the end. So, please, those of you who know me, and even if you don't, I ask that you pray for me and even ask me how I'm doing. Its my goal to blog about it frequently! I also encourage you all to take one or both of the challenges with me, after all the result will be a happy hubby, and a clean house, those are both winners in my book!

Summer is over.

To celebrate the very LAST day of summer we took the kids to the movie G-Force and then home to have "make your own" pizzas.

Noah is very excited about the pepperoni.

Benjamin loves him some pepperoni too!

Brothers being "cheesy". Get it, cheesy.


Our sweet Ella, wondering why she isn't getting in on the action.


Benjamin was brave and put on 1 mushroom and 4 olives.


Mine is the one with all the veggies!


Grrrrrrr....


Mmmmm, pizza....


Seriously? I told him it was hot, about a 1000 times.

For desert, parfaits.

Everyone loves parfaits.

Yummo.

Benjamin was in heaven.

Noah licking the glass, what a goof!

It was a great night, and I wish we could have more of them!

My girl

I like bows. I love little girls with bows in their hair. I really LOVE my little girl with bows in HER hair. Because I love bows and bows in Ella's hair, I make Ella lots and lots of bows, so she is wearing a different bow everyday. She usually does great and leaves them alone, but on occasion she gets bored and then notices the big bright pretty thing on her head.

Here she is all sweet and pretty!

Oh, and so it begins...

It can be a slow process....

It takes her awhile to figure it out....

Still working....

Getting closer....

She has it in her mouth, she just can't see...

Seriously people, who turned out the lights?

I love this girl!

Frugality, its for me!

Ten years ago I was not a frugal person. I think it would be safe to say that I wasn't frugal even 5 years ago. I am now! Since I left my full time job and became a full time at home mommy, frugality has become a necessary way of life. Do I like it? Not usually. I buy almost all of our kids' clothes at garage sales, I shop with coupons, and we live on a strict budget. But every now and then, I love, love, love finding a good deal. It makes me giddy when I think about how much money I have saved! This recently happened. The hubs received a gift card from JC Penneys for $10 and I just happened to have a coupon for $10 off, so Monday night I took my thirfty self down to the mall and just look what I got for my sweet girl!

Three adorable dresses and one precious fall outfit for $11.45! I am so stinkin happy! They were having an amazing sale, and with my $20 of free stuff, I ended up saving over $77! Woooo Weeeee, what a deal!

Here's Ella wondering why she's naked with all these cute clothes to be worn!

A Thousand Words Thursday

Benjamin was not crazy about fireworks this year.

See the fear on his face. He was watching a smoke ball. Scary stuff.

The poppers were ok though.

To join in on the fun, go visit Jen at Cheaper Than Therapy.

Hair or not to hair?

Noah wants to be a cool skater punk. He is obsessed with skating. We have to visit the skate shop every time we are at the mall, we always watch the X games, he asks to go to the skate park 1000 times a day, and he sleeps with his skate board. Now, as cool skater punks go, they all have long hair. Noah goes to a school where there is a dress code and long hair on boys is not allowed, so every May, he starts growing out his hair.

This is as long as it got this summer, but he very much thought he was super cool.

Benjamin of course had long hair this summer too, because he's cool like that.

Such pretty locks he had!

And here's the new do.

Noah actually likes his hair cut!

Buds.